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Wildcats Quickies: National Championship Edition

Tonight it is The Alabama Crimson Tide vs. The Clemson Tigers for the whole enchilada in Glendale, AZ.

By Keith Garrett
Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

The 14-0 Clemson Tigers face the 13-1 Alabama Crimson Tide for the 2016 NCAA National Championship tonight.  The Tigers bring a high flying offense to do battle with Nick Saban's annual tradition of stifling defense.

One of the more interesting storylines of the game is that Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney played at Alabama, and played on the 1992 Championship team to boot.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • TALE OF THE TAPE:
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  • Who is Favored?  Alabama is a 7-point favorite
  • Where? Glendale, Arizona
  • When? Tonight, 8:32 PM on ESPN
  • Announcers?  Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will be in the booth and Heather Cox on the sidelines.
  • Alabama starting QB Jacob Coker is 13-0 as a starter, he did not start in the only loss for the Tide this season.
  • Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban have combined for 13 CONSECUTIVE 10-win seasons.
  • Alabama is #1 in America in sacks and #5 in Third Down Defense... Clemson is #2 in America in Third Down Defense and #1 in America in tackles for loss.
  • Nick Saban is going for an amazing FIFTH Championship, it would put him one behind Bear Bryant for the most ever.  Is Saban on the Bear's heels historically if he wins?
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  • ESPN is also offering a total of 14 different ways to take in the game as you can see detailed here.
Among those telecasts available:
  • ESPN - Regular broadcast
  • ESPN 2 - Film Room Review
  • ESPN Radio - standard broadcast with Mike Tirico
  • ESPNews - Voices: This is a bunch of random people watching the game and you can hear them discussing it
  • ESPNU - Homer Broadcast where former players will be actively rooting for their team
  • SEC Network - Finebaum Film Room, this is basically the SEC crew watching the game and discussing it
  • ESPN Classic - Sounds of The Game, this one is the game, but with no broadcasters, only the other sound.
  • ESPN Goal Line - Command Center, this is a geek's dream.  Split screen of the game on one side, and drive charts, replays, and enhanced stats on the other
  • ESPN 3 Options - via the web you have options too, you can view Pylon Cam the whole time, or you can view it via the Spider Cam as it wanders above the action, you can also just view the Taco Bell cam which will focus on the most intense fans, the student section, band, and cheerleaders.

TWEETS OF THE WEEKEND

YOUR WILDCAT QUICKIES
  • Check out the highlights of Saturday night's big win, set to Tom Leach calling the action:

  • UK Commits and All-Americans Landon Young, Kash Daniel, and Drake Jackson contributed to the 37-9 win by the West squad during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, and all were impressive in the win.  Daniel recorded 3 tackles including one for loss and Young and Jackson more than held their own on the O-Line.

  • Another UK recruit, but of the hardwood variety, showed out over the weekend.  Bam Adebayo had 17 points and 19 rebounds plus one absolutely filthy cross over slam.

  • The #10 UK Hoops team went down to Georgia and they came across a team looking to win and they were trying to get real hot.  So Matthew Mitchell jumped up on a hickory stump and said 'Georgia, lemme tell ya what!'  Mitchell and the lady came away victorious in a not so pretty game.  The 'Cats won 64-53 without shooting well, but they did live at the Free Throw Line and rebounded very well to win.  The 'Cats did have a balanced attack with Makayla Epps leading the way with 13, but Evelyn Akhator and Alexis Jennings both with a double double.
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  • Anti-Cal and Big Blue Nation haters are squeezing all they can get out of UK self-reporting a minor violation. Drake took a picture with Tyler Ulis after one of his concerts in Chicago and of course it is a minor violation according to the NCAA.  The truth is it is a joke of a violation and schools do this all the time due to the idiocy of the NCAA.


YOUR NON-UK QUICKIES

  • The Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks squared off in absolutely miserable conditions yesterday.  Below zero temperatures and a bone numbing wind chill.  I can only imagine the turf felt like concrete and some fans probably urinated themselves to warm up.  So, you can imagine the despair when an all-world Kicker lined up for the 27-yard winning field goal... only to see the laces out and a badly shanked attempt, leading to a loss.  Of course the Ace Ventura references and other pop culture memes came fast and furious.

  • The Green Bay Packers played the Washington Redskins in their opening round of the playoffs.  They started slow and got down 11-0 but ended up roaring back outscoring the 'Skins 35-7 to win the game 35-18.  UK's very own Randall Cobb was a factor as well by catching one TD and 3 balls for 38 yards.
  • We all know about the Bengals meltdown on Saturday, and A LOT of people assumed Marvin Lewis would get the ax as a result.  Lewis now 0-7 in the playoffs with Cincinnati.  Yesterday, sources have said that the Bengals have no plans to make any changes.
  • During that Pittsburgh and Cincinnati game, Martavis Bryant made a ridiculous touchdown catch by pinning ball against his butt and back of his legs, then flipped over to move it to his chest, insane.
  • Tennessee Vols Football coach Butch Jones fired his defensive coordinator John Jancek recently.  A move that was surprising considering the Vols were 36th in the Nation defensively and 15th in the nation in scoring Defense.  The firing had more to do with internal strife than results and Jones has possibly upgraded by hiring Bob Shoop away from Penn State.
  • An anonymous coach has came out and said that Wisconsin 'got screwed' in the National Title game.  When did Bo Ryan change his name to Anonymous?
  • Former receiver Steve Smith Sr dropped a bomb on a Twitter troll asking him how his couch was:
smith


YOUR RANDOM QUICKIES
  • Did you happen to have a show you liked and one of the characters were killed off the show mysteriously?  Here are 17 instances of them for you to peruse.  The most interesting to me was that Family Matters was NEVER supposed to be about Steve Urkel.
  • Netflix is set to debut 'Fuller House' in February with the entire cast returning minus the Olson Twins.  Pictures have been released and it is weird to see them all grown up, and Uncle Jesse has not aged a day it seems.  I will admit something, I had a big time crush on Candace Cameron when I was a kid.

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