5 keys to victory for Alabama in Peach Bowl

Alabama enters Saturday’s College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl, as the heavy favorite over Washington. Certainly, it’s hard to envision him starting at quarterback as a freshman for top-ranked Alabama if not for the lessons he learned at the knee of his father, Averion Hurts, the head coach at Channelview High School near Houston. But these Huskies are a tremendous team.

They ended the day at an indoor go-cart racing track, one of a series of fun outings planned for both teams this week.

It appears oddsmakers are favoring Alabama due to its incredible win streak – 25 consecutive victories dating back to last season – and its dominant defense over the Huskies high-powered offense while considering the Buckeyes and Tigers to be nearly equally matched. With a sturdy offensive line, reliable wideouts like Ross and Dante Pettis, plus a consistent running game led by Gaskin, coach Chris Petersen has set up Browning for nothing but success. Since 2001 they have given 21 million dollars back to the community.

On Wednesday, Washington linebacker Psalm Wooching made the case that his own defensive front was Alabama-like. It was No. 1 in total defense, No. 2 in total offense. He has two picks and 13 pass defenses.

In the evening, the Crimson Tide Sports Network will air the Crimson Tide Peach Bowl Preview Radio Show from 6 pm-8 pm ET on the Crimson Tide Sports Radio Network. Let that sink in for a minute. They will also visit the Martin Luther King Jr. So they’ve done OK.

The speed of John Ross may create space for Washington’s offense against Alabama’s swarming defense.

The Crimson Tide momentarily knocked Wilson out of the game and scored three times in the third to take a 20-12 lead. Their opponents average 11.8 points per game. Yep. What’s scary about that, is that he rebounded from that fumbled snap and accounted for 4 TDs in the game: two rushing, two throwing. They’re not changing the markings on the field. Of that 20, probably 10 of them will be legit National Football League starters and three of them bona fide super stars.

“His passing, it’s good, but he’s a freshman and it’s always going to get better”, Wooching said.

Still, their accomplishments were scrutinized and downplayed by the rest of the country because of the assertion that their southern competition was inferior to teams in the Northeast, Midwest and West where college football had been more popular.

Browning wasn’t a Heisman finalist mainly because he completed less than 50% of his passes late in the year against the talented defensive backfields of USC and Colorado.

Looking at the run game as a whole, it’s actually Jalen Hurts who is the team’s leader in rushes and touchdowns (he’s 2nd in rush yards).

This trio compares favorably to some past Alabama running backs: Harris is most similar to Eddy Lacy, Scarborough is like Derrick Henry, and Jacobs is like Mark Ingram.

With all of this in mind, Alabama is still by far the better team, but UW is being overlooked mightily.

“We lost the weight, but we didn’t lose the mentality”, star linebacker Reuben Foster said. Defensive end Jonathan Allen could end up the first non quarterback taken in the draft. LSU beat No. 19 Florida State 31-27. Part of college football, the pageantry.

In the 1961 Rose Bowl, Washington defeated No. 1 Minnesota, but at that point in the sport’s history, national championships were often awarded before the bowl games.

Of course, while Pruitt usually has full autonomy to call the defense during games, there’s little doubt Saban has a clear influence on what happens on the field.

In the 1992 Rose Bowl, Washington defeated No. 4 MI to forge a split national championship with Miami in the writers’ and coaches’ polls.

Who’ll win this Saturday’s Peach Bowl between Alabama and Washington to advance to the January 9 National Championship in Tampa?

The receivers are big and physical, but I like Washington’s secondary against just about anyone. So we do see a lot of press coverage and I do know they’ll play much more than we’ve seen, but we’ll be ready. “I’m kinda getting used to it”, Hurts said. But they probably won’t. If the Huskers beat the spread that will be victory enough.