A Florida interception was returned deep into Gators territory and the field position was converted into a field goal despite Alabama losing yards on the drive. The Gators have scored just one TD in their last 10 quarters.
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And it still wasn’t good enough.
From defense to special teams or offense, Alabama’s tight hold in every department of the field had made the team a force to reckon with this very season.
Top-ranked Alabama has such a cushion in the College Football Playoff rankings that it will qualify for the four-team national championship competition even if it should lose to No. 16 Florida in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game at Atlanta.
The Crimson Tide’s 33 first-half points – the most in SEC Championship game history – were accumulated mostly because of three interceptions of Austin Appleby passes and a blocked punt.
I have to take the Gators and the points in this one. “I’ve been an underdog and we’ve come out and beat a lot of teams being underdogs, so it doesn’t really change (anything)”.
Alabama will be the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoffs, and will draw the No. 4 seed when the final pairings are announced Sunday.
Alabama finished with the second-most points ever scored on the Gators, topped only by Florida’s 62-24 loss to Nebraska for the national title in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. “This is a big game for us”.
And for coach Jim McElwain, this week has been anything but consistent with the rest of the season. Let’s add an offensive touchdown and two field goals to make things interesting.
“It wasn’t ideal”, Foster said. We had to persevere, overcome some hard times, but it came through. The individual awards season begins the next week, with numerous members of the Crimson Tide due to appear at various ceremonies in hopes of bringing home hardware for the Alabama football program. It looked like they had a chance after stopping Alabama on the ensuing drive, but the Tide then reeled off 16 straight points – despite only getting negative yards on offense. They’re 5-2-1 against the number in their last eight games coming off a loss as well. But why complain? Appleby is what he is; the best of a bad crop of quarterbacks; a Purdue transfer who ironically was benched by the Boilermakers after a three-pick game against Virginia Tech last season.
“That’s one of those deals …”
“It seems hard to believe it won’t be here for us next year”, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said.
With roughly a month to go until the start of the playoffs, working to develop the passing game will surely be near the top of Saban’s list of priorities. “It will get done”. “We still have work left to do”, Hokies coach Justin Fuente said. “They came and laid it on the line today”. It is worth mentioning that the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern and Western Division winners will face each other in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome for the ninth time. I will tell you, I didn’t come here to be close. “We had our opportunities last couple games, yet the mindset of finishing is something we have to do”.
Roughly three minutes later, Alabama’s Joshua Jacobs retuned a blocked Florida punt 27 yards for a touchdown to put the Crimson Tide up 16-7.
Overall, Alabama has scored 14 non-offensive touchdowns, but none previously since an October 22 win over Texas A&M.
Florida struck first with an Antonio Callaway touchdown catch.
However, McElwain ordered up three running plays that were stuffed in short order and Appleby was hurried into an incompletion by Dalvin Tomlinson on fourth down. UF’s injury-depleted defense struggles against balanced offenses; Alabama’s offense has great balance and dynamic playmakers, including sensational freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts. You need a Johnny Manziel or who-cares-go-deep Chad Kelly. “It just means a lot”. “There was a little confusion, matchup issues relative to things we hadn’t practiced”.
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Saban: I think we’ve done a good job.
