The bowl games are over. We had some pretty one-sided affairs early, but the final few games provided some thrilling games. Ironically, the Power 5 conferences all hovered near 50% in bowl percentages. The ACC was 50%, and the others were all a half-game game away from 50%: Big XII, Big Ten, and SEC higher and Pac-12 lower. The final conference results in the bowls were:
1. Conference USA (4-2)
2. Independents (2-1)
3 (tie). Mountain West (3-2)
3 (tie). Sun Belt (3-2)
5. Big XII (4-3)
6. Big Ten (5-4)
7. SEC (6-5)
8. ACC (5-5)
9. Pac-12 (3-4)
10. American (2-7)
11. MAC (1-5)
There were some upsets among the Top 25, so the final rankings are:
Top 25 [Previous position]
1. Alabama Crimson Tide (14-0 [1]
2. Clemson Tigers (14-0) [2]
3. Ohio State Buckeyes (13-1) [5] : Although they slacked off a bit in the fourth quarter, they had built up a large enough lead to allow Washington to feel good about themselves and still win the game
4. UCF Golden Knights (12-1) [4] : No claim for co-National Champion this year. They lost big, and should have dropped, but this shows the gap between them the top teams and the next group, as my computer model kept them in the Top 5
5. Oklahoma Sooners (12-2) [6] : Who goes UP one position after a loss? Well, when that loss is to the top team in the country and you nearly came back to win that game, you get credit for that
6. Fresno State Bulldogs (12-2) [10]
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-1) [3] : They may have justified claims that the Irish didn't deserve to be in the playoffs
8. Utah State Aggies (11-2) [13]
9. Georgia Bulldogs (11-3) [7] : Bevo nearly skewered Uga before the game, and the Longhorns DID skewer the Bulldogs during the game, silencing any cries that Georgia deserved to be in the playoffs
10. Appalachian State Mountaineers (11-2) [14]
11. Washington State Cougars (11-2) [12]
12. Boise State Broncos (10-3) [11] : Bad weather prevented their game from completing, which may have hurt their ranking
13. Michigan Wolverines (10-3) [8]
14. Cincinnati Bearcats (11-2) [15]
15. LSU Tigers (10-3) [16] : Beating UCF should have raised them more, but there was a large gap between #15 and #16 in the final pre-bowl Top 25, and they couldn't quite bridge it well enough
16. Texas Longhorns (10-4) [18]
17. Florida Gators (10-3) [20]
18. Penn State Nittany Lions (9-4) [9] : Perhaps the biggest disappointment among Top 25 teams in the bowls
19. Iowa Hawkeyes (9-4) [19]
20. Army Black Knights (11-2) [21]
21. West Virginia Mountaineers (8-4) [17]
22. Syracuse Orange (10-3) [24]
23. Washington Huskies (10-4) [22]
24. Kentucky Wildcats (10-3) [NR]
25. Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-5) [23]
And now, my pick for the National Championship Game. For the third time, Alabama and Clemson meet for the national title. Alabama won the first one, Clemson won the second one. This is the rubber match. Clemson thoroughly trounced Notre Dame, while the Alabama defense let Oklahoma come back in the second half. This has many national analysts siding with Clemson. I'm not so quit to count out the Tide. You see, this Tide squad is different. They don't feel the need to demolish opponents. They are more interested in doing interesting (and sometimes fun) things on the field, and having a good time. I remember the Citadel game during the season. Citadel and Alabama were tied at halftime. Twitter was exploding with people wondering if Alabama had lost their mojo, and what this meant for the team. Then Alabama came out and dominated in the second half, like they knew they could.
The Alabama 2018 squad has remembered that a win is a win, and that this is still a game. So long as they win, they don't have to destroy opponents to prove their dominance. Hell, they have won four championships in less than ten years, they don't have anything to prove to anyone. They know what they can do, and so does most of the country, even as short-term as most sports analysts memories are. This will likely be a close game, but it will be fifth title for Saban's Tide. ALABAMA
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