David Pollack gives humorous take on Alabama football choosing Cotton Bowl

The Alabama Crimson Tide won big with the No. 1 seed for the College Football Playoff. Not only do they get to play the first Group of Five team to make the CFP, Cincinnati, they also get a favorable game location with the Cotton Bowl, at least according to ESPN’s David Pollack.

Nick Saban and the Tide preferred to play in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl, according to Seth Emerson. It’s the game that Georgia would’ve preferred as well apparently.

Alabama apparently expressed a preference for the Cotton Bowl, just as Georgia was expected to if it had been the No. 1 seed. Now Georgia headed to Miami.

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) December 5, 2021

Pollack, a former Georgia Bulldog, said it’s all about limiting distractions.

“I think people are probably going to say, ‘Well if they had input why would Alabama want to go to Texas,'” Pollack said. “You want to go to Texas because less distractions. You go to Miami, you go to South Beach, plenty of opportunities for kids to go and possibly get in trouble and go enjoy too much. I’d rather be in Texas, get my team focused, on task.”

“There’s plenty in Dallas don’t get me wrong,” co-host Joey Galloway said. “You guys don’t get to Dallas very much but we’ve been there. Plenty in Dallas to have fun.”

Nick Saban’s job will be to keep the Bama players focused on winning a back-to-back national title and not on the trappings of the big city. The Cotton Bowl game will kick off at 3:30 p.m., meaning the winner will get to sit back and watch Michigan and Georgia kickoff in Miami at 7:30 p.m.

Alabama slated for Cotton Bowl after losing John Metchie

Alabama’s offense was rolling on Saturday in the SEC Championship, but unfortunately, the Crimson Tide lost wide receiver John Metchie to a knee injury. Early indications point to a torn ACL for Alabama’s second-leading receiver.

After Alabama was officially ranked as the No. 1 team in College Football Playoff rankings, head coach Nick Saban updated the status of Metchie.

“Well, John Metchie has been an outstanding player for us no doubt,” Saban said of Alabama’s second-leading receiver. “He’s a good leader. He’s the leader of the group in a lot of ways. He has the most experience. He’s been here the longest, he’s been very productive and you know we hate to see a player get injured. It was a non-contact injury.

“We haven’t confirmed it yet but we’re pretty certain that he has a pretty significant knee injury. But we have some young players that are going to have to step up at the position. Some of them have had the opportunity to play and when they’ve played, they played fairly well and we’re going to have to use this time to help them develop the kind of confidence and trust that we need to have at every position to be successful on offense”

Metchie went down with a non-contact knee injury in the second quarter of Alabama’s SEC title win against Georgia. He re-emerged from the locker room after halftime with tears in his eyes and without his helmet. Prior to the injury, Metchie had six receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown for Alabama.

On the season, Metchie has been incredibly productive in Alabama’s offense. He leads the team with 96 receptions, and his 1,142 yards and eight touchdowns only trail Jameson Williams.