Henry leads Alabama past Florida 29-15 for SEC championship

Nick Saban will admit it now.

Long said bumping Michigan State past Oklahoma had nothing to do with avoiding the possibility of having the Sooners play close to home in the Dallas area. But they are like my heroes, my football heroes.

Alabama running back Derrick Henry celebrates after the second half of the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game against Florida, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015, in Atlanta. “To be honest, I had some questions in my mind as to whether we’d wind up here”. It gathers it up like a vacuum. They are a different team. Linebacker Ryan Anderson led Alabama with four tackles and three quarterback hurries while cornerback Marlon Humphrey had three stops and an interception. “That’s all it is”. Not the best defense I’ve played against. Freshman Calvin Ridley made a big catch. Cowherd’s had his own rants about Alabama. “Experiencing this game is a positive thing”. During that time frame, the Tide erased an early 7-2 deficit while running off 27 unanswered points to secure the victory. In this age of spread-’em-out, fast-break offenses, the Crimson Tide isn’t the flashiest by far. Hail hog helped Alabama got here. Peyton Barber only gained 29-yards against the Tide.

The No. 2 Crimson Tide bested No. 18 Florida 29-15 in the Georgia Dome.

“Shoot, they won the line of scrimmage”, said first-year Florida coach Jim McElwain, whose 10-3 team is likely headed to the Citrus Bowl. “(Saban) has recognized that and obviously beefed up in that position to the point where there’s no drop-off when those guys go in there”.

Alcorn State 49, Grambling State 21: For the second straight year the Braves lifted the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship trophy at NRG Stadium after beating the Tigers in Houston.

It was also the longest in championship game history, passing Mississippi State’s Kevin Prentiss’ 83-yarder in 1998. You don’t win that many without evolving. He has won the APSE’s national columnist of the year twice and finished in the top 10 eight times.

Much of that, we’ll soon learn. If there’s one team I think Alabama would least want to play in the playoff, it’s Oklahoma. Treon Harris had plenty of opportunities to make plays and missed open receivers.

Florida’s offense was embarrassingly bad Saturday. Through the third quarter I saw that there was like 2 yards.

The real season begins on New Year’s Eve.

The Gators’ offense had struggled in Florida’s previous five games.

There’s many ways to win, though, and that seems to be forgotten in an era when teams routinely surge past the 500-yard plateau in total offense.

In all likelihood, Derrick Henry clinched the Heisman Trophy, too. He broke Walker’s record on his 28th carry of the game, a 7-yard run in the third quarter. He will be resting in December in between collecting a lot of hardware. The Tide is the only repeat team in the field. That won’t cut it in the playoff, even with a talented defense. “He’s our quarterback, and I’m proud of him”. That’s a good (Alabama) football team, and you know what, so are the Gators.

Alabama went away happy. And Smart isn’t done yet.

Here’s what Hargreaves had to say after the SEC championship: “We’ve been talking about it. It’s not something we’ve been trying to hide”. “He’ll be with us for the next couple games”.

Stephanie Thomas of Tuscaloosa, Alabama said, “I understand but I was a little annoyed because I wanted my purse but I understand and I felt more secure”.

Is there really a team with a legitimate shot to stop Alabama?