Category: CFN Expert Picks

The final thoughts, a few predictions, and some investment advice for the Ohio State vs Alabama College Football Playoff National Championship to make your life a heck of a lot better than it currently is. 

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– Contact/Follow @PeteFiutak

This is all just for spits, giggles, and entertainment purposes only. However, just in case you dabble …

In any normal time I’m in Miami right now doing this either 15 minutes before hitting the bar or way, way after in the wee hours of the AM. Either way, I’d be warm instead of being stuck in this snow-infested place I’m forced to live in because of various people in my house who don’t leave, and …

By the way, tonight I’m doing my annual Stream of Consciousness Game Notes as it all goes on. Check back, be entertained, and then move on.

– 2017 Georgia vs. Alabama Game Comments
– 2018 Clemson vs. Alabama Game Comments
– 2019 LSU vs Clemson Game Comments

I’ve been obnoxious about this, and I’m going to keep bringing it up until the College Football Gods hear my cries. We need a good game.

No, we need an epic national championship, because the bowl season was SO awful and SO boring and SO worthless – at least to the general public – compared to how amazing the NFL Wild Card weekend was. This is our chance to take the big sports narrative back. Ohio State and Alabama, save our 2020-2021 college football bowl season.

By my rough count, 15 of the last 16 radio/video/TV appearances I’ve done ended up devolving into an argument about talent level, as if Alabama is about to take on Akron.

This is OHIO FREAKING STATE. You know, tons of superstars, beats Michigan every year, joyless fan base … OHIO STATE. This isn’t some rising star program or Little Engine That Could story. This is one of the baddest of the bad boys on the block, and it has every bit as much talent across the board as Bama.

There aren’t any excuses. If the Tide lose, I don’t want to hear Alabama fans whining about Ohio State only playing seven games before this. This is really Game 2 for the Buckeyes – the team was never right all season, and it still isn’t. It’s still getting used to playing with all of its parts – I’ll rephrase that … nah. Alabama go win this.

If Ohio State loses, I don’t want to hear about Justin Fields’ ribs, or that Player X couldn’t go, or because there was some sort of delay, or there should’ve been one, or whatever. Ohio State, go win this.

What are we missing? LSU over Clemson last year was obvious. Notre Dame getting whacked around by Bama in this season’s CFP semifinal was obvious. Clemson obliterating Alabama in Santa Clara … not obvious. Ohio State rolling past Clemson in this season’s CFP semifinal … not obvious, but we should’ve seen that coming.

What’s one thing we’re missing? Ohio State is going to be every bit as laser-focused – if not more so – than lives-on-process-and-focus Alabama.

Give Ryan Day this as a head coach. Since he started, he has made certain that his team doesn’t let up for a moment – he wasn’t going to let the Buckeyes suffer the types of letdowns that were so costly in the two years before he took over.

That’s been rougher to do this year, but be shocked if Ohio State doesn’t look and play with the same Sugar Bowl attitude it had against Clemson.

What’s the one thing we might not see coming? Alabama has yet to have any semblance of a clunker. What happens if and when Mac Jones gets rattled around a bit? What happens if Ohio State’s Shaun Wade really is able to show off his NFL corner skills on DeVonta Smith and slow him down? Bama handled a little adversity against Florida, but not really.

I feel like we’re all prepared for anything but Ohio State rolling with a dominant performance. No matter what, I feel like my postgame column will start, “How Did We All Possibly Miss (blank)?”

A 9-6 defensive slugfest. I’m not prepare for that. I demand 52-46. I want a repeat of the SEC Championship.

The line opened at Bama -7, and it got hammered almost instantly to get it up to -8.5. I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t start rolling back down to about 7.5 before game time.

I like the over on the 75. You like the over on the 75. We all love the over on the 75 because it’s what we want. It’s what we expect out of these two offenses. That’s still a massive number to hit no matter what. This could be a whole lot of fun and still finish 38-34.

Back to what we’re all missing … Alabama vs both Ole Miss and Florida. It’s not like the Tide faced a ton of high-powered offenses. Sure, LSU had its moments, and Georgia had a certain charm before JT Daniels took over, and Texas A&M had its style and talent, but Ole Miss and Florida were the two teams with some firepower, and they each put up good numbers against the Tide.

The Ohio State defense doesn’t get enough credit. Yes, the pass defense is statistically bad. The run defense has been terrific, and this group can apply a whole lot of pressure, even if it doesn’t bring the sacks.

Trivia time, and almost no one gets this outside of the most die-hard of Bama types. Name the star winning quarterbacks in each of the College Football Playoff national championships.

Going backwards … Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, I’ll allow for Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, Deshaun Watson, and then … there’s your road block.

Jacob Coker. He took Alabama to the national title to end the 2015 season, and Cardale Jones did it the year before for Ohio State. The point?

Justin Fields is the best player on the field. Argue this all you want, but he’s almost certainly the first guy from this game to be taken in the NFL Draft. This has to be his moment. He has to be The Guy. He has to be Joe, and Trevor, and Tua, and Deshaun.

Alabama can win this with Mac Jones being Jacob Coker, even though Jones really is good enough to be The Guy.

By the way, that’s not fair. Coker threw for 335 yards and two touchdowns with no picks in the national title win over Clemson in Glendale – he made big play after big play. He had some Derrick Henry guy to hand off to, but he was still fantastic. Cardale Jones only threw for 242 against Oregon, and Tua and Jalen combined for 187 against Georgia.

Alabama should be so lucky for Jones to have the day Coker had. However, Jones might have to hit 400 to win this.

Gut feeling … the big underdog role works with this Ohio State team. As if being in the national championship isn’t enough, after that emotional win over Clemson, this is just the sort of thing that can be that oomph to keep that all going.

The SEC Championship spooked me. That Ole Miss game spooked me. I think Bama is way overdue for a letdown that’s not Santa Clara, but enough to be on the wrong side of the fight.

I won’t argue in any way, shape or form if you think Alabama is going to win. There’s no real argument in the toughest call for a national championship in the College Football Playoff era. Even the ones I missed – Clemson over Bama for its two titles – didn’t have a whole lot of drama in the decision, even though the picks were wrong.

I can be swung either way, and I won’t be shocked by any outcome at this point. So my oh-too-tortured call …

Ohio State wins outright in a showcase of offensive fireworks that will make this the new standard of fun national championships.

I hope … at least on the fun national championship side. I just want a really, really, really good game. We all deserve it.

– CFN Ohio State vs Alabama Preview, Prediction

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