Now that the Iron Bowl and the Florida/Florida State games are out of the way, its time to talk about the game EVERYONE is talking about. The SEC Championship game.If you are a fan of the BCS, you love this game. You will get a guaranteed undefeated team in your national title game and are saved at least some controversy.
If you are a fan of a playoff: you love this game. This game IS a playoff. It is functionally a nationally semi-final matchup.
The History:
Since the SEC Championship game was introduced in 1992, Alabama has faced Florida 6 times with Florida coming out on top in four of them. This was the matchup in the first three games, four out of five, and five out of the first 8. But after 1999, it took 9 years for the teams to renew hostilities in Atlanta. Alabama won the first game 28-21 en-route to the 1992 national championship. Florida took the next three including a 24-23 thriller in 1994 that knocked Alabama out of a perfect season.The 1999 game was one of the greatest in Alabama history though. The teams played in the regular season with Alabama winning 40-39 in overtime. Everyone thought that was a fluke and Florida would dominate the title game --- they did not. Alabama won 34-7 and ended up in the Orange Bowl vs. Michigan against some mediocre quarterback named Tom Brady - I know, I haven't heard of him either.
Last season was another national semi-final with Alabama undefeated and #1 vs. one-loss and #2 Florida. Alabama actually lead the game going into the 4th quarter 20-17, but a great gutty performance by Tim Tebow leading the Gators to two 4th quarter touchdowns was the difference in the ballgame.I love this matchup. This is what major college football is about. A clash of the titans for the right to play for it all. Check back later this week for analysis and prediction on the game.
Earlier I thought Alabama might open up as 3 point favorites in this one, but after that Iron Bowl there are some weaknesses. And after the demolition of Florida State I witnessed today, Florida is looking pretty unstoppable. I think Florida will open up as favorites. We shall see though.
So here we are. One week until the big game. Who are you picking? Leave a comment with your title game predictions and thoughts.
Check back later this week for analysis and predictions on the game.
I'm finding it hard to predict. Up until the Iron Bowl, I thought Bama had a much better chance to win this game than last year. That said, the Iron Bowl hasn't completely diminished my hopes. If Bama can use the extra day wisely, bring some more passion into this game than they did at Auburn, and find a way to break through a Florida defense that is much better than the Auburn defense that stifled Ingram yesterday, we can dominate. I'm not worried about the matchup between their offense and our defense. I'm confident that our defense will give the O a chance to win the game. The question for me is if we can get the running game going AND if McElroy can perform as well in clutch situations as he did last week.
ReplyDeleteIn the end I pick Bama (with some bias of course), but not by much. I think it will be a great game either way.
Also. On the one hand it's kind of cool that we keep meeting Florida in the title game but I think it would be interesting to see some other teams at some point as well. It would be pretty exciting to see a UA-UT rematch in the Georgia dome some year if both teams are good.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see us play Georgia one year. I was hopefully for it this season but obviously that didn't work out.
ReplyDeleteBoth defenses are stout but their offense is better for sure. Thats too simplistic an argument though. I'm not sure of my pick yet, but either way I think it will be a very good very close game
I'm calling Florida as a 3 point favorite when the line comes out.
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