College Football Playoff: 5 Bold predictions for National Championship Game

2. Alabama will allow at least 40 points in the title game in Atlanta

Alabama led the country in 2017 in points allowed. The formidable Crimson Tide defense gave up an average of just 11.1 points per game. In a year with some ridiculous scores, nobody managed to put even 30 points on Alabama’s defense. Even Auburn, the source of the Tide’s only loss to date, managed to score only 26 points on their rival.

Much has been said about the Crimson Tide becoming the first team since Florida State to play for three straight national titles. One of the things that seems to be lost in the shuffle is the details of how their defense has performed in semifinal showdowns versus championship games.

Since losing to Ohio State in the 2015 Sugar Bowl, Alabama has shut down every semifinal opponent along the way. The Tide shut out Michigan State 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl two years ago. They then closed down Washington 24-7 in the Peach Bowl last season. In this year’s Sugar Bowl, Alabama gave up fewer than 200 yards as Clemson managed just a pair of field goals.

Against Clemson two seasons ago, Alabama gave up 40 more points than they did to the Spartans. Last year, the Tide gave up four more touchdowns to the Tigers than they did to Washington. This time around, Georgia is going to find the soft spot in the Bama defense and gash the Tide for at least 40 points on the Mercedes-Benz scoreboard.