Commodores take home first national championship

John Norwood takes off with the crowd going crazy. (Vanderbilt)

A solo home run in the top of the eighth by John Norwood clinched the Vanderbilt Commodores first ever national championship with a 3-2 win over Virginia. Second basemen Darby Swanson was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player as the Commodores bounced back from losing Game 2 to pick up the win.

Norwood crushed a 1-0 pitch on a line over the left field fence, dropping into the bullpen for the first Vanderbilt home run in the CWS.

"I thought it was gone, but you never know in this park," Norwood said. "I was just hoping it went out, and if it didn't, I knew my teammates would pick me up. It's a home run, but it's also a team effort to get here. We were confident the entire year."

The junior outfielder was greeted at the plate by the entire team after he took a high pitch up in the zone from Virginia reliever Nick Howard and deposited it into the Commodores bullpen.

"You've got to give credit to (John) Norwood," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "The pitch was up in the zone and he took an aggressive swing and hit the ball out."

Commodore starter Carson Fulmer was almost unhittable over five plus innings of work as he gave up two runs, just one of which was earned. He struck out five and combined with reliever Hayden Stone, who threw two innings get the win.

Fulmer had began to tire in the sixth so he was pulled after giving up a one-out RBI single to Daniel Pinero. Stone entered and loaded the bases with two outs before Vince Conde dropped a lineout to score the game-tying run.

Vanderbilt had scored twice already as Darby Swanson's smart heads-up baserunning brought him around in the top of the first. He moved to second on a pop up to the third basemen before stealing third and coming home on a double steal when Cavalier catcher Robbie Coman's throw sailed into center field.

The Commodores added another run in the top half of the sixth behind more aggressive baserunning. Norwood grounded a ball to third that he would've beat out but a error from Kenny Towns moved him to second. He moved to third on a groundout and came around to score on a Conde RBI single.

Virginia looked like the better team in the second game, but Vanderbilt bookended the series with narrow wins and came away with their first national championship in school history. It was the fourth SEC title in the last five years and the Cavaliers couldn't win the first ACC title since 1955.

As a side note, Commodore pitcher Brian Miller proposed to his girlfriend after the game, and she said yes. Miller had thrown 7 1/3 innings of relief in last Friday's loss to Texas.

BCS National Championship Preview

The 2012 NCAA football season was as interesting and exciting as any other season in recent memory. You had everything, from upsets to incredible plays. You saw a freshman win the Heisman for the first time in history. You watched as the #1 team in the preseason drop out of the top 50 teams in the nation. You got to see the two teams destined to play for the national championship both lose with two weeks left. You even saw a senior take home six of college footballs prestigious awards.

At the end of this chaotic season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Alabama Crimson Tide emerged as the top two teams that will meet in Sun Life Stadium on January 7 to play for the BCS Championship.

Notre Dame, the nation’s #1 team, has come a long way. Under Coach of the Year Brian Kelly, their top-ranked defense led the way to an undefeated 12-0 record and the #1 ranking. Manti Te’o, their defensive savior, took home six awards, including the Walter Camp and Maxwell Awards, earning him the honor of being college football’s best player. Kelly and the Irish come into this game trying to end a 23-year championship drought.

Alabama, which was in the nation’s top five teams for the entire season, including a eight-week span at #1. The Crimson Tide kept their blueprint from their past two titles, which is to play shutdown defense (ranked second in the nation), combined with a run game that frustrates opponents (averaging 230 yards and nearly three touchdowns per game). This year, Alabama modified their plan by reducing starting quarterback A.J McCarron pass attempts and replacing them with better looks. This change resulted in McCarron averaging over ten yards per pass attempt (tops in the nation) and an incredible 173.1 passer rating, also first in the nation. Saban and the Tide come into this game trying to win the SEC’s seventh straight title and there third in four years.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this game is how alike these two teams are. Both teams have a dynamic defense that shuts down opponents. Both teams are 50-50 between run and pass plays. Both teams average the same number of turnovers, get around the same amount of penalties, and basically play the same game of football.

However, there are some differences between these two teams that will decide this game.

