Mac Jones

Alabama and Notre Dame will square off in the 2021 Rose Bowl with a trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship on the line.

Largely thanks to an offense that boasts two Heisman Trophy finalists, top-ranked Alabama is the heavy favorite. Quarterback Mac Jones and wide receiver DeVonta Smith highlight the scoring attack, which also features one of the nation's best running backs, Najee Harris.

Alabama presents a massive test for a Notre Dame defense that has mostly thrived in 2020 but struggled badly during a loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.

Fortunately for the Irish, though, one excellent performance in the Rose Bowl would put them on the biggest stage. The winner will advance to face either No. 2 Clemson or No. 3 Ohio State in the CFP national title game.

            

2021 Rose Bowl

When: Thursday, Jan. 1, at 4 p.m. ET

Where: AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas

TV: ESPN

Spread (DraftKings): Alabama -19.5

              

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Ordinarily, the Heisman Trophy has already been awarded. Because of 2020's unique schedule, however, the award winner will not be revealed until Jan. 7—which is between the semifinals on New Year's Day and the Jan. 11 championship game.

As expected, both Jones and Smith are officially finalists and will be a part of a potentially inconveniently timed ceremony.

But don't anticipate much Heisman talk from either player.

"I'm only guaranteed one more game," Smith said of his mindset, according to Michael Casagrande of AL.com. "And I'm more focused on that than an award."

In the meantime, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly and his staff are figuring out a plan to contain the Crimson Tide.

"They have been a buzzsaw against everybody," Kelly said of the Tide's offense, per Matt Zenitz of AL.com. "... You gotta make them earn it all the way down the field."

Alabama ranks second nationally in points per game (49.7) and third in yards per play (7.83).

Unfortunately for the Tide, starting center Landon Dickerson will not be available in the College Football Playoff. He left the SEC Championship Game with a season-ending knee injury. Chris Owens will replace Dickerson in the lineup.

"Chris Owens has played a lot of football for us," Alabama coach Nick Saban said, per Charlie Potter of 247Sports. "He's an experienced player. We have a lot of confidence in him."

Alabama needs Owens' experience to show; Notre Dame has the fourth-most tackles for loss in the country.

If the Irish manage to overpower a reliable Alabama front, they'll have a legitimate shot at pulling the upset. If not, though, the Tide will likely be headed to the national championship.

                

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Alabama quarterback Mac Jones headlines the list of four players announced as finalists for the prestigious Heisman Trophy for 2020.

Jones is one of two Crimson Tide finalists, with wide receiver DeVonta Smith also representing Alabama. The program is the second ever (Army, 1946) to have three players rank in the top five of the vote, as running back Najee Harris placed fifth. 

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask and Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence were also selected as finalists for college football's top honor.

Jones led an undefeated Alabama team to a College Football Playoff appearance after it missed out last season.

The 22-year-old, who would be the first Alabama signal-caller to win the award, has 3,739 yards on 250-of-327 passing (an FBS-best 76.5 completion percentage), with 32 touchdowns and just four interceptions through 11 games.

Smith was on the receiving end of many of those passes, with an FBS-leading 98 receptions for 1,511 yards and 17 touchdowns (ranking second).

The 22-year-old would be the first receiver to win the award since Desmond Howard (Michigan) in 1991, and the first receiver to finish as a finalist since Alabama star Amari Cooper in 2014. 

The yardage and touchdowns totals from Jones trail just one player in college football: Trask.

He led the Gators to an 8-3 season in his second year as a starter, clearing the 4,000-yard mark (4,125) on 69.7 percent passing (285-of-409) with 43 scoring passes (at least three in all but one outing) and five picks. 

The last Florida player to win the Heisman Trophy was quarterback Tim Tebow in 2007. 

Lawrence, who is considered to be the consensus top pick in the 2021 NFL draft, was sidelined for two games after a COVID-19 diagnosis, so he wasn't able to pad his statistics as heavily as his competitors. But he still won all nine games he played in (pushing his career record to 34-1) with 2,753 yards, 22 touchdowns and four interceptions while adding seven rushing scores.

He would be the first Clemson player to win the award. 

The Heisman finalists are determined through media voting, and while there are always at least three players invited to the award ceremony in New York, there may be more depending on how close the vote is, according to the Heisman Trophy Trust. 

