TV Lineup and Lines Below

Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

It’s Week 14, the SEC Championship Game Week, the week all football fans have been waiting on all season long. Let’s not kid ourselves. Saturday’s affair in the Georgia Dome is THE GAME … the real national title game.

Oh, they will put on what they will call the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 7 in the Rose Bowl. It will be quite a show, out in California and all. But that’s what it will be, a show. Whichever wins Saturday at the Georgia Dome in the SEC title tilt, Florida or Alabama, will be the favorite and should handily defeat whoever the BCS puts up against them – be it Texas, TCU, or Cincinnati, or ……

That is not meant as an insult to the Longhorns, Horned Frogs or anyone else. It’s just the way it is this season.

All season long, it’s been Florida or Alabama at No. 1 and the other at No. 2. Everyone has watched as the Tide and Gators ticked off win after win … everyone holding their breaths, hoping neither would slip. And they didn’t. Now we are here. Both teams come to Atlanta with perfect 12-0 marks. Only one can leave still undefeated.

In a way, it’s too bad the rules have changed, making a 0-0 tie impossible. A co-championship would be fitting, as both teams are truly great.

There are many reasons this should be a great, great football game; much more intriguing that the BCS title game, no matter who is playing.

In the first place, it’s a rematch. The Gators rallied in the fourth quarter last year behind Mr. Everything and Heisman winner Tim Tebow. The feelings have been brewing for a whole year and on Saturday, there will be plenty of players on both sides who were there the year before. That is one reason this writer sees the Tide on top at the end of this one. Bama players have had it drilled into them ever since the end of last year’s defeat … FINISH THE GAME.

The fourth quarter of last year’s title game began with Alabama holding the lead 20-17. Then Florida took over, owning the fourth quarter — running 23 plays to Alabama’s six, dominating in total yardage 130-1 and, most importantly, scoring two unanswered touchdowns to advance to the BCS title game. That’s why the win at Auburn, or more correctly stated, the way Alabama won at Auburn, is so important for success in the Georgia Dome this Saturday.

At Auburn, Bama found itself at a point it had not been previously — in a hole in which it had to step up and perform or lose. The Tide trailed by one point in the fourth period before a loud and hostile crowd. In some years, Bama would have wilted at that point. Instead, they went on a 15-play, 79-yard touchdown drive to take it’s first lead in the game with just over a minute to play.

The Tide stared adversity in the face and won. They needed that experience because they could be there again on Saturday — just where the Gators found themselves last year! This time it will be Bama’s chance to come through.

Tebow was the main reason for the Gators’ fourth-quarter success in last year’s win. The Gator QB displayed uncanny accuracy in the last two TD drives, completing pass after pass on key downs. Bama defenders were for the most part in the right place and at there at the right time, but Tebow would time and time again put the football in the exact spot where his guy could catch it and the defender couldn’t do anything about it. The best, maybe the only, way to neutralize that on Saturday is for the Tide to have a better pass rush, don’t give him time to throw … sacks and more sacks will be the key.

This game features two of the nation’s two top defenses. Under Saban, Bama has made a habit of winning the old-fashioned way, with emphasis on “D” — really little different than in the Bear Bryant era. But looking at the numbers, something will have to give: common wisdom and a poll of other SEC coaches predict a defensive and low scoring battle … but history tells a different tale. History says that if Bama wins, the score will be 34-to-something!

Alabama has played six games in the Georgia Dome, with an even split, a 3-3 record. Bama has beaten Florida (1999 league title game), Clemson last year and Virgina Tech to start off this season. In each of its three wins, the Tide scored 34 points. And, coincidently, Alabama has scored 34 points in each of its past four victories in games played indoors, beginning that streak with its 34-13 win over Miami in the Superdome in the 1993 Sugar Bowl — which, again coincidently, led to Bama’s last national championship.

Both teams come into the game riding winning streaks … of a different kind. Florida has won 22 consecutive games, the nation’s longest winning streak. Alabama has a 20-game win string in regular season games, which won’t be affected Saturday, win or lose.

Lots of “firsts” in this one, too. This is the first time two undefeated teams have played for the SEC title. The teams are the first two to finish with 8-0 league marks in the same season. And here are a couple of more interesting “streaks” to consider that could make which team scores first on Saturday a very important statistic. You see, Alabama has won 22 consecutive games in which it has scored first. Florida is even better, having won 26 straight games in which it has scored first. Florida, under head coach Urban Myer, has lost just once (43-1) when it has scored first.

Alabama, for the first time all season and the first time since last year’s SEC title game, comes into this one as the underdog (Line: Florida by 5½).. Not many places where Alabama has a losing record as far as football in concerned. But the SEC title game is one. Bama has played in six SEC championship games and has a 2-4 record in them. Florida has been the opponent in every game.

The game will also serve as a Heisman Trophy audition for Bama running back Mark Ingram and Florida QB Tebow, who are 1-2 in Heisman voting forecasts. With voters casting votes after the game, who shows up best on Saturday could well take home the prize.

JUST LIKE BEAR … as long as he wears the Crimson and White, Nick Saban will always be compared to Bear Bryant … but the comparison is always favorable. The Bear is the winningest and most successful coach to ever walk the Alabama sidelines, no argument from anyone. But with every great season and with every championship — like the one he will win Saturday and then in January in the Rose Bowl — Saban grows closer to Bear in stature. Both have a lot in common. They will have even more after Saturday.

A win by the Tide would make Saban the second coach to ever win SEC championships at two different schools. Saban, if you don’t remember, used to coach at LSU, where he led the Bengal Tigers to two national and league championships in 2001 and 2003. That other two-title coach was, or course, The Bear, who led the Kentucky Wildcats to the 1950 SEC title before “coming home” to Tuscaloosa and leading Alabama to 13 league crowns.

And a last thought. What if Texas loses to Nebraska in the Big 12 title game? What is Cincinnati falls against Pittsburgh Saturday. Would the BCS really let gate crashers TCU or Boise State into the title game, even if they are undefeated? Or could it be that the BCS folks would decide that everyone would rather see a replay of the SEC championship game on Jan. 7?

Is that too much to hope for — that Saturday’s game is only a preview, a first round? Anyway, no matter how all that comes out … or who wins Saturday in Atlanta. The real winner with No. 1 playing No. 2 for the league title is the SEC. No one can argue. As far as football is concerned, in 2009 the SEC top dog once again.

WEEKEND TV LINEUP
Of course, there are several other games on this week’s national football lineup that are big in their particular area. Most are conference championship games or traditional rivalry games. Almost every football game being played on this sparse Week 14 schedule is being televised. Here is the Saturday viewing schedule (except pay-for-view):

10:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Hawaii (ESPN2)

Tags: Albama Football, Florida Gators, Georgia Dome, National Championship, SEC Title

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.