Curtis: Five reasons Texas will win
SN’s Matt hayes offers five reasons Alabama will take home the national title.
Trent Richardson consistently breaks tackles for Alabama.
1. Yards after contact: A key, overlooked strength for the Tide. Bruising running backs Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson and Roy Upchurch all consistently break tackles and force defenses to play fundamentally sound. If Texas is out of position because of run blitzes, a broken tackle or two is all it takes to turn no gain into a significant play. Florida closed to 13-10 against the Tide in the SEC championship game, then couldn’t tackle Ingram on a simple screen pass that led to a touchdown at the end of the half. These are the plays that can break the will of Texas.
2. Little names, big games: Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster, one of the game’s best defensive coordinators, saw Alabama in Week 1 and says this about the Tide passing game: “The guys to worry about are No. 4 with the speed outside and the tight end over the middle. You starting worrying about (Alabama WR Julio) Jones, and those two will make you pay.” Those two: speedy wideout Marquis Maze and TE Colin Peek. It is Peek who QB Greg McElroy usually finds in third-and-make-a-play situations, and Maze has become the Tide’s deep threat—especially on first down off play-action. The more Texas doubles Jones, the more room over the middle for Maze and Peek.
3. Pressure up front: Nebraska disrupted the Texas passing game because the Huskers were virtually unblockable at the point of attack. While Terrence Cody isn’t …
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