Alabama going for two at SEC Championship game
The SEC will serve up some history Saturday afternoon, for better or for worse.
Either Florida will deliver the biggest upset ever seen in an SEC Championship game, which would simultaneously sabotage the league’s only chance of gaining entry to the College Football Playoff.
Or order will be restored upon the land. Alabama will become the league’s first back-to-back champion in 17 seasons and, once they’re let loose in the CFP, will restore the SEC pride with a national title. It’s been three whole years since the conference’s last one.
Or perhaps something else will happen. It’s been a snipe-hunt kind of season — preseason polling had Auburn beat Georgia to win it all, remember? — that culminates with the title game at the Georgia Dome. Kickoff is at 4 p.m.
This could be over quickly. The 18th-ranked Gators (10-2), who clinched the East Division only with a late field goal against Vanderbilt on Nov. 7, haven’t recalibrated since quarterback Will Grier was suspended in October after testing positive for a performance enhancer. Their past two times out, Florida was taken to overtime before beating Florida Atlantic and then was slapped around by Florida State 27-2 last weekend.
A 17 1/2-point underdog, the Gators are the longest shot in the SEC title game since Arkansas was a 24-point dog to Florida in 1995. The Hogs couldn’t cover, losing by 31.
“No, it doesn’t bother us,” Florida guard Trip Thurman said this week about being such a long shot. “I mean, like I said, a lot of expectations prior to the season didn’t think we would be here at this point. It’s something that we take in one ear and out the other.”
Or this one actually could take a while. These are two of the nation’s better defenses. The No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide (11-1) allow only 14.3 points per game, which leads all FBS schools. Florida (15.5) is No. 5. As splendid as Bama has played over the nine-game win streak since losing to Ole Miss on Sept. 20, this offense still relies on the defense until tailback Derrick Henry does something great.
Take last week at Auburn, when the Tide led only 12-6 at half. Henry ran for 177 in the second half, outgained Auburn 271-261 on his own and Bama made it to the Dome, winning 29-13.
“It’s not that fun,” Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves said about confronting the 242-pound Henry. “When he has a full head of steam coming at you, you know, he’s a big back. He can make you miss, he can run you over. You’ve got to hold on and wait for the boys to get there.”
Last-look incentive notice: Heisman Trophy votes are due Monday.
Unfairly or not, the burden on this one falls on Florida sophomore quarterback Treon Harris, who has struggled to replace Grier. While his counterpart, Tide QB Jake Coker, said the difference since the loss to Ole Miss was “we figured out how to play with each other,” the Gators have not done so under Harris.
While he catches a break with leading wide receiver Demarcus Robinson’s being reinstated midweek after his fourth suspension, he is coming off a 134-yard passing (19-for-38) performance against FSU. The two-point output was the lowest by a Florida team in 27 years. It also does not help that the Gators have given up a league-high 37 sacks.
For as long as Saban’s teams have been in prominence — Bama has won the national title three times in the past six years — the Tide haven’t taken consecutive SEC championships since Bear Bryant had the program in overdrive during the 1978-79 back-to-back national championship years.
“We are going to have to come out with these guys fast,” Alabama center Ryan Kelly said. “You look at the games we’ve been successful here, we’ve come out really fast and we have moved the chains and kept our defense off the field. As long as we put drives together, I think we’re going to be fine.”
