My wife asked me Saturday Night, after the historically good offensive SEC Championship Game in which the No.1 Crimson Tide outlasted the No.7 Florida Gators, 52-46, in a game where both defenses were torched by supersonic offenses, which 4 teams would make the playoff. I made 2 statements, one was which teams SHOULD be in the Playoff and which teams WOULD be in the Playoff.

For the 4 teams that I thought should be in the playoff, I picked in order, No.1 Alabama, No.2 Clemson, No.3 Texas A&M and No.4 Florida. Those are the 4 best teams in the country, regardless of record. I’d put Texas A&M ahead of Florida only because they won the head to head. Florida could probably defeat A&M on a neutral field. Then I said which teams would be in the playoff, No.1 Alabama, No.2 Clemson, No.3 Ohio State and No.4 Notre Dame.

Notre Dame got demolished by Clemson, 34-10, as was expected quite honestly. Clemson was without Trevor Lawrence and key defensive players in the first game at Notre Dame in which the Fighting Irish won 47-40 in double overtime at home. With all hands on deck, Clemson was the much better team. Notre Dame is going to get destroyed by Alabama. We’ll hear for the next 10 days how the Fighting Irish are being disrespected and some people will start giving them a chance, but if Alabama just plays the way they are capable of, and their defense steps it up, it’ll be over by midway through the second quarter. Ohio State struggled with Northwestern and Clemson will most likely dominate them unless Ohio State’s players who were missing, and there were several of them Saturday due to COVID, return and are effective. That could make it a closer game, but I’m really favoring a Bama-Clemson rematch in the National Championship Game Monday, January 11th, 2021 at 7 PM CT on ESPN. , They’re the best 2 teams, so bring on Bama-Clemson 5 once again. It’ll be a thriller. I’m predicting the playoff games early, but I’ll have a full report on Gameday for the playoff games along with predictions. The Crimson Tide needs a lot of work on their secondary play, but in fairness to Patrick Surtain III and his teammates on the back end, Florida’s offense is highly prolific, and they’ll be better against the Fighting Irish. Clemson will be a formidable task for the Crimson Tide secondary. Both teams still can’t overlook their semifinal opponents. Can’t take a day off, or it’ll cost you.

On Saturday Night’s game, the individual performances were stunning. Who stuck out to me the most was Najee Harris and it was a high bar. Najee rushed for 178 yards on 31 carries and accounted for 5 touchdowns, an 8 yard and a 1 yard rush for TDs, and a 7 yard, a 23 yard and a 17 yard pass receiving TDs. Incredible stuff. DeVonta Smith accounted for 15 receptions for 184 yards and 2 TDs, a 31 yarder and a 15 yarder, and Mack Jones was 33-of-43 for 418 yards 4 TDs and 1 int, a very interesting interception which I’ll talk about a little more shortly. All 3 should be Heisman Finalists along with Kyle Trask and Trevor Lawrence. I’ll stick with my DeVonta pick, as he has been the most impactful player in college football this season overall, but Najee and Mac are so close, as are Trask and Lawrence. But Trask’s team lost 3 games, and Lawrence missed action this season, so it comes down to the 3 amigos for the Tide. I’ll take DeVonta barely over Mac and Najee. It’s almost an impossible pick, but you have to pick one to win, so I’ll take Smith. Mac could very well win it because he’s a quarterback, a wide receiver has not won the Heisman since 1991 when Desmond Howard won it. But give me DeVonta to end that 29 year drought.

Trask completed 26-of-40 passes for 408 yards and 3 TDs and Kadarius Toney caught 8 passes for 153 yards and a 51 yard TD. Kyle Pitts caught 7 passes for 129 yards and a 22 yard TD. It was superb offense by the Gators as well. Not a massive indictment on the Alabama secondary, but a concerning one for sure with the playoff looming.

Maybe the most powerful play of the game was John Metchie’s hit on Florida safety Trey Dean Jr. after Dean intercepted a Jones pass. Probably the most pivotal play of the game. After Dean picked off the pass in what was an outstanding play on his part, he was bringing it back and Metchie came from the blind side and annihilated Dean with a clean hit to his shoulder pad that jarred the ball loose and Devonta Smith recovered the ball at the Florida 31. Smith then caught a 31 yard TD pass from Jones. It was spectacular. Coach Saban explained afterwards the team takes about 10 minutes at the beginning of each practice running those knocking the ball out drills with his receivers and running backs being on the receiving end of those type of plays. Metchie took that out on the Florida defender. It was sensational.

So the No.1 Crimson Tide now squares off with No.4 Notre Dame in what will be called the Rose Bowl that will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 3 PM CT January 1, 2021, on ESPN. The game was moved from Pasadena so the players’ families could attend the game. California Governor Gavin Newsom would not allow any fans in the Rose Bowl, so the Playoff Committee moved the game to Arlington. That was a very good move. There will be around 16,000 fans at the game. No.2 Clemson will play in the second semifinal versus No.3 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl at 7 PM CT New Year’s Day on ESPN at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. So should be a spectacular day of football.

The 4 other New Year’s Six Bowls starts with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Wednesday, Dec. 30th with No.7 Florida facing No.6 Oklahoma. Nice matchup there. Kyle Pitts has opted out of the game for Florida and it’ll be interesting to see if the Gators are even interested in playing this game. That game will kickoff at 7 PM CT and ESPN will televise. On Friday, New Year’s Day, No.9 Georgia will face No.8 Cincinnati in the Chick-fil-A Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta with an 11 AM CT kickoff on ESPN. Georgia has been playing good football lately with JT Daniels at quarterback and they’re trying to make a statement that they’ll be a team to be reckoned with in 2021. Cincinnati will try to prove to the Committee that they made a mistake.

