The Tigers are looking pretty unstoppable after their dismantling of South Carolina to win the SEC title, 52-26. Cam, his “Cammy Cam” Juice (which sounds a little gay), his offensive arsenal and what has become a stellar defense, look primed to win the National Championship on Jan. 10 at Glendale over the Oregon Ducks in a game that kicks off a little after 7:3o p.m. on ESPN.
I tweeted that Auburn would win 48-38 last night, but I think Auburn is going to roll on offense and slow down the Ducks on defense some. I like more of a 48-31 game. The AU defense has become outstanding since the second half of the Alabama game and I know that the Oregon defense is not going to be able to stop this offense.
Cam has accounted for 49 touchdowns, 20 on the ground and 28 through the air and one receiving. There was a fear among the Auburn nation that he might not win the Heisman, let alone play at the end of the season, but that has been resolved for now. It doesn’t look like the NCAA is going to penalize him or Auburn at least in the near future, so both may be in the clear. Cam will take home the trophy Saturday Night in New York. The ceremony starts at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Oregon’s LaMichael James, along with Boise State’s Kellen Moore and Stanford’s Andrew Luck will also be there, but it’s pretty much in the bag for Cam.
The thing that has stood out to me about Cam lately is his passing. He was 13-of-20 against Alabama for 216 yards and three touchdowns in that amazing comeback against the Tide. Auburn had been down 24-0. He was even better throwing the ball against South Carolina, completing 17-of-28 passes for 335 and four tds. It’s a different receiver every week. He’s put on one of the best performances of all time by a college player in one season.
Some players who have really come on lately are T’Sharvin Bell, who had a huge td interception against South Carolina from 10 yards out to put the Tigers up 42-14 and put the game out of reach. Nosa Eguae, the redshirt frosh dend, has been dominating lately. Senior Antoine Carter has been all over the field. What else can you say about Nick Fairley? 21 tackles for loss for -92 yards and 10.5 sacks. Carter has 10.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.
A guy who has had a huge year is Onterion McCalebb. He’s run for 763 yards and nine touchdowns. He’s a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball. I wonder sometimes why he always cuts it to the outside instead of cutting it up, but I guess he thinks with his speed that is the best way to break loose.
The receivers have been awesome. Adams (48-909, 7 tds including 2 against SC), T Zac (37-557, 4 tds), Emory Blake (29-560, 7 tds) and Phillip Lutzenkirchen (13-137 and five tds) are not only reliable but explosive.
And the offensive line is just dominant. The best in the country. Ryan Pugh, Mike Berry, Lee Ziemba, Byron Isom and Brandon Mosley are awesome. Pugh, Berry and Ziemba’s leadership and ability have been huge this season. When you give Cam plenty of time to throw, he’s going to pick the opponent apart.
So now it’s one more hurdle.
Oregon has one of the best backs in the country in James (1,682 yards, no.1 in the country, 21 tds) and a fine quarterback in Darron Thomas (195-321-7 ints, 2.518 yards and 28 tds), and a very fine receiver in Jeff Maehl (68-943, 12 tds). They are an explosive team.
Probably the most impressive game for the Ducks was their fifth game of the season against a very good Stanford team in which they were down 21-3 in the second quarter and came back and scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to win 52-31. James ran for 257 yards and three tds in that game. He’s just so fast. That’s the main thing that sticks out about this Oregon team is their speed. But Auburn has good speed, too, and can handle them on the line.
Clay Matthews is the leading tackler for Oregon with 73 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss and Brandon Bair had 15.5 tackles for loss. Kenny Rowe has 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks. Oregon has 31 sacks on the season, Auburn 33.
A couple of stats: Oregon is second in the country in total offense at 537 yards per game. AU is seventh at 497. Oregon is 14th in scoring defense and Auburn is 54th. Oregon is 56th in pass defense and AU is 105. Auburn is 11th in rush defense allowing 111 per game; Oregon is 16th at 117. Oregon is fourth in the country in interceptions with 20. Auburn is 74th with 10. Oregon is led by Cliff Harris and John Boyett with five apiece. Oregon is seventh in turnover margin nationally and Auburn is 33rd.
