GameDay Prediction: Can Ohio State Hang with Alabama?

We made it all the way to the national championship game. and COVID-19 be damned. So it's time for one last gameday pick in the showdown between No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Ohio State.

I wasn't going to do this, but when you ask, I try to oblige. And since I kept hitting the nail on the head with my GameDay predictions for two months at the start of Indiana's football season, I might as well finish it off with one prediction on Monday night's College Football Playoff title game.

It's 12-0 Alabama vs. 7-0 Ohio State, one last SEC vs. Big Ten battle. Both teams have been talking title for a year, and this one is for all the marbles. It starts at 8 p.m. ET and here's how you watch the game. CLICK HERE

Alabama is an 8.5-point favorite, according to the Draftkings.com website. Ohio State was a big underdog against Clemson too, and the Buckeyes hammered them in the semifinals on Jan. 1.

There are two ways of looking at this thing. For Indiana fans, it would be really good if Ohio State won, because the only team to give them a game all year was the Hoosiers, who lost 42-35 in Columbus in late November. It would give Indiana great street cred, but there's only one problem with that. It would ... it would ... it would ...

... mean that Indiana fans would have to root for Ohio State. Sorry, but that ain't happening. And I don't want to hear your "Sermon'' either, Buckeyes fans.

I can be hard to root for any SEC team too, especially the evil empire led by Nick Saban. It seems like Alabama wins every year, but let's not forget that the Crimson Tide didn't even make the playoffs last year, and that it was LSU who won it all, not Alabama.

Even though I grew up an Ohio State fan as a kid – loved Archie Griffin, and as an Irish Catholic kid growing up in Northwest Indiana, I hated having a certain local team jammed down my throat every – I can't root for Ohio State anymore. Urban Meyer sucked that rooting interest out of me.

I've also spent a lot of time in Alabama the past two years with my book publishing business, and I've really enjoyed my time in Tuscaloosa and the rest of the state. I actually like Nick Saban, and I do think he's the greatest coach in college football history. I edited and published an entire book proving it too – "Decade Of Dominance'' – and if you're any kind of college football fan, you need to read it.

My rooting interest tonight leans toward Alabama. And after seeing one Ohio State player after another deal with COVID this past month or so, I think Ohio State is just too shorthanded to hang with the Crimson Tide on Monday night.

I started out correctly picking Indiana game six weeks in a row. That's perfect, but my critics will remind me that I miss the last two games against Wisconsin and Ole Miss. So, of course, I don't know diddly.

But I'm taking a stab at it anyway.

The 8.5 points doesn't scare me one bit. I think Ohio State will score some, but I don't think it will be close down the stretch. 

My final pick of the year? I'm going with Alabama 48, Ohio State 31.