In a most unusual college football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at least one thing returned to normal: Alabama is back in the College Football Playoff. After a one-year sojourn, the Crimson Tide returned to the CFP following an undefeated season, marking the sixth time in seven editions of the current selection system Alabama will compete for the national championship.
Alabama finished with the joint best record in college football at 11-0 and went wire to wire as CFP’s top-ranked team, capping their impressive season with a 52-46 win over the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship.
Watch No. 1 Alabama take on No. 4 Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl live Friday on TSN1/4/5, TSN Direct and the TSN App beginning at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT
Other impressive wins on Alabama’s resume include early season routs over then-No. 13 Texas A&M (52-24), and then-No. 3 Georgia (41-24), and big wins later in the season over rivals Auburn (42-13) and LSU (55-17).
The Crimson Tide now have their sights on the CFP National Championship and to get there they’ll have to go through the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame held on to their spot in the Playoff despite a lopsided 34-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship to end their regular season.
The Fighting Irish had orchestrated a very successful season up until that point, going undefeated in their first 10 games including wins over ranked opponents North Carolina (31-17), and Clemson (47-40, albeit a COVID-19 depleted Tigers team that was missing quarterback and Heisman finalist Trevor Lawrence for the game.
Players to watch
Alabama: Let’s start with the Canadian, receiver John Metchie III. The sophomore from Brampton, ON finished the regular season with 44 receptions for 782 yards and six touchdowns, good for second on the team in receiving.
Metchie’s running mate in the receiving corps, DeVonta Smith, is one of two Heisman finalists on Alabama, alongside QB Mac Jones. Smith led the country in receiving with 98 receptions and 1,511 yards, and was second in touchdowns with 17. Jones was second in country in passing yards with 3,739 and also finished with 32 touchdowns and just four interceptions. If Smith of Jones wins, they would be just the third Crimson Tide player to capture the Heisman after running backs Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry, and Smith would be the first receiver to earn college football’s most prestigious individual award since Desmond Howard in 1991, who also earned the honour for his kick returning.
Other Crimson Tide players named first team All-Americans include running back Najee Harris, offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood and Landon Dickerson, and cornerback Patrick Surtain.
Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish are led by senior QB Ian Book. Book finished the year with 2,600 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and two interceptions, adding another 430 yards and eight scores on the ground.
Notre Dame also finished the year with two first team All-Americans: offensive guard Aaron Brooks and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
Michael Simmons’ TSN Edge outlook
Spread: Alabama -19.5
Total: 65.5
Alabama is an offensive machine once again this season. Mac Jones, Devonta Smith and Najee Harris are three of the best at their positions in all of college football, while John Metchie is no slouch either. Nobody has managed to stop or even slow down this offence. While Notre Dame has played some good defence overall, they did struggle in both games against Clemson when the level of competition increased. The Irish do have a good running game though and Ian Book can make some plays down the field against an Alabama secondary that has some holes in it. As much as there is a chance Alabama just rolls here, 19.5 points is a lot for a playoff game, so I’m just going to take the over here as well as the Alabama team total over.
The Pick: Over 65.5 and Alabama over 42.5
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