Championship Preview: Alabama still king of CFB heading into finals

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On Monday night in Atlanta, Georgia the Alabama Crimson Tide (12-1) will finish their season where they started, in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Finish, the keyword as Alabama has had exactly a year to work towards this opportunity again, to complete another chapter and to bring home another National Championship to Tuscaloosa.

Coming off a dominating 24-6 victory over No. 1 Clemson in the Sugar Bowl, Alabama will face (13-1) Georgia who has not won a National Championship since 1980 when the Bulldogs went 12-0 defeating Notre Dame 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl.

Alabama, playing for their third National Championship in the last three seasons is at the forefront of the college football spectrum and while programs like Clemson, Georgia, and Oklahoma continue to chase, Alabama head coach Nick Saban continues to put a Heisman pose on his coaching counterparts.

Nick Saban, now age 66 has won five National Championships (2003 with LSU, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 with Alabama) and with a victory over Georgia this coming Monday he would tie Bear Bryant who won six National Championships at Alabama (61, 64, 65, 73, 78, and 79).

Bryant won his National Championships within a span of 19-years. Nick Saban, if Alabama is victorious on Monday will have won six National Championships in a span of 16-years. While both Bryant and Saban already have statues outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium, Saban is inching closer to being the greatest college football coach of all-time and has not shown any signs of slowing down.

In May of 2017, Saban signed a new deal that will run through 2024. The new deal included a $4,000,000 signing bonus which pushed his pay to $11.125 for this season alone. For the 2018 season Saban will make $7,150,000, $7,550,000 for the 2019 and 2020 season, and then make $10,350,000 for the 2021 season. If Saban stays at Alabama from 2017 through 2024, he’ll have made an incredible $65,200,000 coaching Alabama football from 2017 to 2024.

Clearly, Nick Saban has earned every penny and Alabama football has a record of 131-20 since the 2007 season, which equates to a winning percentage of 86.8% and over the last three seasons Alabama is 40-3 which is a winning percentage of 93%. The next team in line over the last three years is Clemson who is now 40-4 after falling to the Crimson Tide in the college football playoffs.

Nick Saban vs. Kirby Smart

To be the best and to maintain the top spot, you have to beat the best. Georgia, the SEC Champion, and a 13 game winner are coming off a thrilling 54-48 double over/time victory over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. One of the major storylines that will surround this game is Kirby Smart going up against Nick Saban. Smart, age 42, is 24 years younger than Saban and had plenty of mentorship from one of the greatest as Smart served as the defensive coordinator at Alabama from 2008-2015 winning four National Championships along the way.

“He (Kirby Smart) has done a fantastic job of bringing those players along, getting those players to play with discipline, getting them to play together,” commented Saban on Smart.

“They play hard. They're very relentless, and I think this last game was sort of a reflection on the attitude that he's been able to instill to overcome adversity and come back in a game like they did against Oklahoma.”

Saban is 11-0 against his former assistant coaches and at the start of the season he beat his former offensive coordinator at LSU Jimbo Fisher 24-7 and to end the year, Saban will face off with Kirby Smart who knows Saban and his tendencies better than most.

“It comes down to a lot more than his (Saban) tendencies because his tendencies are very similar to a lot of good coaches: Smart, good decisions, protect the ball, play great defense, kick your butt on special teams,” said Smart during his CFB Championship teleconference.

Power Offense vs. Dominating Defense

While the University of Central Florida has their make-believe National Championship parade, two SEC powers will play for the real title belt in Atlanta, just 72 miles from Athens, Georgia where the Bulldogs have put together an incredible 13-1 season.

Led by a power run game (8th ranked rushing offense in the nation), the Bulldogs have two running backs that have surpassed the 1,000-yard mark this season in Nick Chubb who has rushed for 1,349-yards with 15 touchdowns and Sony Michel who has rushed for 1,142-yards and 16 touchdowns. Against Oklahoma last weekend, Chubb and Michel combined for 326-yards and five touchdowns.

