Place: Atlanta
Time: 8 p.m.
Line: Alabama by 6 1/2
Three reasons Alabama will win
Ingram leads the Tide’s running attack.
1. Defensive dominance: Remember the defense that dominated for 12 games last season? There’s little difference this time around. In fact, even though the secondary has been rebuilt, there’s more speed and athleticism on the unit overall than last year. That’s bad news for Tech’s one-dimensional offense, which hasn’t thrown with consistency for two seasons. Alabama coach Nick Saban’s defenses are full of complex blitz schemes and run blitz packages, a brutal introduction to big-time football for Tech redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams.
2. Dictate tempo: It begins on defense and then rolls over to the offense. In both instances, the Tide want to control the lines of scrimmage. That means Mark Ingram replaces All-SEC tailback Glen Coffee and the Tide loses nothing in the run game—especially with the emergence this fall camp of freshman Trent Richardson. A strong running game is exactly what first-year starting QB Greg McElroy needs to gain confidence.
3. Exploit matchups: This is the nature of Alabama under Nick Saban: Play strong defense, run the ball with power and find mismatches in the passing game. It also helps that WR Julio Jones is a matchup nightmare for just about any defensive back in the game. Additionally, Marquis Maze, who was inconsistent last season, has looked terrific in fall camp and will become a legitimate …
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