Transcript of Gary Danielson on Finebaum before the Sugar Bowl....

Gary, which one of these matchups you looking forward to the most: Bama - Ohio State or Oregon - Florida State? What's the most intriguing to you?

By far, for me, Florida State - Oregon. Listen, I think three of the teams, I would not be shocked, when this is over... If Oregon has the trophy, that wouldn't shock me. If Florida State repeats, that wouldn't shock me. If Alabama wins it, that wouldn't shock me. If Ohio State wins it, though, that's going to be a tough loss for Alabama, for the SEC. I just don't think this Ohio State team is ready to compete with the elites, and I think Alabama should beat them handily in this game. It's going to be close for a while, but I think they'll win going away.

Let's get deep into that, Gary, because certainly you've got great knowledge of all teams, but Alabama in particular. Why do you think they should -- "should" being the operative word -- win handily?

Of course. Yeah, there's always upsets. I just think that Ohio State's not ready for this yet. They're in the second, third year of rebuilding. They've got their third-string quarterback. I've watched Alabama for nine years now crush backup and inferior quarterbacks. You're either at quarterback position playing Alabama being able to read the intricate zone defenses, the combo defenses, the blitz packages.

We always talk about how a football team's improving. Of course, Ohio State's had a fantastic year with what Urban's done with this team. But we always talk about improving teams. Some teams maybe started out 2-3 and ended up maybe 7-5. I thought Alabama from the start of this year to the end of this year might have been improved more than any team in college football. They've gotten much deeper in the defensive line, they've gotten much better at quarterback, they've got a feel for how Lane Kiffin likes to call plays and utilize their star football player(s?). I think their offensive line was a little bit of a weakness in the beginning of the year, but I think they got better as the season went on.

I think the strength of the Ohio State football team is the defensive line. But the way Lane Kiffin coaches, the experience he's had against defensive lines in the SEC, I think he'll bring a good package.

I was kind of chuckling, and I know it's part of our jobs. We have to get on TV and show what Ohio State might do to slow down Imari Cooper. This is what we do, and we have to come up with something. I saw the coaches coming up with a man-to-man combination zone package, kind of like a box-and-one. And I just kind of chuckled, because that might work OK against Texas A&M or West Virginia or Cal or somebody that throws the ball 60 times. But Alabama's going to line up Imari Cooper all over that field and then run it at you. And if you designated two and a half men just to cover Imari Cooper, they'll roll you in your running game. It's a very difficult matchup, and like I say, there's four or five or six players at Ohio State that could start for Alabama, but that's about it.