SEC Championship Game: 5 bold predictions
By John Buhler
The 2016 SEC Championship Game will be between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Florida Gators on Saturday. Here are five bold predictions for this game.
It’s conference championship week all across the United States in Division I college football. That means the Southeastern United States needs to get fired up for the 2016 SEC Championship Game on Saturday. The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide will play the No. 15 Florida Gators for the SEC crown at the Georgia Dome on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Alabama is the only undefeated team left in the Power 5 and would be the No. 1 seed in the 2017 College Football Playoff should the Crimson Tide defeat the Gators in Atlanta. The Crimson Tide are a massive 24-point favorite over the Gators on a neutral site.
However, there is still plenty to be excited about in college football on Friday and all day Saturday this week. Here are five bold predictions for things that could happen in the 2016 SEC Championship on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.
1. Teez Tabor will pick off Jalen Hurts and it will be horrible for Alabama.
Florida’s best player is their junior shutdown cornerback “Don’t call me Jalen” Teez Tabor. Tabor has first round NFL talent and could go pro after his third year in Gainesville. He might even be the better defensive back prospect over Vernon Hargreaves III, who went in the Top 10 of the 2016 NFL Draft to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tabor is an aggressive, physical player with great ball skills. Will he pick off Alabama’s Heisman trophy candidate true freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts. Yes, Tabor will win the Battle of the Jalens, Tabor will tease the Crimson Tide, and Alabama is going to hurt.
It will be the one truly awful read that Hurts will make all day Saturday and Tabor will take full advantage of his ill-advised passing attack. Look for Tabor to intercept Hurts’ pass to tight end O.J. Howard and take it to the house on a 40-yard pick-six.
This remarkable interception by Tabor will come when the game is tight in the first half. For a moment, Florida will think that the Gators can shock the Crimson Tide. The Tabor pick-six of Hurts will either tie the game for Florida or the Gators will take a slight one-possession lead. Either way, Alabama is going to hate every second of that pickoff return by Tabor. It will be a cringeworthy one for Tuscaloosa to endure.