Alabama has shown they can win against top teams. One could argue Notre Dame can as well, and they are undefeated, but Alabama has an edge here. Notre Dame played four ranked teams, and won by 48 points, an average of 12 point wins over teams like Oklahoma and Michigan State. However, if ignore Alabama’s five point loss to Texas A&M, they played four Top 25 teams and beat them by a combined 67 points. Included in that list were then #5 LSU and #8 Michigan. They showed that their defense isn’t the only thing they need to win (the defense allowed 66 points in those games), which was what their seasons were about during their last two championships.

The big talk these past couple of weeks is about Notre Dame’s goal line defense, which has been referred to 

from a brick wall to a force field. The hype about this defense comes from the Stanford game, where in overtime, clinging to a seven point lead, the Irish stuffed top running back Stepfan Taylor four times in a row to preserve their undefeated season. Their D-line, highly touted, gives up touchdowns just 24% of the time opponents are in the red zone. This is a big problem for Alabama, who against winning teams got in 66% of the time, which means they scored touchdowns two out of every three times, and they’re going against a rock-hard defense that gives up a red zone touchdown once every four times.

Facing a top-ranked defense, it may be rare for Alabama to get a bunch of red zone opportunities, which could be a big factor in this game.

However, this red zone advantage doesn’t just belong to Notre Dame. Alabama has the second lowest opponent red zone conversion rate in the country, ahead of the Irish, at 62.96%, one percent better than Notre Dame. This advantage is somewhat offset when you consider that Alabama gives up a touchdown 46% of the times that they don’t stop their opponent.

One big thing that stands out in this game is the quarterbacks. McCarron, a junior, has a lot of experience. A 22-year old, McCarron has played in two BCS Championship games, won both of them and added a title game Offensive MVP award on his resume. He is a talented player capable of pulling through in the clutch, like he did against Georgia in the SEC Championship game, and as he has done all season. His counterpart, sophomore Everett Golson is the opposite of him. The title game will be just his 13^th of his short career, and he doesn’t have the stats or resume backing him up. McCarron threw for over 2,600 yards while adding 26 touchdowns and just three interceptions, while Golson threw for barely 2,100 and 11 touchdowns, while throwing five picks. The inexperience will show in a pressure situation, and McCarron’s maturity will help the Tide.

Finally, the run game. Both teams balance their game plan pretty evenly, as it’s about 50-50 run and pass. And, yet again, Alabama has the upper hand. Led by the dynamic duo of freshman T.J Yeldon and junior Eddie Lacy, these two combined for 2,182 yards, 27 touchdowns and averaged seven yards a carry, leading Alabama to a very efficient rush offense. The Tide ran for the 20^th most yards a game, 5^th in yards per carry and 13^th in rushing touchdowns. Compared to Notre Dame, whose 27^th in yards per game, 28^th in yards per carry and 45^th in rushing touchdowns, which says a lot. Notre Dame can’t keep up. Their go to backs, Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood, mixed in with all-purpose quarterback Everett Golson, combined for 2,430 yards while averaging just barely five yards a carry. All around, in total yards, Alabama has 2,920 to Notre Dame’s 2,430.

What’s interesting is that the run game could be shut down completely. Alabama has the best-run defense in the country, only giving up 80 yards a game, while Notre Dame is not to far behind. The Irish are 4^th in run defense, giving up just 92 yards a game. Alabama gives up just two yards a carry, so expect to see Riddick and Wood consistently getting stuffed and pushed back, forcing Golson to air it out and use the passing game. Notre Dame gives up about three yards a carry, so it will be a grind it out, slow paced game with a lot of punts if these teams revert to their run games.

Finally, there’s the pass defense. Alabama, again, is up there on, at 6^thnationally, only giving up 166 yards a game, with 17 interceptions this season. The Irish pass defense is also strong, at 20^th in the nation, giving up about 200 yards a game. The Irish, also have a ball-hawking defense with 16 interceptions. However, because of the big difference between these two teams’ quarterbacks, there is a clear advantage for the Tide.

All around, the Tide and the Irish have their strengths and flaws, but one team has more strengths then the other. Alabama has more advantages, and if it wasn’t for their nail-biting loss to the Aggies, they would be at the top of the rankings. Taking all of their advantages, they factor into a win for the Crimson Tide, extending the SEC’s six year title game winning streak another year.

