With the national championship between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Ohio State Buckeyes quickly approaching, it’s time to start in on a few score predictions and breakdowns.
The Roll Tide Wire staff will be giving those tomorrow morning, but we do have a prediction for the game from Phil Harrison, the Managing Editor for Buckeyes Wire. Here are his thoughts, including what he believes the final score will be.
Ohio State will come to play.
Justin Fields and the offense will be able to make hay against the Alabama offense in a back-and-forth affair because of the balance resulting from the emergence of Trey Sermon on the ground, and the bevy of weapons in the passing game.
However, the Ohio State defense will struggle to stop the Alabama attack like every other team the Crimson Tide have faced this season. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to which defense can get one or two more stops than the other, and I just can’t quite see the Tide’s offense being contained enough for OSU to pull this one out without some unexpected turnovers, and you can’t predict those. There will be a lot of offense, but more from Alabama in a fairly high scoring affair.
Final score: Alabama 38, Ohio State 31
It was a fair breakdown from Harrison.
The triangle of Sermon, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson gives Fields a nice trio of weapons that are difficult to defend. In addition, there is also tight end Jeremy Ruckert, who has five receiving touchdowns on only 12 catches this season.
It will be difficult for Alabama to keep the Buckeyes from making any offensive success, but the goal should be to limit it.
Stay tuned for more updates on the national championship game from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire Network!
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]