Buckle up for an All-SEC College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and here’s what the Alabama Crimson Tide need to do to top Georgia.
When the College Football Playoff committee made their decision on which four teams would make the field, they had to know that they’d face backlash regarding the inclusion of the Alabama Crimson Tide. After all, the head coach of the team, Nick Saban, said just last year that teams who didn’t play in their conference championship game had no business being in the CFP.
Yet, the committee has been somewhat vindicated after Bama’s Sugar Bowl victory over Clemson. Now, the Tide will roll into Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 8 where they will face off with the Georgia Bulldogs in the National Championship Game.
An All-SEC National Championship Game is undoubtedly enticing, but even more so when you look at the quality of Alabama and Georgia this season. For much of the year, it’s been difficult to question that these have been the two best teams in the sport. Now they’ll face off to prove who is the best with great rushing attacks, great defense and big names that we’ll see playing on Sundays soon enough.
Put simply, this is going to be a titanic clash to decide the National Champion. More importantly, though, the CFP semifinal matchups for each team offered great insight both into what we can expect from this game and what each team must do to be successful.
With that and a full season of work to look at, here’s what Alabama needs to focus on to be triumphant in the National Championship Game over Georgia.
5. Run the dang ball
Given the talent of Georgia’s defense, the big narrative coming into the Rose Bowl was how Baker Mayfield would fare against the Bulldogs. And without question, the Heisman Trophy winner made his mark on the game with a big performance. Perhaps the more surprising success for the Sooners offense, though, was that they were able to move the ball on the ground with tremendous effectiveness. Rodney Anderson was simply a nightmare for the Dawgs all afternoon and was the biggest reason why the game turned into a double-overtime thriller.
Anderson amassed 201 yards on 26 carries, and Trey Sermon also got in on the action with two carries for 34 yards. That was a product of the pace that Oklahoma played at, surely. However, it’s also a glimpse into what Alabama has to do to take down their SEC rivals in the National Championship Game.
While Jalen Hurts has proven to be an electric player in his two-year tenure in Tuscaloosa, there’s no questioning that Alabama is still a team that thrives off of their run game. When you have two backs the caliber of Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough, that’s hardly surprising.
However, this isn’t something that the Tide can get away from on the biggest stage in college football. They must not just commit to the run, but do so with various looks and intense ferocity. It’s easier said than done, but they have to wear down the Georgia defense throughout the game and control the pace and flow of the contest.