Alabama Crimson Tide wins SEC championship game

When Alabama and Florida take the field on Saturday afternoon for the SEC Championship, fans expect a physical, defense heavy game.

Derrick Henry’s grip on the Heisman Trophy is a bit tighter, and Alabama’s grip on a College Football Playoff spot is as tight as it needs to be. “Nick Saban gets those boys right from the day they step on campus”. At a press conference he said “I want to make him proud. It’s going to be an exciting playoff”. Alabama have won the last four games, including the 2009 SEC championship game, a year after Florida beat them for the last time in the 2008 SEC championship game.

The pairings will be announced Sunday.

It is hard to know what to make of No. 2 Alabama because there are competing faces of the Crimson Tide. The team will be looking for redemption after an Ohio State Sugar Bowl upset ended its 2014 season one game short of a National Championship appearance.

“I don’t think anybody really thought after the Ole Miss game this team would wind up here”, Saban said. Callaway said UF knew it could break a big play if blockers stopped Tony Brown, the Tide’s top special teams player. “And probably more than any other time I’ve ever coached, I wanted to see these guys succeed”.

Alabama got a 30-yard field goal by Griffin and then a 32-yard touchdown pass from Coker to ArDarius Stewart that capped an 80-yard drive.

Florida couldn’t run the football against Alabama’s defense.

Both teams are coming off rivalry games with different results. When Florida punted midway through the fourth quarter, the Gators had recorded minus-three yards since the end of the first.

“My main focus is on finishing and helping this team win”, Henry said. Henry’s output was enough to put him at 1,986 yards on the season, surpassing Herschel Walker’s 1,891 yards in 1981 for the SEC’s single-season rushing record. He eluded the rush to complete long passes, and scrambled to recover his own fumble in Alabama territory after being blindsided by a rushing defender.

Alabama opened the scoring with a safety on a blocked punt as Tide linebacker Keith Holcombe’s block of Florida punter Johnny Townsend’s kick bounced through the back of the end zone for a safety to give the Tide a 2-0 lead in the first quarter.

The keys to the game for Alabama are to dominate time of possession, force turnovers, play great defense and don’t underestimate the Gators.

The Tide complemented its pound-and-ground offense with a couple of huge passing plays.

Running back Derrick Henry, surely the Heisman front-runner after Saturday’s performance, racked up 189 yards and a touchdown on a whopping 44 carries.

Florida made the score look a little more respectable on a 49-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Treon Harris to C.J. Worton with five minutes remaining.

No one was keeping this team down.

It’s most consistent offensive weapon, running back Kelvin Taylor, rushed for eight yards on seven carries.

How’d the Tide get back into the Playoff?