This is the National Championship game everyone swears to their friends that they’re really excited for, but deep down we all know that we’re lying to ourselves. As much as we love railing on the SECSPN and Jameis Winston, the hype for this game would be tenfold if it was the Tide and the Seminoles at Jerry World on Monday night squaring off for the first time since 2007. Saban and Bobby Bowden’s squads both went 7-6 that season behind legendary college quarterbacks John Parker Wilson and Xavier Lee.
Instead, we get a rematch of a game we saw in the Rose Bowl five years ago. We didn’t even care that much about that game then. Quick! Who was the MVP of that Rose Bowl game? You guessed it, the legendary Terrelle Pryor.Yet, somehow, Ohio State’s quarterback is even more obscure this time around in Cardale Jones. No wonder he’s been doing so well since he got inserted in the starting lineup. If he wins a national championship, he will never have to go to class again!
Meanwhile, on the other sideline, we got golden boy Marcus Mariota. This dude is the most vanilla Heisman winner since Ohio State’s Troy Smith.
All this being said, there are a couple plot lines that could be interesting. Urban Meyer is back! How?!? If he wins this national championship, he has to retire. There is no way to top winning the first college football playoff as a controversial last team in, playing with a third string quarterback, having their season declared dead after losing to this awful Virginia Tech team in the Horseshoe. No way. Whatsoever. If its red and white confetti raining down in AT&T Stadium, then Urban Meyer can drop the mic at the end of the trophy presentation and get on a plane to Aruba, never to be seen again, and Nick Saban could never one-up him, even if he won ten titles in a row.
The Oregon defense got after Jameis Winston and the Seminoles pretty hard in the second half of the Rose Bowl, all despite losing arguably their top defensive player and leader in Ifo Ekpre-Olomu to a devastating knee injury in bowl practice. Yet, first-year defensive coordinator Don Pellum, who is taking over for the retired Nick Aliotti (who held the post for 14 seasons), didn’t panic. If he can make Cardale Jones look like the third-stringer that he is, then Pellum might have pushed himself into the conversation for a head-coaching gig or a spot in the NFL. But, with bringing Eugene its first national title and being able to get free drinks there for life, he probably won’t leave. Ever.
Prediction time. Yikes. I care so little that this pick is probably pretty arbitrary, but I also hate being wrong so this is going to be bad when I probably am. Give me Oregon, 39-21. They’re so fast. Too fast. I don’t think there is a defense in this country that can keep up with them. Ohio State benefited a lot from Alabama miscues in the Sugar Bowl, but Oregon isn’t the type of team to let a team back in the game the way the Crimson Tide did. Chip Kelly gets to sit on his couch while he watches Mark Helfrich win the national title he built with Phil Knight.
Balling Uncontrollably 