Shelby is confident in a Crimson Tide victory, accrediting the team’s assumed preparation to famed football coach Nick Saban.
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The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Washington Huskies meet in the first of two College Football Playoffs on Saturday at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
Washington advances to the CFP as a +1000 longshot to take the title after recording a 12-win season for the first time since claiming its last national championship 25 years ago.
“There are some similarities”, Pruitt said during Thursday’s Peach Bowl media day at the Georgia Dome. It’s hard to imagine them staying close, much less beating, what some feel might be the greatest team ever.
Trick plays have another advantage: They can give the underdog confidence.
WATCH YOUR BACK: Petersen’s reputation as a gambling, creative coach who isn’t afraid to try just about anything was forever sealed at the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, when his Boise State team pulled off three improbable plays to beat Oklahoma. “Anybody that won the championship, you had to go through them”, Browning said Tuesday from the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta. Washington rushed for just 17 yards and quarterback Jake Browning was sacked three times and threw two interceptions, buckling under the pressure from USC’s young but improving defensive front.
If the Tide has even a sliver of a weakness – and this is a reach, given that Jalen Hurts was named the SEC’s offensive player of the year – it’s that their quarterback is a freshman. The Huskies forced an FBS-high 33 turnovers, 19 on interceptions. Bailey’s total is a Pac-12 record.
Both Alabama and Washington have had some tough injury luck down the stretch (oddly enough, with similar freakish bone breaks.) Our readers know how Alabama adjusted its lineup, but how has Washington worked around the loss of junior mike LB Azeem Victor and DE Joe Mathis, who at the time led the Huskies in sacks? “And we work it a lot in the off-season, through the season, emphasizing turnovers”. “These guys are really explosive on offense”.
During the joint head coach press conference at the Peach Bowl, Washington coach Chris Peterson joked that Alabama coach Nick Saban should take the role.
It appears oddsmakers are favoring Alabama due to its incredible win streak – 25 consecutive victories dating back to last season – and its dominant defense over the Huskies high-powered offense while considering the Buckeyes and Tigers to be nearly equally matched.
On those rare occasions when the Crimson Tide have lost in recent years, they’ve turned the ball over.
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“Sometimes you kind of think it’s a moment like, ‘Boy, I’d sure like to have my space, ‘ but we kind of understand where (the attention) comes from”. “We’re in an opportunity where if we want to win the championship you got to go through Alabama”. Alabama allows just 2.0 yards a carry (best in the nation). “So looking forward to it”. Numerous same football bettors who often fear Nick Saban and pledge an allegiance to Alabama are turning into traitors.
