The SEC Championship game offers an interesting potential scenario: if Alabama loses, will the CFP committee leave the SEC out of the Final Four? Alabama made a strong case to be the No. 1 seed when the College Football Playoff parings are announced Sunday.
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He tied the SEC record for touchdowns in a season (23) and eclipsed Herschel Walker’s 34-year-old conference mark for rushing yards in a year, pushing his total to 1,986 with at least one more game still to come.
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Defense was the story of the game for Alabama, especially early as the offense sputtered.
The front seven churned out five sacks and nine tackles for loss that resulted in a loss of 42 yards. Henry ran hard and well. Defensively, the Alabama football yields 185.8 yards in passing and 78.9 yards in rushing.
Henry, who rushed for the most yards against UF’s defense this season, praised the unit after the game.
While it was only a two-touchdown victory, the score was not representative of the beatdown No. 2 Alabama (12-1) placed on No. 18 Florida (10-3). The Tide ranked first in rushing defense in the F.B.S., yielding 78.9 yards per game. A first down! Florida had 81 yards of offense midway through the fourth quarter. The Tigers collapsed and then clawed back to No. 21 in the Playoff rankings, so this does count as a high-quality win. This could have been a loss that reinforced national perceptions of the Gators as a laughingstock; instead, it really just showed that Florida needs a quarterback better than Harris desperately. The Crimson Tide are heavily favored to win given their tough defense and number two rank. Alabama held the ball for over 43 minutes, mostly because the Florida offense was so inept, but also because Derrick Henry ran 44 times for 189 yards pounding, pounding, and pounding some more. The Tide led just 12-7 at the break, scoring a safety off a blocked punt, settling for a field goal after a long drive, and turning it over deep in Florida territory.
Florida got on the board early in the second quarter by way of an Antonio Callaway punt return touchdown, which gave the Gators a 7-2 lead. The Jake Coker that started the 2015 season must be planted in people’s minds, but that isn’t the Jake Coker now playing quarterback.
The Tide scored a touchdown two plays later to take the lead. None resulted in points for Florida, and one ended with a 40-yard field-goal attempt that was blocked.
ATLANTA | There was a point in the fourth quarter when Florida had 82 yards of total offense. Alabama had easy second and third down situations, Florida didn’t.
Make no mistake, the Tide are terrific on defense stopping the run, forcing teams into predictable situations and thriving in them.
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Redshirt sophomore ArDarius Stewart had four catches for 64 yards and a score. “He’s our quarterback and I’m glad he’s our quarterback”.