Alabama, a team built on defense and specially built at stopping the run is allowing just 91.8-yards-per-game this season. Against Clemson last weekend, Alabama allowed just 64-yards off 33-attempts which is an average of just 1.9-yards per carry. Alabama has the No. 1 ranked defense in the country overall allowing just 252.4-yards per game which is quite incredible considering the number of injuries the defense has faced this season.

Alabama will be missing linebackers Shaun Dion Hamilton (Knee), Anfernee Jennings (Knee), Dylan Moses (foot) and while Terrell Lewis and Christian Miller are finally healthy, they missed a majority of the season suffering upper body injuries against Florida State in week one.

Keys To The Game

Georgia has to strike early and bring the heat on Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts. Few times this season, have we seen teams come out and put a touchdown right on the board against Alabama. Auburn was able to strike first and gain momentum and Auburn was also able to get heat on Hurts which creating at times chaos for Alabama’s offense and in the end, Alabama was just 3 of 11 on third down conversions which strongly affected the outcome of the game.

Georgia’s defense has sacked the quarterback 31 times this season, forced 11 interceptions, and are allowing opponents to convert third downs just 33.6% of the time.

For Alabama, it’s simply playing mistake-free football on offense and playing with that warrior-like mentality as Saban said following the Sugar Bowl on defense. Field position will also play a key factor in the game as will scoring touchdowns when inside the red-zone. On the season, Alabama has a red-zone touchdown scoring percentage of 70% and while the razzle-dazzle play touchdown from Hurts to Da’Ron Payne was a great call, Alabama has enough power in the backfield to simply run the ball right at Georgia when needed.

In the end, Georgia will run the football and if Alabama is to stop this power rushing attack, Alabama wins this game.

Alabama In Title Games Under Nick Saban

2016 - Clemson 35, Alabama 31

Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson threw a one-yard touchdown to Hunter Renfrow with 1-second on the clock giving the Tigers a four-point victory over Alabama. The Tigers out-gained Alabama 511-yards to 376-yards on the game, Watson was 36 of 56 passing for 420-yards with three touchdowns.

2015 - Alabama 45, Clemson 40

In a game that featured 85 total points, Alabama was able to out-muscle Clemson to their third fourth National Championship under Nick Saban. Alabama quarterback Jake Coker threw for 335-yards with two touchdowns and Derrick Henry ran for 36-carries for 158-yards with three touchdowns. Eddie Jackson recorded an interception and Kenyan Drake returned a kick for a touchdown 95-yards in the fourth quarter.

2012 - Alabama 42, Notre Dame 12

The Fighting Irish ranked No. 1 in the nation was crushed by a power Crimson Tide in Miami, Florida by 28-points. Alabama led by 28-points at the half thanks to two touchdown passes by AJ McCarron and two touchdown runs by Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon. Alabama racked up 529-yards of offense to Notre Dame’s 302-yards and Notre Dame had no answer for Alabama’s balanced attack (264-yards passing and 265-yards rushing). McCarron finished the night 20 of 28 passing with four touchdowns.

2011 - Alabama 21, LSU 0

Nick Saban and company defeated his former LSU Tigers by way of a shutout in the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. In a game of hard-hitting defense, Alabama kicker Jeremy Shelley kicked five field goals and Trent Richardson powered for a 34-yard score to give the Crimson Tide another National Championship. LSU was held to just 92-yards of offense on the night.

2009 - Alabama 37, Texas 21

The Crimson Tide completed the perfect season going 14-0 beating Texas by two touchdowns in Pasadena, California. Alabama running backs Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson combined for 225-yards and four scores. Alabama’s defense forced Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert to throw four interceptions on the evening.

Alabama 12-1 vs. Georgia 13-1

Time: 8PM CT

TV: ESPN

Line: -4 Alabama

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