Crimson Tide Back to Work For National Title Game

Bama is back on the practice field for the first time in over two weeks. The long layoff was a little much for Tide defensive lineman Damion Square who said,"I missed a few Saturdays of playing football. That's unusual. I wake up in the morning going crazy. Running around trying to put my stuff in the bag and get to the hotel. My wife is like hold on, you know we've got dinner today."

Quarterback AJ McCarron will be eating a few more dinners in T-town. He recently announced he's coming back for his senior season. Said head coach Nick Saban, "I think AJ's decision was based on the fact that with quarterbacks, if you're not going to be a very, very top pick, where they're going to make an investment of you being the guy, then you are going to develop as the guy. Otherwise, it's very difficult to develop because you don't get to play very much."

Alabama will be playing in their third national title game in the last four years. So will that championship game experience matter against Notre Dame? Said offensive lineman Barrett Jones,"I think that's a little overblown to be honest. Just that we have an advantage because we've played in the championship before. It's not going to be about who is more experienced or really who's the better team. It's about who has the best game that night."

The Tide just racked up 350 yards rushing against Georgia in the SEC title game. But can they do that against Notre Dame's top ranked defense. Said Saban,"They really have a good front seven. They're very difficult to run the ball on. They're big. They're physical. But I think when you are hard to run against that makes you hard to score on when the field shrinks."