Alabama escaped the Georgia Dome Saturday with a 32-28 win over the Georgia Bulldogs to win the team's 23rd SEC Championship. The Crimson Tide scored the winning touchdown on a 45-yard pass from AJ McCarron to Amari Cooper with 3:15 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs drove to the eight in the final seconds with a chance to win, but a tipped pass was diverted from the intended receiver, instead going to Chris Conley, who came down with the ball at the five yard line as time expired. The second-ranked Crimson Tide will go on to play number-one Notre Dame in the BCS Championship Game in Miami, while Georgia will, unfortunately, be relegated to a second-tier bowl, possibly the Capital One or the Cotton.
1. Tide Wins by Going Back to Basics.
The unanimous opinion of Alabama fans following the Texas A&M game was that the Tide largely abandoned the run game in the loss to the Aggies. While that may not have been entirely true, offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier's playcalling in the red zone late against A&M seemed to forego running the ball for the pass. Early success against the Bulldogs rushing the ball, as well as significant pressure from the UGA defense on passing downs, led the Tide to rely heavily on the running game Saturday. Alabama set at least two running records in the game, rushing for 350 yards as a team (most in SECCG history), and having two backs rush for over 100 yards. Eddie Lacy, who won the game's MVP trophy, had 181 yards on 20 carries - an amazing 9.1 yard per carry average. Lacy had two touchdowns, including a 41-yard effort that was a sight to behold. Freshman sensation T. J. Yeldon carried 25 times for 153 yards, and also had a touchdown run. The Tide's success running the ball led to the team's most unbalanced offensive effort of the season - 51 rushing attempts versus only 21 passes. The game-winning pass actually came about as a result of this effort, as Georgia had gone to an eight man front with man-to-man coverage on the outside receivers in an effort to stop the run. McCarron executed a play-action pass to perfection and hit Amari Cooper in stride to take the final lead of the game.
2. Georgia Proved Ready for the Big Game.
Much was made in the lead up to this game of the fact that Georgia, under head coach Mark Richt, has had a tendency to underperform in big games. In addition, the knock on Bulldog quarterback Aaron Murray, who recently became the first signal caller in SEC history to throw for 3000+ yards in three straight seasons, has been that he has dominated weaker opponents, but played his worst in big games. I personally felt that, despite the loss, Georgia had its best big-game performance since the 2008 Sugar Bowl win over Hawaii. First, keep in mind that the Bulldogs were one play away from the win in the biggest game of Richt's career. Murray completed 18 of 33 passes for 265 yards - a 55% rate of completion. Murray was able to direct the Bulldogs up and down the field on the nation's top defense, and threw accurately in pressure situations. Murray wasn't error-free, by any means, but he clearly performed well enough to win. Even the alleged poor clock management at the end of the game was arguably better than Alabama's management of the clock at the end of the first half. All in all, Georgia played its heart out and came up short. That should be a welcome sight to Bulldogs fans who had been disappointed with previous efforts in marquee games.
3. Nick Saban is the Greatest College Football Coach of this Era.
I made a point in one of last week's pieces that Alabama coach Nick Saban, who has won 67 of his 80 games at Alabama on the field (officially, his record is 62-13, as Alabama had to vacate five wins in 2007), has outperformed Bear Bryant in his career so far at Alabama. Bryant won a record six national championships, coached 13 conference championship teams (plus two others before Alabama), and won a then-record 323 games. None of those marks are within Saban's reach. However, Saban has won 83.8% of his actual games at Alabama, and officially he has won 82.7%. Both marks exceed the 82.4% winning percentage that Bryant had at Alabama. Saban has also now won two national titles,with a third win one game away, and two conference titles - all in six seasons at the helm. He is the only coach in the BCS era to win the national title at two different schools, the only one to win it three times, and the only one to get his teams into the game four times. Unlike Bryant, he has done this in an era with scholarship limitations and NCAA scrutiny at an all-time high. I'm not arguing that Saban is better than Bryant, and it might even be a lively debate whether or not Saban is the second-best coach in Alabama history (although I think he edges out both Frank Thomas and Wallace Wade at this point, and closes the book with a win over Notre Dame). However, he is indisputably the best college football coach in this era. The fact that Alabama's then-record $4 million-a-year contract offer to woo Saban from the Miami Dolphins in 2007 was heavily criticized now seems laughable. Even at nearly six million dollars a year at this point, Saban is worth every penny and then some. Alabama is enjoying another historic high point, and fans should savor every moment.
4. Notre Dame versus Alabama BCS Will Be Epic
Let's set aside for a moment the game itself. There will be plenty of time to analyze the personnel, coaches, and position matchups in the weeks leading up to January 7th. I just want to talk about the historic significance of the game. On the one hand, you have top-ranked Notre Dame - currently number 1 in the nation in overall winning percentage and fourth nationally in all-time wins (865-301-41). The Fighting Irish have won 13 recognized national championships (although the program only claims 11) out of 23 total, and have played in 31 bowl games. The Irish have seven Heisman winners and 96 consensus All-Americans, both NCAA records. On the other hand you have Alabama. The Crimson Tide is currently seventh in the nation in overall winning percentage and in all-time wins (826-321-43). Alabama has won 13 recognized national titles (claiming 14) out of 31 total, and have played in 58 bowl games, winning 33, both of which are NCAA records. Bama has one Heisman winner and 47 consensus All-Americans.
The two teams are arguably the two greatest programs in college football history, with large, loyal fan bases. Notre Dame supposedly has the largest following in the nation, but has been largely absent from the national stage competitively since the late 1990s. Alabama conversely is in the midst of the program's third major "golden age," playing for its third national title in four years, and the Southeastern Conference is having an unprecedented title run. The media and public attention for this game will be astronomical, and ESPN is already rubbing its collective hands together at the projected ratings. The fact that these teams have won the most recognized championships among FBS schools and have some previous championship game history (which frankly is completely in Notre Dame's favor) just makes the pairing more attractive to fans of the two teams. Notre Dame has a 5-1 record against Alabama, and I am really looking forward to an opportunity to even that up a little. Roll Tide!
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