Alabama will win national title if they can handle Clemson's defensive line

Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

College football fans in the reading audience will be tuned in for Monday night’s National Championship Game, which will feature Alabama and Clemson. This year’s championship game will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. and is set to start at 7 p.m. It will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Alabama enters the game ranked No. 1 in the nation, and Clemson is ranked No. 2. Both teams are undefeated, and, as of Tuesday morning, Alabama was a six-point favorite. Personally, I want Alabama to win, and I’ll be pulling for them, but I think they’re going to have their hands full against Clemson.

I watched Clemson demolish Notre Dame in the semi-finals, and Clemson looked really, really good against the Fighting Irish. Above all other things, Clemson’s defensive line looked especially good, and I think they’ll be the key factor in the championship game. If Alabama can step up and handle Clemson’s defensive line, they will win. If not, they’ll be in for a long night.

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All of our local high school basketball teams will return to action this week as they begin the January portions of their schedules. Hillcrest’s varsity boys and Sparta Academy’s varsity girls have looked really good so far this season, and I look for both of those teams to continue to improve as they head toward the postseason. Hillcrest’s boys look especially well-suited for another deep run in the playoffs, so we’ve got all of that to look forward to.

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Over the holidays, the Alabama Sports Writers Association released its annual list of finalists for Back of the Year and Lineman of the Year in all seven AHSAA classifications and in the AISA. In all, this list contains 48 of the top football players in the state, and Alabama’s Mr. Football will be selected from among this number.

The Back of the Year and Lineman of the Year awards, as well as Mr. Football, will be announced during a banquet on Jan. 15 in Montgomery. Looking down the list of candidates, I predict that Thompson High School quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa will be selected as this year’s Mr. Football. If his name sounds somewhat familiar, it’s because his older brother, Tua, is the quarterback at Alabama.

A handful of players from our part of the state are finalists for awards at the banquet, including Flomaton’s Daquan Johnson, who is a finalist for 3A Back of the Year. T.R. Miller’s Ricky Samuel is also a finalist for 3A Lineman of the Year. In the AISA, Monroe Academy’s Carter Ledkins is a finalist for Back of the Year, and Monroe Academy’s Max Carter is a finalist for Lineman of the Year.

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Before closing this thing out for another week, I feel like I should point out that this week’s paper is the first of the 2019 calendar year. Around this time each year, I begin to think about what lies ahead in the local sports scene for the next 12 months. It’s always hard to predict what will happen, and there are always a few surprises. Whatever happens, I wish all of our local teams and athletes all the success they’ve worked for in the coming year.