With the 2015 NCAA FB Season ending its time to preview some Conference Championship games, and we start with the SEC Championship with the SEC-East Champs the AP No. 18 Gators of Florida (10-2 Overall and Conference 7-1) playing the SEC-West Champs the No. 2 Crimson Tide of Alabama (11-1 Overall and Conference 7-1) with the game being played on Saturday the 5th of December 2015 with the game being played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia and with kick-off set for 8:05 PM ET and seen on CBS TV.
The early odds as SBG sportsbook for those that Bet on College Football have the No. 2 Crimson Tide of Alabama favored at -17 ½ with the Over/under at 39 ½, while the No. 18 Gators of Florida at +17 ½ and no early Money Lines available.
The last time an SEC-East team took the SEC title was back in 2008 and that happened to be the Gators of Florida, and this year Florida seeks to end the teams from the SEC West dominance. Needless to say that may be difficult since the Gators have been struggling offensively as of late, and lost their last game to the No.10 Seminole of FSU 27-02 last weekend.
On the other side the Crimson Tide will surely get a playoff spot if they beat the Gators in this SEC Title game, and they come into this game as big favorites to take their 3rd SEC Title in the last 4 seasons.
Fans of the 7-1 SEC-East Gators of Florida have seen their team struggle offensively after the suspension of their starting QB W. Grier in the middle of October for drug use. That all came to the surface in their win over Florida Atlantic that required OT to finalize a victory 20-14, and then their 27-2 loss to state rivals the Seminoles of FSU. Their QB T. Harris replacing Grier as the starter has struggled in his passing game. Against FSU he completed only 19 of 38 passing attempts for only 133 yards with no TD’s in that game and was give a 79.4 QB rating, which was his worst for his season starts of 6 games.
Their RB K. Taylor has played well as in his ultimate 5 games he has surpassed 100 yards on 4 occasions, and that includes his high for the season against the Seminoles of 136 yards in their loss.
But remember that RB Taylor will be facing the Alabama front 7 defensively which could easily stop the Florida running game, thus it then would be up to QB Harris, and that seems difficult also considering his performances of late. That means the Gators will have to slow down the Tide with their defense which ranks 5th in the rankings of S&P and 4th against the run this season.
However thus far this season no defensive unit in the SEC has been able to halt the Tide’s RB D. Henry, but should Florida prevail, then the Tide would turn to QB J. Coker and that would give the Gators and their defense as chance and staying close in this game and not becoming embarrassed.
Now for the avid fans of the 7-1 SEC-West, Crimson Tide of Alabama surely your aware your team is going for their 5 SEC Title in the last 9 years, and under Coach N. Saban they are 3-1 for the Title, losing their 1st to Florida and then Coach U. Meyer, but won the next 3 straight Titles. The many wonder why they are the favorites this season.
This season the Tide of Alabama in Week 3 had a difficult to swallow loss to the Rebels of Ole Miss 37-43, but since have ease through their remaining SEC games. Recently they had a win in the Iron Bowl as they beat the Tigers of Auburn 29-13 and took the SEC-West Title with that win.
Their RB D. Henry had another incredible game with 46 carries for some 271 yards rushing against Auburn in that game and is a favorite in the Heisman Trophy race as in his last 5 SEC games he has rushed for 200 yards or more with 10 TD’s in those 5 games in the SEC.
Since the Seminoles RB D. Cook ran over the Gator defense for some 184 yards and 2 TD’s, the Tide now feels confident their RB Henry will put up some big numbers on the rush against the Gators defense, but Florida may have the best defense that the Tide has faced this season.
On the defensive side the unit needs no presentation as they are one of the best teams in the nation defensively against the rush, as they have allowed opponents only 79 yards each game to date, and only 6 rushing TD’s by opponents in 2015. They also have a defensive front 7 that were able stop Heisman favorite at the time RB L. Fournette of LSU as he had 19 carries for a mere 32 yards in that game.
The overview of this game is that the Florida rushing game has little chance against the Tide’s front 7 defensively, and the Gator’s QB Harris being an average passer, it hard to visualize how it’s possible for the Alabama defensive to no stop the Gators offensively. The Tide in their ultimate 9 games with the Gators have won 7 and lost 2 straight up, and are with 4 wins and 0 losses in the last 4 match-ups.
The sports betting prediction for this game is that the Tide of Alabama will breeze by the Gators of Florida, cover the spread (-17 ½) and win the game 35-7!