There were four finalists last year: Ohio State's Justin Fields and Chase Young, Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts and eventual winner Joe Burrow of LSU.

Fields was considered a heavy contender to win the 2020 award after missing out last season, but the Buckeyes played just five games during the regular season, and the junior threw three interceptions in a one-touchdown victory over Indiana, the only ranked team they faced before the Big Ten Championship Game. 

He ranked seventh in this year's voting, after Harris and Breece Hall (RB, Iowa State). 

Zach Wilson (BYU, QB), Ian Book (Notre Dame, QB) and Kyle Pitts (TE, Florida) rounded out the top 10. 

The winner will be announced Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. in a ceremony that will air on ESPN.

Alabama headlined the SEC postseason awards after the Crimson Tide won the conference title for the fifth time in the last seven years.

Brett McMurphy of Stadium noted the major honors, including receiver DeVonta Smith winning the prestigious Offensive Player of the Year:

SEC Players of Year

Offensive: DeVonta Smith, Alabama

Defensive: Patrick Surtain II, Alabama

Special Teams: Jake Camarda, Georgia

Coach of Year
Nick Saban, Alabama

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 22, 2020

Alabama quarterback Mac Jones was also named the league's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. For Nick Saban, it's the fifth time winning SEC Coach of the Year and his first since 2016.

Missouri quarterback Connor Bazelak and Auburn running back Tank Bigsby shared the Freshman of the Year honors.

      

All-SEC First Team Offense

QB

Mac Jones, Alabama

RB

Najee Harris, Alabama

Isaiah Spiller, Texas A&M

All Purpose

Kadarius Toney, Florida

WR

DeVonta Smith, Alabama

Elijah Moore, Ole Miss

TE

Kyle Pitts, Florida

OL

Alex Leatherwood, Alabama

Landon Young, Kentucky

Ben Cleveland, Georgia

Trey Smith, Tennessee*

Deonte Brown, Alabama*

C

Landon Dickerson, Alabama

      

All-SEC First-Team Defense

DL

Christian Barmore, Alabama

Kingsley Enagbare, South Carolina

Trajan Jeffcoat, Missouri

Bobby Brown III, Texas A&M

LB

Nick Bolton, Missouri

Dylan Moses, Alabama

Grant Morgan, Arkansas

DB

Patrick Surtain II, Alabama

Kaiir Elam, Florida

Richard LeCounte, Georgia

Derek Stingley, LSU

     

All-SEC First-Team Special Teams

PK

Cade York, LSU

P

Jake Camarda, Georgia

RS

Kadarius Toney, Florida

     

The battle to win Offensive Player of the Year was a competitive one with several players producing incredible numbers over the 2020 season, although the coaches gave credit to Smith after leading the nation with 98 catches and 1,511 receiving yards.

He has also scored 19 total touchdowns this season to help him become the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, per DraftKings Sportsbook:

Devonta Smith is now the favorite to win the Heisman 👀

He would be the first non-QB/RB to win since 1997

(Odds via @DKSportsbook) pic.twitter.com/vGHYF3v0VJ

— br_betting (@br_betting) December 20, 2020

Teammates Mac Jones and Najee Harris also deserve plenty of praise on their way to earning first-team All-SEC honors.

Jones has 32 passing touchdowns and only four interceptions this year, while Harris has an eye-popping 27 touchdowns to go with 1,578 yards from scrimmage. 

Meanwhile, Florida's Kyle Trask had to settle for the second-team in his conference despite leading the country with 4,125 passing yards and 43 passing touchdowns.

Patrick Surtain II earned Defensive Player of the Year thanks to his shut-down coverage at cornerback throughout the season, adding one interception returned for a touchdown. 

    

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Though he led Alabama to the SEC championship with a 52-46 victory over Florida on Saturday, Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Jones had a postgame moment that might be even more meaningful.

Jones was interviewed by former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow on SEC Network, and when Tebow asked the redshirt junior about his mindset, Jones shared his secret.

Just a couple of QBs from Jacksonville talking ball. @TimTebow x @MacJones_10 pic.twitter.com/D0LJCQ9t9y

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) December 20, 2020

"Well, I got it from you," Jones said. "Because you were my favorite player growing up, and you did everything right all the time. So I just learned that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard from you. Honestly, I can literally say it's from you, because I loved you growing up and still do now." 

