Best-on-best at Alabama practices is challenging and can be frustrating, Haha Clinton-Dix says | al.com

Backup quarterback Blake Sims is helping the defense prepare for the Jan. 7 BCS Championship Game against top-ranked Notre Dame. "Blake Sims does a great job giving us a look," Clinton-Dix said. "He can run. Blake is fast. He knows how to get on the edge and he can also throw on the move. So he’s a great help in giving us a look." Sims is giving the defense a feel for what it will be like facing Everett Golson, the Fighting Irish's mobile redshirt freshman quarterback. "Their QB is very explosive," Clinton-Dix said. "So we’ve got to contain him and go out and have a great game."

"As far as I'm concerned, I've always felt Notre Dame had the most and it would be a long time until anybody would catch them," said Wayne Atcheson, a former Alabama sports information director. "I have always admired their tradition and heritage. To tell you the truth, I don't even know how many they claim. I just think about ours." Why does Atcheson's opinion matter? Because he is the reason Alabama got 14.

The All-America center, who has been sidelined with a sprained foot since the Dec. 1 SEC Championship Game, participated in the Alabama football team's practice Tuesday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Jones had missed the Crimson Tide's first nine

According to Stanhope Elmore coach Jeff Foshee, Milliner knows more than that. "Early on, as a true freshman, some of the older guys had to say, ‘Look, when Coach Saban starts getting on to you, the best thing to do is just shut up and not even respond. Just keep working hard. Don’t say anything,’" Foshee said. "He made the mistake of after a question saying something back, and Coach Saban really let him have it. He learned that lesson pretty quick." So Milliner does a lot of smiling now? You don’t say. "Doesn't say nothing," senior tight end Michael Williams said.

It's been about a year since Jones rose to the occasion when he was unexpectedly summoned to duty after senior Marquis Maze went down with an injury in the 2012 BCS National Championship. Jones didn't need to catch any passes to have an impact on the game, as he filled in for Maze on punts and kicks and held his own. Jones returned one punt for 15 yards and one kick for 32. Both returns set up drives that ended with field goals. Jones was asked who would be the "Christion Jones" of this year's title game. "You really can't tell right now who is going to be that new person that's going to step up because to me, the way we play there's no difference between being a freshman and a senior here," he said. "It's just about when your number is called you've got to be ready to go."

Notre Dame appeared in five of the 16 highest-rated college football games this season. Alabama played in four of the seven top-rated games. Notre Dame-USC drew the second-most viewership this season, behind only Alabama-Georgia at the SEC Championship Game.