Now that Christmas has wrapped
up and we start planning on a New Year’s resolution to start exercising and
dieting to lose that extra weight we all put on over this past weekend, we can
also start looking at the major college bowls that will be played on New Year’s
Eve and New Year’s Day. The College Football Playoff that went into effect last
year has expanded the major bowls from four in the old days of the BCS system
(those bowls were the Fiesta, Rose, Orange and Sugar) to six (the Cotton and
Peach are now included.) The CFP semi-finals are rotated among the six bowls
each year. Last year it was the Rose and the Sugar, this year will be the
Cotton and the Orange.
Today we will look at the
Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl, the CFP semi-final games that will take place
on New Year’s Eve. The winners of these games will play for the College
Football National Championship on January 11.
The Orange Bowl will kick off at
4 pm on New Year’s Eve with the undefeated, number one ranked Clemson Tigers
taking on the number four seed Oklahoma Sooners. The Tigers are in pursuit of
their first National Championship since 1981 and are the ACC championships
having won all thirteen of their games.
After having come into the
season ranked only at number 12 in the national polls, Clemson quickly asserted
itself as a contender by beating the number six Notre Dame Fighting Irish in
the fourth week of the season. After beating the pre-season ACC favourite
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets the following week (hard to believe GT was favoured
to win the ACC after their pitiful season) and Boston College in Week 6,
Clemson thrashed the Miami Hurricanes by a score of 58-0.
By the end of the season,
though, Clemson seemed to struggle a bit in finishing with their unbeaten
record. The regular season finale, against intra-state rival South Carolina,
ended in a 37-32 win for the Tigers. The Gamecocks had not played well for the
entire season, but almost managed to pull off the upset. Then there was the ACC
Championship Game against North Carolina, where the Tigers finished the game
with a 45-37 victory. So while the offense has lit up opponents all season, the
defense has been a bit suspect and that could cause some concern against
Oklahoma.
The Sooners are the Big-12
Champions and are coming into the Orange Bowl on quite a roll. An 11-1 season
saw Oklahoma suffer their only lost against a mediocre Texas Longhorns team
back in October. The worst performance of the year for the Sooners, obviously,
seemed to wake them up as they scored more than 50 points in five of their
final seven games. Being led by quarterback, Baker Mayfield and running back,
Samaje Perine, the Sooners must be licking their chops for a shot at Clemson’s
defense and are looking for a shot to put up 50 once more.
The question is whether or not
the Oklahoma defense will be able to contain Deshaun Watson. The Tigers’
quarterback had an exceptional season, throwing for 3512 yards and 30
touchdowns, while also rushing for 887 yards and 11 touchdowns. Watson can beat
you by himself in the air and on the ground. If Oklahoma can stop him, they can
win. But no one has been able to stop him thus far in 2015.
Look for a high-scoring game
with Clemson winning a squeaker in the end.
Prediction: Clemson-45, Oklahoma-41
As
for the Cotton Bowl, which is finally significant again after being spurned by
the BCS, the Alabama Crimson Tide, ranked number two, get another shot at a Big
Ten team in the CFP semi-final after faltering against Ohio State in last
year’s Sugar Bowl. The Tide are the only team from last year’s final four to
make it again and are looking for their fourth NCAA championship in the last
seven years under head coach, Nick Saban.
Once again, the same as in 2014,
Alabama’s only loss in their road to the SEC championship was at the hands of
Ole Miss. The Rebels seem to have the Tide’s number, but Bama rebounded quite
nicely after the loss in September.
Alabama is led offensively by
quarterback, Jake Coker (2489 passing yards and 17 touchdowns) and by
Heisman-winning running back, Derrick Henry. On his way to the Heisman, Henry
broke the SEC rushing record with 1986 yards and carried the ball into the end
zone 23 times. He also captured the Doak Walker Award (NCAA’s top running
back), the Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year voted by the media and
NCAA head coaches) and the Walter Camp Award (Player of the year voted by the
NCAA head coaches—no, I don’t know why the head coaches vote on two awards).
Even though Henry got off to a
slow start in the SEC Championship Game (although a strong second half brought his rush total to almost 190), Bama’s defense stifled the Florida
Gators and will be looking to do the same to Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.
The Spartans, the Big Ten Champs
after having knocked off Ohio State back in November and defeated previously
undefeated Iowa in the Big Ten championship game, will be looking to upset the
Tide this year, much as the Buckeyes did last year. The Spartans lost one
game—a shocking upset at the hands of the 5-7 Nebraska Cornhuskers back in
October. After watching the Spartans in every other game this year, it’s hard
to figure that loss out. But it doesn’t matter any more as MSU is only two
victories away from being the second Big Ten team to win the CFP.
On offense, the Spartans are led
by quarterback, Connor Cook, who threw for 2921 yards and 24 touchdowns despite
missing the game against Ohio State. Michigan State’s defense is ranked seventh
in the nation against the run, but that ranking will be put to the test when
they square off against Henry and the Tide’s offensive line.
As much as I am a Big Ten
supporter, I don’t think the Spartans will pull off the upset that Ohio State
did last year. I expect Alabama to jump ahead quickly and continue to pull away
for the duration of the game. The Tide will win big.
Prediction: Alabama-38, Michigan State-14
If my predictions hold true and
Alabama and Clemson play in the Championship game on January 11, I would expect
the Tide to win their fourth title while under Saban. Their defense will be
able to stop Deshaun Watson and the Tigers’ defense will have their hands full
with Derrick Henry.
CFP Final Prediction: Alabama-42,
Clemson-27
Follow us on Twitter at @topofthethird
Like us on Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment