College Football 5th Quarter: New Year’s Six recap, Championship preview

1. Look Ahead: College Football Playoff National Championship

The 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship game will be held on January 8th, 2018 in Atlanta, GA at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Alabama Crimson Tide will play in their third straight title game, which hadn’t been done since Florida State from 1998-2000. The Seminoles came away with one national title from that three-year run which was in 1999. The Tide will look to book-end their third trip to the National Championship with a win over the Georgia Bulldogs.

The Georgia Bulldogs only loss on the year was to Auburn Tigers on November 11 with a final of 40-17. The Alabama Crimson Tide’s only loss was to the Auburn Tigers on November 25 in the Iron Bowl. The Tide lost 26-14, but the Bulldogs did win the rematch in the SEC Championship Game over Auburn 28-7.

The game will feature two offenses that will change personnel groups while running a good amount of inside and wide zone with power, and play-action passing. Both offenses use run-pass options. Both defenses will base from a 3-4 defense as UGA head football coach Kirby Smart honed his craft under Alabama head football coach Nick Saban. It will be a battle of defenses as the Tide defense is ranked third by the S&P+, and the Dawgs defense is ranked eight by Bill Connelly same rankings.

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Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts will be playing in his second consecutive title game having quarterbacked a close loss for the Tide against the Clemson Tigers a year ago. I’m going to give the edge to Bama as Hurts and Coach Saban have experience together in the spotlight where Bulldogs freshman quarterback Jake Fromm and second-year head coach Kirby Smart will be new to the preparation it takes to beat an Alabama team in the title game. Oh and don’t forget, Nick Saban’s former assistants are 0-11 against the Crimson Tide legendary coach.