Written By: Mason Shaw
College Football Playoffs
At last, it’s finally here! After ten long weeks of hard-nosed, competitive football, there are five teams that have qualified for the college playoffs to play for the College National Championships. Those teams are the following: #1Returning Champions, Alabama Crimson Tide, #2 Clemson Tigers, #3 Notre Dame, Fighting Irish & #4 Oklahoma Sooners. Each team will play in a two-game bracket, one game elimination. Where the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners will face off No. 1 Alabama crimson tide for the Orange Bowl, Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Florida. On the other side of the bracket No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Vs. No. 2 Clemson Tigers for the Cotton Bowl, AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. The Winners of those to bowl games will play against each other for The College National Championship, in Santa Clara, California, at Levi’s Stadium, where the Stadium has served as the home venue for the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers since 2014.
Over the years, the Clemson Tigers have been chasing Alabama as the nation’s No. 2 team throughout the season, and if Clemson (13-0) can beat Notre Dame (12-0), they will likely face the Crimson Tide for the National Championship. The experts see Clemson getting past Notre Dame, as the Tigers are favored by 11.5 points. Despite the big point spread, don’t expect Notre Dame not to show any fear when it takes the field at AT&T Stadium. The Fighting Irish have pretty much answered every challenge that as came their way this season. They have a big dual-threat skill player on offense and tenacious defense that should cause a lot of problems for Clemson. Irish’s Quarterback Ian book is a sharp passer and has completed 197 of 280 attempts for 2,468 yards with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions. Book has two excellent receivers in Miles Boykin and Chase Claypool who can both make big plays down the field and have shown run-after-the-catch ability. Both players also have five hundred plus receiving yards. The Tigers are probably more explosive than Notre Dame with quarterback Trevor Lawrence leading their high-powered attack. Lawrence has thrown for 2,606 yards, and he has a razor – sharp 24-4 TD-interception ratio. Tee Higgins is Clemson’s most productive receiver with 52 receptions for 802 yards and 10 TDs. While Justyn Ross has 34 receptions for 699 yards and six scores, look for Notre Dame to battle Clemson on even terms well into the second half. The Irish will gain confidence the game goes along, where Clemson may start to have doubts when they don’t put the Fighting Irish away. Norte will win this game on a late field goal by Justin Yoon, who is 16 of 20 three-pointers to this point in the year.
The Alabama vs. Oklahoma game has the potential of a college football classic, at least from an offensive perspective. Alabama is a 14-point favorite, and while Oklahoma may be able to stay with the Crimson Tide into the Second quarter, the Sooners defense will cave in the third and fourth quarters. It’s going to take a big upset for the 2018 college football playoffs to not result in an Alabama-Clemson National Championship Game for the third time in four years. In all eyes Alabama I believe and most likely will win the College National Championship for the second year in a row.