ATLANTA (AP) – Blake Sims threw a pair of touchdown passes, T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry each had a couple of touchdown runs, and top-ranked Alabama pulled away in the fourth quarter to win its 24th Southeastern Conference championship with a 42-13 victory over No. 14 Missouri on Saturday.
Missouri made it a one-score game in the third quarter, but Alabama (12-1) scored three touchdowns in the fourth to lock up its spot in college football’s first playoff. And if the committee was impressed by second-ranked Oregon’s 51-13 rout of Arizona in the Pac-12 title game, they got another equally dominating performance from their top-ranked team.
For Nick Saban and the Tide, this one was especially sweet.
A year ago, Alabama was poised to make a run at its third straight national title when Auburn won the Iron Bowl on the final play – a 109-yard return of a missed field goal.