Last week, the spotlight was too bright for the #1 and #2 teams in the country as Kansas State and Oregon both lost. This week every team in the spotlight won and it was Notre Dame and the SEC that were the big winners.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish finished off a storybook regular season by beating USC 22-12 and going 12-0. The Irish fought against the odds this season as they started off the season outside of the AP Top 25 (they were also outside of our pre-season Top 25). Notre Dame did what undefeated teams do and that is win close football games. They finished the season with two overtime wins (one in triple OT) and overall they won half of their games by ten points or less. Notre Dame is a team that has a very solid defense and they are gamers.
The SEC was in the spotlight on Saturday and everything came up perfect. Georgia and Alabama absolutely demolished it's rivals by a total of 81 points and are now on a collision course for the right to play the Irish for the National Title. The SEC also came up big in the ACC showdown as Florida beat FSU, South Carolina beat Clemson and Vandy beat Wake Forest to give the SEC a 4-0 sweep on the day. In addition to that, another SEC team snuck into a bowl game as Ole Miss beat their in-state rival Mississippi State to become bowl eligible. And to top it off, Texas A&M freshman Johnny Manziel is making a late push for the Heisman Trophy.
All eye balls are now set on Atlanta as the SEC Championship Game will take place on Saturday December 1st at 4 pm. Both Alabama and Georgia come into the game at 11-1 and 7-1 in the conference. Georgia lost an early conference game on the road to South Carolina and Alabama lost a late one at home to Texas A&M. Last year, Georgia played LSU extremely tough for a half in the SEC Title Game but missed opportunities and then let it slip away in the second half. On Saturday we will find out what Georgia learned from that opportunity and if they are ready to take the next step against Nick Saban and his Crimson Tide.
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