The Roll Tide Will Never Die

By: Joey Puzino

The 2018 college football playoffs are almost amongst the people of the world and as known Alabama has the number one seed, and they will win the National Championship. The four teams in the college football are the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Clemson Tigers, the Oklahoma Sooners, and the Alabama Crimson Tide. These two games are set to play on the 29th of December where Notre Dame will play Clemson in the 4 o’clock window (pm) and Alabama will take on the Oklahoma Sooners at 8:00 pm. These game should be a show to watch since all of these four teams combined have a total of 1 lost game and 50 combined wins. The team that possesses the one lost is Oklahoma is against the Texas Longhorns in a thrilling game where they lost 48-45 on October the sixth. Now the only non-undefeated in the college playoffs will have to go against the most dominant team in National Collegiate Athletic Association.

My prediction for the National Championship matchup is going to be between Alabama Crimson Tide and The Clemson Tigers, because of many reasons especially for how talented their quarterbacks are. I predict Clemson beating Notre Dame in the first round of the playoffs because Notre Dame is based in the Independent team’s division which means they are in no set conference. Clemson belongs to the Atlantic Coast Conference which goes against competition at a mediocre level but better than Notre Dame’s. Notre Dame has come into some close games over this past year against teams that do not have talent even close towards the talent Clemson owns. Clemson’s competition this year has mediocre going against 2 ranked teams in the league while going against a couple small division 1 schools and their rival Auburn. Clemson is able to run the ball differently with having 4 running backs to split the workloads and are able to throw it down the field to the receivers. The Tigers are successful for not having to rely on two players out of the whole team such as NFL teams like the Giants or the Jaguars who have not had success through their year. Clemson is experienced in the playoffs, they won a championship two years ago and are known veterans in these playoff experiences. Even known many will say the team doesn’t have the quarterback as they do today since their championship quarterback is playing the National Football League. Clemson is working with a true- freshman in Trevor Lawrence who has been playing above his standards and has all the players, also the coaching staff he needs to get into the championship game. Notre Dame is seen as the underdog in the playoffs, while not playing the greatest competition, plus almost losing a good amount of those games. They do have a chance lately playoffs in all sports have been dominated by the underdog teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, The Chicago Cubs, and almost the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Also, the Clemson defense is arguably the best in the country and if they are able to create turnovers faster than the Notre Dame offense can create points this game will be over fast. Clemson vs. Alabama for the second time in three years, gonna be a game to watch.

Now the real matchup everyone in America should be watching is the high rolling Crimson Tide against the fantastic Oklahoma Sooners. As already known Alabama will win this game and the National Championship because of their coaching, their experience, and their talent in almost every single position. The Sooners do have a chance to pull an upset against Alabama but it is a slight chance because they haven’t gone against a team like this yet in the 2018 season. They are part of the Big 12 that is not known for its talent in football and also does not go against teams that Alabama does in the SEC (Southeastern Conference). Oklahoma does have currently the best wide receiver and quarterback combination in the NCAA right now and will definitely be using it in the game. But the Alabama defense is well- balanced, has a great pass rush, great coaching, and will able to create turnovers to put a dent into the Oklahoma offense. Kyler Murray may be the reigning Heisman Trophy winner but one player cannot play against all of Alabama. Murray and Tua Tagovailoa, the Alabama Quarterback, both competed for the trophy and Murray took the trophy into his car that night. Many people believed that Tua was “snubbed” of the trophy and deserve the trophy more than Murray. In my opinion that is a fact, this is a fact because Tua has been going against the greatest schools in the country while Kyler has been going against schools that have never even made it to the top 25 rankings in school history, and almost lost a good amount of them. Now Tua over the year threw 3 fewer interceptions than Murray while going against better defenses that are known for creating turnovers. My three main reasons for Alabama to win this first playoff game are both Nick Saban(Alabama Head Coach) has had more than enough experience, Kyler Murray hasn’t experienced defense like Alabama’s, and lastly, Alabama is the greatest college football team ever created.

For the finale to take home the trophy will be held between two extremely talented teams of Clemson and Alabama, but Alabama will win. Alabama has been here before against this team will a somewhat similar team if not even better with more talent on their offensive line and their sensational quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. While Clemson has lost important players over the years of Deshaun Watson, who was somehow able to beat the Crimson Tide two years ago. Sadly the viewers and the students at Clemson will not be experiencing the same reality unless one thing happens throughout the game. If Clemson is able to create turnovers through interceptions instead of fumbles, Alabama will have to turn towards keeping the ball on the ground and running for a decent portion of the game. This is will not allow Tua to catch fire and create touchdowns in clutch moments of the game. The Alabama run game is not exactly bad as they are lead by their strong offensive line, Alabama just will not be able to run the score up nearly as much if Tua is throwing deep while staying in the pocket. For the Alabama win, they need to make turnovers all over the field and give the pigskin to Tua to have him make plays that not even Tom Brady can do. Nick Saban has trust in this kid and knows he is trustworthy with the ball, but from a statistical standpoint, the Alabama air attack is not the key. Tua has almost 1,000 less passing yards than Kyler Murray but is able to keep a game rolling better. On January 8th Alabama will be driving home with their 18th National Championship trophy sitting in the back. Roll Tide Roll.