You would think Oregon would have the edge on defense, but you have to look at the competition. The Pac 10 is not the SEC. Oregon is a very good football team, but they’re not as good as Auburn and Cam Newton. I look for a pretty high scoring affair with the Auburn defense playing better than Oregon’s. I think the AU offensive line will handle the Ducks’ defensive front and Cam will have another huge day. I like 48-31 as posted above. AU takes home its second national title and their first in 53 years (1957). Cam becomes the top draft pick in the NFL and Gus Malzahn may be walking the sidelines as a head coach next year. Maybe, Will be euphoria for Auburn fans on Jan. 10 about 11:30 p.m.
Alabama plays in a great matchup against 11-1 Michigan State in the Capital One bowl on Jan. 1 at noon on ESPN. This is a pretty good football team Tide is playing. Finished ninth in the BCS final standings. Tied for the BIg Ten title with Wisconsin and Ohio State, but Wisconsin, by virtue of the highest BCS ranking (fifth), won the spot in the Rose Bowl to face TCU. Ohio State finished sixth and will play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas.
Michigan State had a lot of close wins this year, one on a fake field goal in overtime to beat Notre Dame, and a big comeback against Northwestern. They beat Wisconsin, 34-24 at home, in the middle of the season, but lost to Iowa 37-6 which ruined their BCS title hopes. They’re a good football team though and they should be fired up to play the Tide.
Greg McElroy and Julio Jones have been outstanding all season. Mark Ingram has not been the same player. Just doesn’t seem to have the same passion. Trent Richardson has been hurt some. Marquis Maze has played very well and Darius Hanks has been pretty good. Oline has been decent, but were beaten in the second half by Auburn. In the first half of that game, the Tide could do no wrong, but a couple of missed scoring opportunities (Ingram fumble at 20, Richardson drop of McElroy pass at 3 and McElroy sack and fumble at AU seven) were costly and sealed the Tide’s fate when AU came back in the second half.
But this is good for Alabama as some young players get a lot of reps in practice, the team can get another month of practice working in guys like A.J. McCarron and Phillip Sims for some much needed reps at qb, and keeping the momentum going in recruiting.
This is not what Tide fans wanted at the beginning of the season. Many people, me included, thought the Tide would be playing in Glendale on Jan.10. But the defense lost nine starters off last year’s team, the offensive line wasn’t as good as anticipated and Ingram wasn’t the same player from 2009. McElroy had a great year though. He completed 209-265 passes for 2,767 yards and 19 touchdowns to five ints. Julio caught 75 passes for 1,084 yards and seven tds. Julio along with A.J. Green will be top 10 selections in the draft in April. Hopefully, there will be an NFL season in 2011. Mark Barron led the team in tackles with 75 and Robert Lester had seven interceptions. Alabama’s 21 ints was third in the country. The defense was good most of the time, just had a couple of breakdowns against SC, LSU and Auburn. This month will prepare the Tide for the future and get guys like Julio, Barron and Ingram a chance to keep getting better and prepare themselves for the draft. Ingram needs to have a good game against Mich. State. I think his draft status has dropped. He has battled a bad knee this year, so that may have had something to do with it. Just think he lost a little bit of his fire after winning Heisman and national title last year.
Michigan State is led by quarterback Kirk Cousins who has completed 216-320 (67.5%) for 2,705 yards, 20 tds and nine ints. Edwin Baker leads the running game with 1,187 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns. Le’Veon Bell has 592 yards and eight tds. B.J. Cunningham is the top receiver with 50 catches for 611 yards and nine tds. Andrew Maxwell has 49-761 and six tds.
Greg Jones leads the defense with 98 tackles and eight tackles for loss. Colin Neely has 10 sacks. Michigan State has 17 interceptions on the season, 11th in the country. Alabama was third with 21.
Should be a nice matchup. Hopefully, ‘Bama will be up for this game. After the loss to Florida in 2008, the Tide team didn’t show up in the Sugar Bowl and got blasted by Utah. Not winning an SEC title and not being in the national championship game or a BCS bowl are disappointments for ‘Bama under Nick Saban, who usually has them in the mix for a national title at the end of the season. But it’s a pride game and there are some players playing for draft status and other guys playing for positions next year. Every game matters and this is a New Year’s Bowl game, so the Tide needs to show some pride and character and prepare to win this game. Michigan State will be ready.