Jones, who like Tebow is a Jacksonville native, collected 418 yards and five touchdowns on 33-of-43 passing Saturday night, and he'll get another chance to represent his and Tebow's hometown when No. 1 Alabama plays No. 4 Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day in the College Football Playoff semifinal.            

Much of the luster was sapped out of this weekend's SEC Championship game long before kickoff this Saturday. 

Florida, which sat at No. 6 in the College Football Playoff Rankings prior to last weekend, had a chance to remain in that spot—if not leapfrog No. 5 Texas A&M—with a win over LSU.

That would have set the Gators up for a showdown with No. 1 Alabama in the SEC title game, and a win would have assured Florida its first trip to the College Football Playoff.

Instead, the Gators quite literally threw away a likely victory in the final minutes and have subsequently fallen to 8-2 and No. 7 in the rankings. 

Florida would need a miraculous turn of luck—beating Alabama, Notre Dame upsetting Clemson for a second time and Oklahoma knocking off Iowa State—to be back in the CFP conversation. Even with a loss, Alabama is unlikely to drop out of the top four after the regular season it had, and leapfrogging that many teams would be nearly impossible for Florida. 

But the fact that there's even a chance of that happening keeps some of the intrigue alive in a game where Alabama is favored by 17 points and hasn't lost in the SEC Championship Game since 2008. 

    

Key Storylines

Florida's Offense

Five years after Alabama decimated Florida 54-16 in the SEC title game en route to another appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship, the Gators will hope to avoid a similar fate. And unlike the 2016 team, this one has the offensive horses to keep up with Alabama's. 

Quarterback Kyle Trask has been the most impressive—and improved—quarterback in the entire country this season, throwing for 3,717 yards, 40 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He has complete command of Dan Mullen's offense and has the ability to make any throw on the field.

Florida's offense as a whole is averaging an eye-popping 513 yards per game and ranks 12th nationally in scoring offense (41.7 PPG). The good news for Trask is he'll have his favorite target, tight end Kyle Pitts, back from injury and available for this game. 

Pitts is one of the biggest matchup nightmares in all of college football, and despite not having an overwhelming number of catches (36) or targets, he had 11 receiving touchdowns, which ranks fourth nationally regardless of position.

At 6'6" and 240 pounds, he's almost impossible for a defensive back cover in the red zone, and he's too fast for linebackers in open space. He'll assuredly be the focal point of Alabama's defensive scheme, but Trask has other weapons around him.

Eight Florida players have at least 15 catches this season, led by Kadarius Toney with 62. Toney also has nine receiving touchdowns and another on the ground, providing Trask another option in both the passing and rushing games. 

     

Alabama's Offense

On the other side sits the second-highest scoring offense in all of college football (49.5 PPG), and arguably the front-runner for this year's Heisman Trophy. No, not Mac Jones, though he's had an impressive year for someone who was considered a game manager by most heading into this season. Instead, it's been wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who has put together one of the best campaigns by a college wideout in recent memory.

In just 10 games, Smith has racked up 83 catches, 1,327 yards and 15 touchdowns, each of which are in the top three nationally. The Heisman hasn't gone to a receiver since Desmond Howard won it in 1991, but Smith has been hands down the most dominant player in college football this year while doing it on the No. 1 team in the country. 

Alabama's running game is no slouch, though. Senior back Najee Harris leads the country with 22 rushing touchdowns and has totaled 1,333 all-purpose yards in 10 games. Fellow senior Brian Robinson Jr. has been a good change-of-pace back as well, rushing for six touchdowns of his own. 

Directing it all is Jones, who had the unlucky assignment of following up one of the greatest quarterbacks in Alabama history, Tua Tagovailoa. He's been more than up for the challenge, though, completing 76.4 percent of his passes while throwing for 332 yards per game and 27 total touchdowns. 

    

Prediction 

While Florida's offense might be able to keep pace for a while, it's not as though Alabama has a run-of-the-mill, average defense—the Tide rank 11th nationally in points against.

Alabama will get enough stops for its offense to break the game open in the second half and secure the No. 1 ranking in the CFP and a spot in the Sugar Bowl semifinal. 

Alabama 45, Florida 27