Matt Bush, FISM News
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The college football playoff kicks off at 3:30 today with the top four teams in the nation playing for the National Championship. The winner of the two playoff games will play on January 10 in Indianapolis for the College Football National Championship.
In the Cotton Bowl, the first game of the playoff doubleheader, no. 1 ranked Alabama will take on no. 4 Cincinnati. After Alabama’s dominating win over Georgia in the SEC Championship, the odds are stacked in their favor to be playing on January 10. Alabama is an almost two touchdown favorite, and we expect them to win by 14 or more.
The Alabama – Cincinnati game should come down to speed and size. Cincinnati has never seen athletes like they have at Alabama where, in the words of Urban Meyer, coaching in the NFL is like “playing Alabama every week.” The sheer number of athletes and talent difference for Alabama should be easy to see and should lead to an easy win for the Crimson Tide. The key will be the line of scrimmage where Alabama should dominate. For Cincinnati to pull off the upset, they will have to win the line of scrimmage.
The Orange Bowl will feature a more even matchup of two power-five teams with great tradition. Georgia will be looking for its first National Championship since 1980, and Michigan is looking to step out of the “Ohio State-sized shadow” they have been living under for the past 20 years. It should be a great defensive matchup where, before Alabama scored 40 on them in the SEC Championship, Georgia was holding opponents to under 10 points per game.
The Orange Bowl should be a low-scoring affair and look for the first team to score 10 points to win the game. Even in the Big 10 Championship, it took a couple of long runs and some trick plays for Michigan to put points on the board. Georgia, on the other hand, was totally outclassed by Alabama, but they have a five-star quarterback in J.T. Daniels sitting on the bench waiting to get in. Georgia is favored by a touchdown, and that line seems fair as Georgia is probably about a touchdown better than Michigan.
Here are the five major storylines we will be looking at:
- Who will be the first to “10” when Georgia’s top-ranked defense plays against a Michigan defensive front line that is as good as any we have ever seen?
- Will Cincinnati be able to compete with Alabama at the line of scrimmage?
- Will the SEC continue its National Championship dominance?
- Is Kirby Smart afraid to start a five-star quarterback?
- Does a school outside of the power five deserve to be in the playoff?
Expect an all-SEC National Championship game on January 10 and a rematch of the SEC Championship from earlier this month. If Kirby Smart remains loyal to his walk-on quarterback, Stetson Bennet, and Daniels remains on the bench, Georgia may not even make it out of the Orange Bowl. If Smart can overcome his aversion to playing a five-star quarterback, then Georgia could win its first National Championship in over 40 years.