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CFP Semifinal: Washington vs Alabama, Sat 12/31 @ 3p ET, ESPN

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shiloh said:
There's probably another thread for this, but don't underestimate/take for granted Washington. It's usually a team w/no frickin' chance who upsets the apple cart. Pun intended. Washington will definitely be playing with house $$$.
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I don't think I have seen a thread for it. Washington has a decent chance. They have a good defense against a fumble prone freshmen qb. Also, remember how Sims threw those picks against OSU? OSU threw looks at Sims he had never seen before. He got confused. Washington will try to do the same. They are very good at getting turnovers.

I expect them to have the same philosophy on offense - use different formations to keep Bama confused and on their heels. They also can't play conservatively, like LSU tried to do.

My best hope is that Washington is good on defense the way 2011 ND was good on defense.

I digress,

I'm definitely not seeing either OSU or Clemson blowing the other team out. This looks to me like it will be a very close game all the way through.
 
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Gcashwell said:
I don't think I have seen a thread for it.
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We've gone away from individual threads for non-OSU games lately, though the playoffs might be an exception. It tends to fall in the Week ___ thread for that week.
Washington has a decent chance. They have a good defense against a fumble prone freshmen qb. Also, remember how Sims threw those picks against OSU? OSU threw looks at Sims he had never seen before. He got confused. Washington will try to do the same. They are very good at getting turnovers.
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I've heard a lot of chatter about how many Bama passes are near the LoS. What is the confidence level in him making plays downfield?
I expect them to have the same philosophy on offense - use different formations to keep Bama confused and on their heels. They also can't play conservatively, like LSU tried to do.

My best hope is that Washington is good on defense the way 2011 ND was good on defense.

I digress,

I'm definitely not seeing either OSU or Clemson blowing the other team out. This looks to me like it will be a very close game all the way through.
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Agreed.
 
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bukIpower said:
Nonsense... Washington can boat to Tampa just as they do at home.

I think the Washington game will be close to be honest. Not sure if they'll win but they'll have everything to prove.

However you guys are spot on IMO regarding the practice. Think about this, we are the youngest team in College football this year and endured the most daunting schedule I've ever seen an OSU program go through (and that's with MSU being down this year, Imagine if they weren't).

I'm confident we will be improved just for the fact that we will be healthy. Even though we put up 126 points in two weeks in November we were tired, beat up, and played to the elements.

Playing Inside with 5 weeks to prepare I know we will put a better effort together on offense. Also imagine being a defensive starter for our team these 5 weeks and how people will talk about the greatness that is Clemson. For five weeks they're going to hear about how Clemson "will get theirs", how NFL talent is everywhere on their offense , and how well they're clicking on offense now (easy to do on a will muschamp defense but sure ok).

IMO this game will be a shock for one team and it'll be Clemson. OSU has played 3 defenses tougher then Clemson and OSU has faced Oklahoma who IMO is equally dangerous as Clemson. OSU has played better teams and because of it won't be a floored with competition as Clemson will be.

More I think of things the more confident I get.
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I want to share in my optimism regarding Washington but that USC game is too big to ignore. Alabama has significantly more talented than the Trojan team that beat the Huskies team soundly at Washington's place. I think it's going to get ugly unless Petersen comes up with an all-timer of a game plan.
 
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Systems_id said:
I want to share in my optimism regarding Washington but that USC game is too big to ignore. Alabama has significantly more talented than the Trojan team that beat the Huskies team soundly at Washington's place. I think it's going to get ugly unless Petersen comes up with an all-timer of a game plan.
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True but I'm basing my hunch (sorry Gcashwell) off of the fact that Alabama has an extreme tendency to under perform when they are heavy favorites in bowl games from time to time. Also I do like Petersons ability with 4 weeks to put together a good enough plan to compete with Bama (notice I didn't say beat).

Washington does has a good defensive front and should win it's share of battles. It's all on Washington's offense though because against this great bama defense they need to be mistake free if they want to have any shot to be competitive or even win.
 
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bukIpower said:
True but I'm basing my hunch (sorry Gcashwell) off of the fact that Alabama has an extreme tendency to under perform when they are heavy favorites in bowl games from time to time. Also I do like Petersons ability with 4 weeks to put together a good enough plan to compete with Bama (notice I didn't say beat).

Washington does has a good defensive front and should win it's share of battles. It's all on Washington's offense though because against this great bama defense they need to be mistake free if they want to have any shot to be competitive or even win.
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I wouldn't go quite that far. They've really only underperformed when heavily favored twice - against Oklahoma and against us (and I wouldn't say they underperformed in 2014. We just performed better). Throw in their past few games against Ole Miss if you want to, but overall that's actually quite impressive for any CFB team.

They were heavy favorites against:
- PSU (2010 and 2011), won 24-3 and 27-11
- MSU (2011), won 49-7 . Note they were ranked lower but heavy Vegas favorites
- Notre Dame (2012). We all know how that turned out
- MSU (2015), won 38-0
- USC (2016), won 52-6

Tough to argue against that resume.
 
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