2018 CFP National Championship Preview
A lot was made in the BCS era about changing things up to ensure that one conference couldn’t dominate like the SEC had in that system.
For years the only teams with any real shot at a National Title seemed to be SEC teams with Alabama leading the way.
The College Football Playoff was supposed to solve the problem by giving more teams a chance to play in the title game.
It also forced the powerhouse teams to earn their way into the national championship game rather than just being selected.
It worked for a year until Alabama came through and took the title only to return to the title game a year later.
After four years in the new system, the SEC is back to the old ways and all of the plans to try to keep them from dominating fell apart.
The fourth year of the CFP system will see an all-SEC match-up that has plenty of controversy attached to it.
This year the Crimson Tide were not the team sitting on top of the SEC this year like they had in years past.
They fell behind Auburn after losing the Iron Bowl and didn’t get the trip to the SEC Championship leaving them in third place in the conference.
Instead, the SEC championship matched Georgia and Auburn against each other for a title that was sure to mean a trip to the playoff for the winner.
The Bulldogs took the win and the title as well as a spot in the top four of the rankings to get their first taste of the playoff.
While Clemson and Oklahoma took two other spots the fourth spot was pretty open as the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences were not the greatest this season.
Still, there were other options in the NCAA including the SEC runner-up in Auburn who had beaten Alabama or the UCF Knights who were one of the only teams in the country with an undefeated record.
Instead of either of these options, the committee decided to choose Alabama and gave them a fourth straight year in the playoff.
The Tide were certainly a good team but they didn’t have a championship and weren’t even in the championship game.
Yet somehow they remained one of the top four ranked teams and got their shot in the playoff.
They proved to be a pretty good choice in the top four as they were able to get by the Clemson Tigers in the semi-finals to earn a spot in the National Championship for the third straight year.
They will take on the team that did take the SEC Championship this year in Georgia who found their way to the playoffs for the first time since the CFP began.
They took the SEC Championship against the Auburn Tigers then beat the Oklahoma Sooners in a thrilling semi-final.
Now they have a chance to win their first National Championship since 1980 and will have to prove that they are truly the best team in the SEC.
The Tide have been a powerhouse for the last decade under Nick Saban and they have done it with the same formula.
They are far from a powerhouse on offence but they do enough to move the ball while their real power is in the defence.
The Tide lead the country in total defence this year like they have in so many years past as they continue to produce top-level NFL talent on that side of the ball.
They will look to prove for another year that defence wins championships against the Bulldogs who concentrate on the defensive side of the ball as well.
What they do bring to the table though is a better offence than Alabama though as the offensive side of the ball is far more explosive in Georgia.
Jacob Fromm can break a play open at any moment while the combination of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel is one of the best in the country.
The Bulldogs are a team that seems more balanced than their opponents as they have a good defence and a better offence.
They take on a Crimson Tide team that has a great defence and that simply knows how to win the biggest games.
Their style of play is so stifling that they have shut down every team they have faced aside from Auburn.
It is not the matchup anyone wanted to see as the SEC will take home a National Championship but the chance of having a fourth straight new champion is still alive.
It won’t be easy though as for that to happen Georgia will need to beat one of the best programs over the last decade.
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