1. (3) Georgia Bulldogs at (2) Oklahoma Sooners– What a matchup this will be. In this game, you have the best offense in the nation battling one of the best all-around defenses in college football. In this game, you have a really interesting quarterback battle in Georgia’s Jake Fromm against Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield. Here’s what makes this battle so interesting. Neither team has seen what the other is able to bring to the table and I will explain what I mean by this. This offensive juggernaut of the Oklahoma Sooners hasn’t seen a defense as strong as Georgia’s and the Georgia defense hasn’t seen an offense that is able to move the football down the field as consistently as these Sooners can. You talk about strength versus strength, that’s exactly what we’re going to see in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. How does Oklahoma gameplan to wear down a physical defense and how will Georgia try to slowdown Baker Mayfield? You almost want this game to take place next week. That’s how pumped up I am about this game! What a way to begin the new year with a battle at the Rose Bowl, the granddaddy of them all. The key matchup I’m immediately looking at is the Georgia secondary and how they will line up with these perimeter weapons of the Oklahoma Sooners. If Georgia’s pass rush turned it up against Stidham and Auburn, they will really have to go above and beyond to really try and neutralize the likely Heisman Trophy winner in Baker Mayfield. There’s nothing more the Georgia Bulldogs want than to cap off this magical season with an appearance in the national title game in Atlanta at Mercedez-Benz stadium. Oklahoma has been labeled as a title contender for years, now it’s time to show it.
2. (4) Alabama Crimson Tide at (1) Clemson Tigers– Part three. We all remember the first two battles between these two teams. The Crimson Tide took the first one in Arizona in a shootout and that gave Nick Saban his fourth title with the university. The following year, the Clemson Tigers got exactly what they wanted a year later and it was round two between Alabama and Clemson. What a game it was. It came down to one final play and Deshaun Watson connected with Hunter Renfrow for the win and the Tigers got their revenge in Tampa Bay. I think this is the game that everyone is looking forward to the most in this year’s playoffs as expected. I haven’t necessarily been sold on Clemson throughout the year, but after that loss to Syracuse, they got back to playing consistent football on both sides of the ball and quarterback Kelly Bryant is finally healthy and making plays. They are running the football and defensively, they have been one of the better units in the country. Ever since the inaugural season of the playoffs in 2015, Nick Saban and his football team have always heard their name called on Selection Sunday. Here they are once again in as the four seed and this comes a year after Nick Saban stated that a team who doesn’t win their conference title should be a playoff team, funny how that works, huh Nick? This will be a fun one to watch. These two will now battle in each other in the Sugar Bowl for a right to get to Atlanta.
