As December 29th approaches four college football teams prepare to compete for a national title. Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma have managed to separate themselves in the eyes of the playoff committee and will take part in this years playoff. While most experts are expecting Alabama to claim their second consecutive championship and continue their dominance over college football, the other three teams have legitimate chances at taking down the Crimson Tide and bring some parity to the game. As the four teams wrap up their final preparations for Saturday our Analytic Sports team is ready to make their predictions for the semi-final match ups.
Orange Bowl- Alabama vs Oklahoma
On paper, this is the most intriguing game of the playoff. Heisman winner Kyler Murray leads the nations best offense against Heisman runner-up Tua Tagovailoa and the nations top team. Murray and the Sooners have put on an offensive clinic all season, making it look routine when scoring more than 40 points. Lincoln Reily’s spread attack creates holes in the defenses and emphasizes creating mismatches on the field. The depth of weapons forces defenses into zone looks due to the inability to cover man to man. However, it appears Murray carves up any look he sees due to his incredible accuracy and ability to scramble and make plays with his feet. But, Murray is yet to face a defense near the level of Alabama. The Tide boast multiple NFL players at each level. Including All-American defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Williams will be the x-factor for the Tide in this game. Similar to Aaron Donald, Williams has the ability to take over a game from the nose tackle position. Look back at the LSU game, Williams clogged any running lane and applied constant pressure on the quarterback. If Williams is in form the Tide may win easily.
On the other side of the ball, we see the biggest mismatch of the playoff, in either game. The Tide are nearly as dominant on offense as Oklahoma, as the outclassed nearly every opponent they have played this season. And while the Tide are well balanced on both sides of the ball, the same cannot be said about the Sooners. Oklahoma nearly gives up points as easily as they score them. If the Sooners do not make some change or find a better game plan we may be looking at a game similar to the one played between Ohio St and Clemson two years ago. The issues that plagued Ohio St all season were not addressed and they were run off the field by Clemson. It's unreasonable to expect the Sooner defense to play like Alabama, but if they can find a way to force the Tide to field goals instead of touchdowns this could be a close contest.
Prediction
Patrick- Alabama 41-27
David- Alabama 41-10
Bob- Alabama 45-31
Matt- Alabama 45-30
Cotton Bowl- Clemson vs Notre Dame
The Cotton Bowl has received much less media attention compared to the Orange Bowl, mostly due to the expected mismatch and lack of star players. Most people can name a few of the Clemson stars that are expected to be taken high in the NFL Draft in May, but I doubt many can name multiple players for the Irish. But in the last few days, this game has become much more interesting and caught the attention of many. Three Clemson players tested positive for banned substances, including star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. Lawrence has been a force all season and was going to be key to stopping a solid Notre Dame running game. Without Lawrence in the middle Notre Dame may easily be able to run the football and keep Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne off the field.
Long drives will be important for Notre Dame in this game. If they are able to take chunks of time off the clock and give Clemson as few opportunities as possible they may win this game. If the game becomes a shootout the advantage swings heavily in favor of Clemson. The Tigers torched nearly every team they faced this season, and only got stronger after Lawrence became the full-time starter over Kelly Bryant. If the Irish put together multiple three and outs in a row they could find themselves out of this game really fast. If the Irish take advantage of the missing Dexter Lawrence it will be a lower scoring game, likely in the twenties. But if Clemson starts hot and forces Notre Dame to throw themselves back into the game we will probably see a blowout.
Prediction
Patrick- Clemson 34-24
David- Clemson 48-17
Bob- Clemson 31-17
Matt- Clemson 31-21