It needed all its talent and steely resolve. Clemson won its only national title in 1981. Clemson (14-1) came into the game ranked No 1 with a flawless record. This game was an instant classic – and it turned on maybe the boldest call of Saban’s career.
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Alabama’s Marlon Humphrey catches an onside kick during the second half of the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Clemson Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney dances with his team after the win in the ACC football championship game at Bank of America Stadium. The Tigers will be back in action next fall when they take on Auburn on opening weekend.
Two plays later, quarterback Jake Coker hit O.J. Howard for a 51-yard touchdown pass that game the Tide the lead for good.
‘Bama was of course the favorite coming into the game, but there were large swaths in which the Tide had the look of an upstart, and that’s because of what Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson was doing to them. He directed a drive that ended on a field goal before giving Clemson its last lead of the game, 24-21, after directing a 60-yard touchdown drive.
But six plays and 55 seconds later, those same Alabama bettors who were sitting pretty were probably cussing out who and what was ever nearby.
Kenyan Drake caught the ensuing kickoff and went 95 yards to the end zone, which he reached with a dive toward the pylon.
“Coach Swinney said, there was a few plays that we didn’t really capitalize on, and I missed some throws, we dropped some balls, and just had some missed miscues”, Watson said. Against Clemson, he rushed for 158 yards and three touchdowns.
Griffith said Saban asked him if he wanted to give the onside kick a try. Coker took a knee and after a two-year drought that felt like eternity in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was back on top. They saw the heart of our team.
Saban’s five ties Howard Jones, who saw most of his success in the 1920s and ’30s with USC, and Bernie Bierman, who won five with Minnesota in the ’30s and ’40s.
Alabama went on to win the game, 45-40, securing their fourth national title in seven seasons. ‘Bama knelt to victory and the ‘Tide captured their fourth title in seven seasons.
Even at that, Alabama had to recover an onside kick after Watson’s fourth touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining before it could celebrate its first championship since 2012. Young’s 467 total yards – 200 rushing, 267 passing – represented a seminal effort for dual-threat QBs and Watson was better. “So I was really nervous”.
Instead, Saban and the Tide raised another trophy, its first in this new playoff system, and got another confetti shower. It is the Tide’s 10th national title in the poll era, more than any other school.
The first quarter opened with each defensive line showing why they are the best of the best, and it wasn’t until nearly eight minutes into the game that Derrick Henry ran for a 50 yard touchdown to put Alabama up 7-0.
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“We got ahead, which allowed us to play differently because we weren’t playing great on defense”, Saban said Tuesday.
