“It’s a situation where you win the game, accept the trophy, take a picture with it and then start working on next season”, Kiffin said.
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Watson completed 30 of 47 passes for 405 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another 73 in a game that wasn’t decided until Alabama outscored Clemson 24-16 in a frantic final quarter. For the second time, Clemson (14-1) lost track of the tight end Howard in coverage and Jake Coker hit him in stride deep for a 51-yard touchdown to make it 31-24 with 9:45 left.
And many times Monday night in taking on andefeated and No. 1 ranked Clemson in the College Football Playoff title contest in Glendale, Ariz., there was a suspicion Bama wouldn’t get it done.
Last year’s CFP National Championship game garnered an 18.5 overnight on ESPN only and as we know, drew a record cable audience of just under 34 million viewers and a final rating of 18.2 on ESPN only and 18.6 for the entire megacast.
In handing top-ranked Clemson (14-1) its only defeat of the season, Saban showed why he is a master, especially on the big stage.
He unleashed Howard on the unsuspecting Tigers, who never realized they needed to cover him. Five receptions for 208 yards (41.6 average) and touchdowns of 53 and 51 yards.
Henry ran a nuanced version of a tight end screen, dragging across the line of scrimmage from right to left, getting excellent blocks from Richard Mullaney and Calvin Ridley and outrunning two Clemson linebackers for a 63-yard gain that set up Henry’s third touchdown of the game and an insurmountable 45-33 lead.
“We just had three busts”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. “We just had three critical errors where we just didn’t do our job”. Before the kick, offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin went to the offense to tell his players not to react to the play call. “The last few weeks in a row there’s been touchdowns on new plays where our kids have come and executed them”.
Watson led Clemson to a field goal to make it 31-27, and boom!
“Special teams probably made the difference in this game”, Saban said. Saban wound up coaching for two forgettable seasons with the Miami Dolphins, going 15-17 before jetting to Alabama in 2007.
The Tide looked done just three weeks into the season, suffering a 43-37 home defeat to Mississippi. For Saban, it is his fifth national championship – four in his nine seasons at Alabama – leaving him only one short of Bryant for the most titles in history. “The feeling that you get being associated with a group like this makes you wanna do it more”. With the Tigers also buckling down against Heisman Trophy victor Derrick Henry late in the game, the gamble came at just the right time. He finished with 158 yards on 36 carries.
“Their quarterback is a fabulous player”, Saban said. They did it with an onside kick, a successful surprise in the third quarter that not only stalled Clemson’s momentum, it gave Alabama’s gassed defense a chance to breathe again.
“This was a great challenge for us”, Saban said.
“I’m a big fan of the guy”, one veteran scout told the News.
Saban and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, two coaches who have won championships at more than one school, are the nation’s best at what they do. On Miami’s turn, Dorsey’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, to seal Ohio State’s ideal 14-0 season and give the program its first national title since 1970.
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Saban is the best at what he does; he’s better than all of those before him – yep, including The Bear – and all of his current peers, because no one reaches players and treats preparing and winning quite like he does.