On January 2, 2021, No.25 Oregon faces No.10 Iowa State in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl at Jake from State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona at 3 PM CT on ESPN. Oregon had an impressive 30-24 victory over USC in the PAC-12 Championship and will be out to prove themselves and set themselves up for a big 2021. Iowa State has been solid this season, so nice matchup there. And at 7 PM CT on January 2nd, No.5 Texas A&M will face No.13 North Carolina at the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami. Kellen Mond and company will also be trying to show the Committee they blew it not putting the 8-1 Aggies in the Playoff field. UNC also had a very solid season at 8-3 and brings a prolific offense to the game. ESPN will televise that game as well.

The National Championship Game will be played Monday, Jan. 11th, 2021 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami at 7 PM CT on ESPN.

This week’s predictions through Friday.

This Past Weekend; 12-4

Final Regular Season Record: 222-89, 71%

Today

Myrtle Beach Bowl

Appalachian State 42, North Texas 21

Brooks Stadium, Conway, S.C.

1:30 PM CT

ESPN

Courtney Lyle, Eric MaClain, Marty/McGee

Refs: MAC, Luke Richmond

App State by 19 1/2

Like a pretty strong Sun Belt team to handle a C-USA team. App State finishes the season 9-3, excellent record in this unprecedented year, and North Texas finishes 4-6.

Tuesday

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Tulane 31, Nevada 27

Albertsons Stadium, Boise, ID.

2:30 PM CT

ESPN

Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich, Taylor Davis

Laundry: PAC-12, Steve Strimling

Tulane by 3

My nephew, Jim Haines, goes to Tulane, so I’m going to take the “Fightin Jims,” to move to 7-5 on the season playing in a challenging American Conference over a solid Nevada team that finishes its season 6-3. I like this game to be exciting.

RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl

No. 16 BYU 38, UCF 30

FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL.

6 PM CT

ESPN

Dave Neal, DJ Shockley, Loricia Harris

Whistles, Big Ten, Tim O’Day

BYU by 7

I like another riveting game on Tuesday. BYU kind of got a tough deal finding out 2 days before that they were playing Coastal Carolina at Coastal. But the team took it like champs and played Coastal a very tough game, losing 22-17 and coming up 1 yard short of winning the game and going undefeated this season and making a strong case for a New Year’s Six Bowl, though they probably would have been edged out by Cincy. They deserved better this season as they finished 10-1, but they’ll be ready tomorrow night. BYU is an incredibly solid program under coach Kalani Sitake.

Wednesday

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Georgia Southern 34, Louisiana Tech 27

Mercedes-Benz Superdome, N’Awlins

2 PM CT

ESPN

Matt Barrie, Mike Golic Jr., Dawn Davenport

Laundry, American, Charles Lamertina

Ga, Southern by 5

Taking the Sun Belt over C-USA again, though the UAB players played a fantastic game in defeating Marshall @ Marshall in the C-USA Championship Game last Friday Night. The Blazers have a huge game for the program this Saturday versus South Carolina in the Gasparilla Bowl at 11 AM CT on ESPN. More on the Blazers game on Saturday coming up.

Montgomery Bowl

Memphis 41, Florida Atlantic 31

Cramton Bowl, Montgomery

6 PM CT

ESPN

Clay Matvick, Rocky Boiman, Lauren Sisler

Yella, Sun Belt, Marshall Lewis

Memphis by 8

Like the Tigers out of a strong American Conference to finish their season 8-3. FAU, from C-USA, drops to 5-4.

Thursday

New Mexico Bowl

Houston 48, Hawaii 35

Toyota Stadium, Frisco, TX. Moved from Albuquerque, N.M due to COVID concerns there.

2:30 PM CT

ESPN

John Schriiffen, Rene Ingoglia, Kris Budden

Yella Wood, C-USA, Chris Bynum

Houston by 11 1/2

Like Coach Dana Holgerson and his high flying Cougars to light up the scoreboard. Not much defense will be played in this game.

Friday, Christmas Day

Camellia Bowl

Buffalo 34, Marshall 30

Cramton Bowl, Montgomery

1:30 PM CT

ESPN

Bill Roth, Dustin Fox, Lauren Sisler

Vogue, American, Edwin Lee

Buffalo by 3

Buffalo lost a tough one to Ball State in the MAC Championship Game, 38-38, but they finish off their abbreviated season 6-1. Marshall puts up a fight, but falls to 7-3, a very respectable record.

I’ll check back in with you on Saturday for Saturday’s 4 matchups, The Cure Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando at 11 AM CT on ESPN pitting Liberty vs No. 12 Coastal Carolina, a very good matchup. UAB faces South Carolina in the Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa at 11 AM on ABC, a great opportunity for the C-USA champs which finished the regular season 6-3 but with 2 strong performances in a row @ Rice and @ Marshall to clinch the conference championship. The SERVPRO First Responder Bowl at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas featuring No.19 Louisiana versus Texas-San Antonio at 2:30 PM CT on ABC. And the Lending Tree Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile featuring Western Kentucky versus Georgia State at 2:30 PM CT on ESPN.

In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas.