Article Written by: Justin Pollock
When: Jan. 6 at 8:30 p.m. ET
Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Watch: ESPN
Over/Under: 67 points
Spread: Florida State (-9)
So this is it. The end of the 2013 college football season. A showdown between the undefeated (13-0, 8-0 ACC) No.1 Florida State Seminoles and the (12-1, 7-1 SEC) No. 2 Auburn Tigers.
Matchup
| FSU | AUB | |
|---|---|---|
| W-L | 13-0 | 12-1 |
| Avg Points | 53.0 | 40.2 |
| Avg Points Allowed | 10.7 | 24.0 |
| Home Record | 8-0 | 9-0 |
| Road Record | 5-0 | 3-1 |
| Division Record | 6-0 | 5-1 |
| Conference Record | 8-0 | 7-1 |
History
The No. 1 Florida State Seminoles are coming into the BCS National Championship with a combined record of 25-2 in the last two seasons, including an undefeated season this year. The Seminoles had an easy road into the National Championship as they beat every opponent by a margin of 2 touchdowns or more. The most impressive win for the Seminoles this season was over the Clemson Tigers, where they went on the road into Death Valley and beat the Tigers 51-14. This season’s undefeated campaign is led by Heisman winning QB Jameis Winston, who is having an incredible season under head coach Jimbo Fisher.
Fisher is in his 4th season with the Seminoles, leading the team to a combined record of 44-10(.815) and a 3-0 record in bowls including a win in last year’s Orange bowl over Northern Illinois, 31-10. The last time the Seminoles were in the National Championship was in the 2001 season when they lost to Oklahoma 13-2. FSU is 25-14-2 all time in bowl games, which includes a 13-10 record in BCS Championship Games
As for the No. 2 Auburn Tigers they’re coming into the BCS National Championship with a 12-1 record overall and 7-1 in the SEC. Many people believe the Tigers are riding on luck as in both the Georgia game and in the Iron Bowl they won on a last second play to seal the deal, but the Tigers also have impressive wins this season that show they deserve to be in this game. They did win over Texas A&M 45-41 and beat the 12th man of Kyle field. The Tigers only loss once and that was against the LSU Tigers 35-21 which is a very tough stadium to get a win at.
The Tigers are led by Gus Malzahn who has become the third head coach to ever win the SEC during the first season as head coach of a new team. Last season, Gus was the head coach for Arkansas State and led them to a 9-3 record until the Auburn AD hired Malzahn after firing former Auburn head coach Gene Chizik. As Malzahn led the Tigers to a 12-1 record, he became the Coach of The Year after Auburn went 3-9 the season before. The last time the Tigers were in the National Championship was 2011, where they beat the Oregon Ducks 22-19; the Tigers’ MVP was Cam Newton. Auburn’s all time bowl record is 22-13-2, but they’re 8-1 in their last 9 bowls dating back to 2002.
These two programs have met each other 18 times before this game and the Auburn Tiger’s record against the Seminoles is 13-1-4. The last time these two schools met was in 1990 when the Tigers won, 20-17.
Impact Players
The impact player from the Seminoles is of course Heisman winner Jameis Winston, and Auburn’s will be Tre Mason.
Freshman QB Jameis Winston is the second freshman to ever win the Heisman, the other being Johnny Manziel last season. Winston is coming off an incredible season with a lot of other talented players that were on the Heisman list this season and it was a pretty competitive year as it could had gone to anyone. In his freshman season, he has passed for 3,820 yards and 38 touchdowns with 10 interceptions, but he can also get it done on the ground with 193 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns.
Junior RB Tre Mason is the leader for the extreme option attack of the Auburn Tigers. At the end of the season, Tre Mason went to New York as a Heisman candidate and finished 6th in the final voting. He has rushed for 1,621 yards and 22 touchdowns and he also has 121 receiving yards.
Prediction
With the SEC dominating in the bowl season, with a record of 6-2, I think the Tigers are going to make it 7-2 and here is why: Tigers high powered offense against the great defense of Florida State, which will be exposed with the option attack of Auburn.
Auburn is ranked 9th in PPG while the FSU defense is 1st in opponents allowed PPG with only 10 points per game. But FSU also plays weaker opponents than Auburn as their strength of schedule is ranked 39th and Auburn is 6th. I expect Tre Mason and Nick Marshall to have huge games.
Auburn: 41-38
