Now that Alabama's juggernaut has coasted to an unbeaten regular season and probable top seed in the College Football Playoff, the primary question heading into the postseason is this — how do you stop Nick Saban's well-oiled machine?
During Tuesday's chat with media previewing Saturday's SEC Championship Game, veteran CBS Sports analyst Gary Danielson tried to lay out the blueprint for keeping it close — and perhaps beating — the Crimson Tide.
"I've been asked this question since 2009 and the amazing thing about this run for Alabama is that each of the last nine years, at one point in the season Alabama was ranked No. 1 in the polls," Danielson said. "I don’t think that’ll ever come close to being repeated again. Everybody has theories — mobile quarterback, tempo, got to finesse them — and all those may work occasionally, but I think you’d be mistaken going into the game depending on those things helping you win the game.
"I think you have to do it the way LSU did it and that is being good enough up front to at least tie them or at least not get humiliated up front. Clemson showed that in the national championship game when it took an onside kick to win. In 2014, OSU showed that with power and counter with Ezekiel Elliott. That’s no. 1. And secondly, you better be efficient at quarterback. You don’t have to throw 35-40 times, but you have to be efficient. There are a lot of mistakes than can be made in football and the guy who handles the ball the most and is responsible for not making mistakes is the quarterback."
At some sportsbooks, Alabama's as high as a 24.5-point betting favorite vs. Florida heading into Saturday's showdown, the highest point spread in any Power 5 league title game by far.
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