The SEC championship game was more than a game between the SEC East and SEC West. It was the game that gave the winner chance to go to the BCS National Championship game.
With Alabama ranked #2 and Georgia ranked #3, both 11-1, deserved to play each other in the Georgia Dome for the chance to play #1 Notre Dame.
The Bulldogs scored first with a touchdown pass by Aaron Murray to Jay Rome. During the second quarter, Alabama answered back with a touchdown by Eddie Lacy and field goal making it 10-7 Alabama at half time.
Georgia opened up the second with a touchdown by Todd Gurley, and then after a blocked field goal, Alec Ogletree recovered the ball and ran it back for another touchdown making it 21-10 Georgia. The Tide ran up to field, and T.J. Yeldon would score the touchdown and make the 2-point conversion.
To open up the fourth quarter, Todd Lacy scored another touchdown giving Alabama a 4 point lead. Georgia took the lead right back with another touchdown.
With a little more than three minutes left in the game, Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper making it a score of 32-28 Alabama.
Then Georgia had the ball in the Red Zone with 15 seconds left, but the Alabama tipped the ball into a Georgia receiver’s hands, and he was tackled at the 5 yard line. The clock ran out, and Alabama won 32-28.
Alabama will go to Miami to play Notre Dame in hopes of winning their 15th National Championship title.
In other action, Florida State and Georgia Tech played each other for the ACC Championship title and the chance to go the Orange Bowl.
Florida State was ranked 13th with a record of 10-2 while Georgia Tech was unranked with a record of 6-6. The Yellow Jackets were able to make it to the championship game because Miami put sanctions on themselves and decided not to participate.
The Seminoles took an early 14-0 lead against the Jackets. Continuing in the first half, FSU’s defense was able to stop Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense, and their offense was able to easily run through Georgia Tech’s defense. Going into half time, FSU had a 21-6 lead.
During the second half, Georgia Tech started to slow down Florida State’s offense, and Tech started to get back in the game when FSU fumbled three times.
Quarterback Tevin Washington had a one-yard touchdown drive, which cut FSU’s lead to 21-15. Then Seminole quarterback, EJ Manuel, threw an interception, which got Tech back at their own 15-yard line with less than 3 minutes to go. Luckily for Florida State, Karlos Williams had his first career interception, which ended the game in their favor.
Florida State won 21-15 and will play against Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl.
Earlier in the conference championship season on November 17, Ivy League fans waited in anticipation to see how the division would turn out.
The Penn Quakers held first place with a conference record of 5-1, and the Harvard Crimson and Princeton Tigers were tied for second records of 4-2. If Penn won, the Quakers would be the outright champions, but if Penn lost and Harvard and Princeton won, the champion would be determined by the head-to-head records.
Harvard played Yale in what is known as “The Game,” and Princeton played Dartmouth for the Sawhorse Dollar trophy. Harvard won their game 34-24, and Darmouth beat Princeton 35-21.
Penn played their Ivy League rivals Cornell. The Quakers trailed for most of the first half, but with a touchdown pass by quarterback Andrew Holland, Penn took the 14-13 lead going into the half.
During the second half, Penn’s defense struggled to stop the Big Red, and Cornell tied the game during the fourth at 28-28, but the Quaker offense stepped up with a touchdown with one minute left in the game. With help of penalties on the Cornell offense, the Quakers won the game 35-28 and became the Ivy League champions for the 16th time.
Since the Ivy League opts out of participating in any BCS bowl games, their season is now over.
The 2012 Big Ten championship was played on December 2 in Indianapolis between the 14 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers and the unranked Wisconsin Badgers.
Going into the championship, the Cornhuskers were favored due to their 10-2 record, as opposed to the Badgers with a 7-5 record. Nebraska represented the Legends’ division of the Big Ten while Wisconsin represented the Leaders division.
Notable players for Nebraska include quarterback Taylor Martinez and running back Rex Burkhead, both of whom have had solid seasons. This year marked Wisconsin’s third trip to the Big Ten championship, winning the past two, which resulted in consecutive trips to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Coach Bret Bielema said prior to the game on ESPN2, “Our boys have an unbelievable opportunity to get there today.”
To begin the game, Wisconsin won the coin toss and chose to receive the ball. Running back Melvin Gordon ran for 56 yards on the first drive. After kicking the ball off, defensive back Marcus Cromartie caught his first interception of the year to run 29 yards back for a touchdown. This put Wisconsin in the lead by 14 in less than three minutes into the first quarter. Getting the ball back, Nebraska quarterback ran 76 yards to get a touchdown, making the score 14-7. Nebraska scored next when they drove down the field for Brett Maher to score a 32 yard field goal. Wisconsin then got the ball back, resulting in running back James White running nine yards for a touchdown. The first quarter ended with the score of 21-10, Wisconsin in the lead.
The first to score in the second quarter was Wisconsin once again; running back White ran 1 yard for a touchdown. After driving down the field, running back Montee Ball ran 16 yards for a touchdown. The next touchdown was made by White to tight end Sam Arneson 2 yard completion with 2 seconds left in the quarter.
At halftime, Wisconsin was up 42-10. Just in the first half, Wisconsin had 290 rushing yards. White had three total touchdowns, and Gordon and Ball had one each. Both also had over 100 yards on the ground. On the Nebraska side, Martinez had one rushing touchdown and an interception.
Nebraska began the second half with possession, but quarterback Martinez threw a second interception. This act resulted in a touchdown for Wisconsin made by a nine yard run by running back Ball. After Nebraska got the ball back, Taylor Martinez ran 11 yards for a touchdown. Answering back, Ball rushed 57 yards for another touchdown, making the score 56-17. The next to score was White for Wisconsin with a 68 yard run. There were no more scores in the third quarter, and the fourth quarter began with 63-17.
Running back Braylon Heard was the first to score in the fourth quarter for Nebraska with a nine yard run. Wisconsin answered back, with White running 10 yards for a touchdown. Neither team scored again until Nebraska running back Imani Cross scored by a 26 yard run for a touchdown with less than a minute left in the game. The final score was 70-31, with Wisconsin dominating Nebraska.
Just in the championship game, Wisconsin had 639 yards on the ground, 538 of which were rushing. Linebacker Chris Borland led the team in tackles with 13 in the game. White had 109 yards and four touchdowns alone. Ball is now tied for the FBS record with the championship being his 25th career game with two or more touchdowns. He also has 76 rush touchdowns, which is the most in the FBS.
Wisconsin’s impressive win over 14 ranked Nebraska will result in their third trip to Pasadena for their third consecutive appearance in the Rose Bowl. The Badgers will be playing the Stanford Cardinals on January 1, 2013, in a Big Ten – Pac 12 showdown.
