Lot on the line for Tide against Irish

— The nation’s best college football team?

That will be answered Monday night when No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama face off in the BCS National Championship Game at Sun Life Stadium.

But no one is asking what team owns the country’s best offensive line.

The Crimson Tide, vying for their third national championship in four seasons, boast a group of blockers that include five NFL prospects, three All-Americans, an Outland Trophy winner and a Rimington Trophy winner.

About the only thing left unanswered is this: Does Alabama have the best offensive line in the history of college football?

“Ask me after the game,” said senior Barrett Jones, a first-team All-American and the Rimington Trophy recipient as the nation’s top center. “We have unfinished business. Certainly we’ve had a good performance up to this point but your entire legacy is based on how you finish. We have to finish the right way.”

Finishing the right way for Alabama’s offensive line, coached by Jeff Stoutland, means imposing its will on a Notre Dame defense that may also be the nation’s finest. Entering the championship game, the Irish rank first among Football Bowl Subdivision schools in scoring defense, fourth in rushing defense and sixth in total defense. They’ve allowed only two rushing touchdowns all season.

But Notre Dame defensive coordinator and 2012 Broyles Award winner Bob Diaco said the Irish haven’t faced anything like they will Monday night.

“Tackle to tackle it’s the best group of offensive linemen we’ve played against,” Diaco said. “They’re uniquely big and fast. It’s not another happy-go-lucky group of offensive linemen. This is an angry, aggressive, intense group of players that play hard and finish blocks.”

Just ask Georgia.

Alabama rushed for an SEC Championship Game record of 350 yards in a 32-28 victory against the then third-ranked Bulldogs on Dec. 1, including 198 yards in the second half as the Tide overcame a 21-10 deficit. During a two-drive sequence in which it scored twice to go ahead 25-21, Alabama ran 11 times in 12 plays. That doesn’t count a two-point conversion in which the Tide ran the ball straight up the middle.

“They just lined up and played inside drill for a while,” Georgia Coach Mark Richt said. “... They just lined up and knocked us off the ball.”

Sports, Pages 25 on 01/06/2013

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