Some of the other BCS bowl games are outstanding. Wisconsin versus TCU (Sat. Jan. 1, 4 p.m. ESPN) should be fun in the Rose Bowl. Like the Badgers power to prevail in this one. They beat Ohio State at home in an outstanding performance and beat a good Iowa team (despite Iowa’s record) on the road. That convinced me they were the best team in the Big Ten. They destroyed opponents finishing the season scoring 83 points against Indiana and 73 against Northwestern. Wisconsin Coach Brett Bielema said he was playing his fourth and fifth string offensive players in those games late, so he was not trying to run up the score. They are a powerful football team with running backs John Clay and James White and qb Scott Tolzein. TCU has their hands full. TCU has clamored for the national title game, but they haven’t played enough quality opponents. They should consider themselves fortunate to be playing the Rose Bowl. We’ll see what they’re made of against Wisconsin. Their win over Utah was their best win, but they barely beat a pretty good San Diego State team, 40-35. I don’t think Auburn or Oregon would have that much trouble with San Diego State. They lost last year to Boise in the Fiesta Bowl 17-10, so we’ll see how they do against another high quality opponent.
The Orange Bowl pits Stanford against Va. Tech (Mon. Jan 3, 7:30 p.m. ESPN) in a great matchup of two outstanding quarterbacks: Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Va Tech’s Tyrod Taylor. Should be a fun game to watch. It’s hard for me to go against Va Tech and Taylor though Stanford is playing very good football right now. Kind of up in the air on that one right now. Will have prediction closer to time.
The Sugar Bowl is a good matchup with Arkansas playing Ohio State (Tues,. Jan.4, 7:30 p.m., ESPN). Can the powerful defense of Ohio State slow down Ryan Mallett (30 tds passing, Kniles Davis (1,193 yards rushing) and the Razorbacks’ offense? The Ark defense has to stop Terrelle Pryor. I think Pryor is still trying to prove he is a marquee player in the country. This will be a good measuring stick. He is coming back for his senior year.
The Fiesta Bowl could be decent with Oklahoma playing UConn (Sat. Jan. 1, 7:30 p.m. ESPN). On the surface it looks like a blowout and OU was pretty impressive on Saturday against Nebraska. Don’t like the way Landry Jones passes off his back foot, but there are a lot of weapons on offense and the defense was outstanding against the Huskers in the second half Sat. Connecticut has pretty much come from nowhere to earn a spot in a BCS bowl. They have their work cut out for them, but Randy Edsell’s team beat South Carolina 20-6 last year in the Papa John’s Bowl here. Like OU.
Other SEC teams in bowls: UT plays North Carolina in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. Should be a great matchup. Like the way the Vols are playing. Derek Dooley really had them playing great ball at the end of the season.
Georgia plays Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl Dec. 31. Mark Richt has survived so far. If he makes it, he’ll need to win more than seven games next year and be a lot more competitive in the SEC East or it might be curtains for Richt.
South Carolina in a great matchup with Florida State in the Chick-Fil-A bowl. We’ll see if the Gamecocks can snap back. Like this game a lot.
Florida plays Penn State in the Outback Bowl Jan. 1. Could be kind of an ugly game, but we’ll see. Urban Meyer is probably looking for a new offensive coordinator at this time.
Miss. State plays Michigan in the Gator on Jan.1. Dan Mullen done a phenomenal job at State. Hopefully, they can keep him at State and not lose him to Miami.
LSU plays Texas A&M in the Cotton (Jan.7, 7 p.m. Fox). I like that matchup, too. We’ll see what “The Hatter” has in store. A&M a pretty good team. LSU should have their hands full.
And Kentucky plays Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl here in B’ham, Sat., Jan 8 at 11 a.m. (ESPN). Should be an interesting matchup for Magic City. Hopefully, we can get a good crowd out there.
Stay with me. We’ll start talking a little basketball this week, too. A lot to discuss there as well.
(Gene Chizik and Chip Kelly match wits on Jan. 10 in Glendale for BCS Title game.)