Expect the beginning of this game to be defense-controlled, with no points on the board until the second quarter. Notre Dame will pull ahead 7-3 going into half, and there momentum will carry into the third quarter, which is all Notre Dame. The Irish put ten points on the board to go up 17-3. However, in the fourth quarter, McCarron shows his cool by leading Alabama on three drives, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal. Alabama’s defense comes around in the fourth quarter after digging themselves into a 14-point hole, and shuts out the Irish and their hopes at there first title in 23 years.

Alabama 20, Notre Dame 17

SEC Championship Preview - Alabama v. Georgia

Technically, college football’s four-team playoff isn’t supposed to start until 2014, but the SEC decided to get a jump on it.

This weekend, the SEC Championship, featuring the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs, is basically a one-game playoff to get to the title game. With the two teams carrying identical 11-1 records and occupying the #2 and #3 spots in the BCS rankings, this conference championship game could not be more important. With the winner playing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the BCS National Championship, perhaps the most relevant question is, “Which team will let the other team score the least?”

Alabama’s defense is ranked 1^st in the country. Georgia’s is not far behind at 16^th. On paper, this game should be a low scoring trench war, much like Alabama’s 9-6 loss to LSU last season. However, both defenses have an arduous task ahead of them. They’ll be facing two offenses ranked 15^th (Alabama) and 17^th (Georgia) in the country, which score a combined 77 points a game.

Alabama’s high-paced offense, scoring 39 points a game, comes into this game with some big issues.

Its talented receiving corps is depleted, as deep threat Kenny Bell broke his leg during Alabama’s 49-0 pounding of Auburn and leaves junior quarterback AJ McCarron with fewer options. McCarron has proved that he can come through in the clutch, noting his exceptional performance as a sophomore. However, when he faced two of the top defenses this year there was a noticeable drop in his performance.

McCarron’s completion percentage against the 11^th ranked and 12^th ranked defenses (Michigan and LSU, respectively) dropped from 71% in Alabama’s 10 other games to just 52%. In there only loss to Texas A&M, he threw two interceptions against a Aggie defense that only sent four pass rushers on 70% of McCarron’s drop backs. This defensive formation forced him to throw into double coverage, which resulted in the only interceptions he threw all year. Georgia would be smart to follow Texas A&M’s example and leverage its own talented defensive backs.

On the other side of the field, Alabama’s defense also has some key areas to exploit against Georgia’s 38-points-a-game offense. Against then 6^th-ranked South Carolina (Georgia’s only loss of the season), the Gamecocks defense exposed some flaws that Saban and the Tide should be quick to pounce on.

First, there’s quarterback Aaron Murray’s inability to control his throws when under pressure. Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks showed this by regularly blitzing, lowering Murray’s completion rate to just 23%. In addition, South Carolina also picked off a throw and sacked Murray twice.

Another flaw Georgia has is its lack of a decent offensive line. In the South Carolina loss, the Bulldogs had 12 negative plays (e.g., sacks, interceptions, loss of yards), with nine of them against a four-man pass rush. With Murray losing control when under pressure, combined with 6-7 linemen unable to protect him, Georgia is going to have a hard time getting anything going.

Another thing both teams share is that they’ve been here before and know what’s at stake.

Last year, the Bulldogs played in the SEC Championship game, where they were shut down by LSU and sent off to the Outback Bowl, stinging from the defeat that knocked them out of the title picture. This year, they come in with determination to win, as a defeat will all but eliminate its chances of the title.  Georgia coach Mark Richt summed it up by saying, “Physically, mentally, be ready to handle your business when the ball kicks off. That’s my only focus.”

On the other side, this is Alabama’s 8^th SEC title game, but its first against a team other than the Florida Gators. Alabama Coach Nick Saban comes into this game excited and ready. “Regardless of what you accomplished in the past,” said Saban, “this is the most important game we’re going to play this year.”

No matter who has the better offense, or better defense, the path to the BCS National Championship goes through this game, so be ready for one of the most exciting games of the year.

With Alabama’s superior defense, expect Murray to be pounded early and often by the relentless Tide attack. Turnovers and other pressure-related problems will likely keep the Bulldogs in check. Meanwhile, Georgia’s NFL-caliber defense will keep it close, but McCarron’s experience and the chance to appear in his second championship game will drive Alabama to a win. Alabama 21, Georgia 10