SEC Championship Game: 5 bold predictions
By John Buhler
3. Somebody is going to miss an easy, chip-shot field goal.
It’s a rule: college kickers cannot be trusted in moments of crisis. In the 2016 SEC Championship, either Alabama kicker Adam Griffith or Florida kicker Eddy Pineiro will miss an easy chip-shot field goal after a well-executed drive by their offense.
We’re not talking a 17-yard gaffe of the Blair Walsh variety, but one of the two kickers in this conference championship game will miss a 35-yard field goal after the offense methodically drove the ball for seven minutes, 60+ yards on 10+ plays.
Saban or Florida head coach Jim McElwain will sniff their palms after seeing this putrid field goal attempt sail hopelessly into the corner of the Georgia Dome. A missed field goal on this magnitude by Florida would be a back-breaker. Missing a chip-shot would mean Alabama is going for it on fourth down every time the Crimson Tide is inside of the Florida 30-yard line.
The most troubling part of this missed field goal will be that it is inside of a dome. On Sunday morning when Matt Bryant and Cairo Santos are warming up for the Atlanta Falcons’ home game against the Kansas City Chiefs, they’ll both drain multiple 50-yarders, snicker with each other, and say, “college kickers.”