The Crimson Tide became the second team in college football’s poll era, dating to 1936, to win four titles in seven seasons.
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“I thought we had it in the game anytime we wanted to do it. I made the decision to do it. The score was tied… and we were exhausted on defense”. Crimson Tide defensive back Marlon Humphrey caught it on the fly 15 yards downfield at the 50-yard line. That was a huge, huge play in the game because I felt like we had all the momentum and were getting ready to get the ball back.
The lead did not last long, with Clemson tying the game up at 7-7 moments later when Watson fired a flawless pass to Hunter Renfrow in the left corner of the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive after Alabama took the lead. The perfectly placed onside kick dropped straight into his arms, and Coker hit Howard on the 51-yard, go-ahead touchdown two plays later.
Watson, who finished third behind Alabama’s Derrick Henry and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey in the Heisman Trophy voting, had carried the Tigers all season.
Watson passed for 405 yards and ran for another 73, giving him more total offensive yardage than the entire Alabama offense (473 combined yards).
“No question, no doubt about it”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney when asked if Watson was the country’s best player. Henry ran 36 times for 158 yards and three touchdowns, including a 50-yard burst to start the scoring. But right before the game could be handed over to Bama, Watson and his Tigers scored a touchdown making it 38-33 with less than 5:00 min left on the clock. I mean, you don’t average over 20 yards a completion without some cooperation from the defense. If you want an idea of the rarified air in which Saban finds himself, just know that the other three coaches in the graphic ESPN showed outlining most titles won, Saban was the only one not wearing a an old style fedora hat while coaching in his picture.
A brilliant performance by superb sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson wasn’t quite enough to save the Tigers in a 45-40 loss to the Crimson Tide on Monday night.
Here are five things I took from the very entertaining and competitive national championship game.
Jake Coker was 16 of 25 for 335 yards and two touchdowns. He even told his kicker, Adam Griffith, before the game that he’d likely attempt an onside kick at some point during the title game.
Sometimes, the sign of a truly great team is the ability to win football games in many different ways.
“We came back and put ourselves in a good position there, and again, we missed the tackle on the tight end out there in great position, just don’t make the play”, he said. It’s the fourth national championship win for Alabama in seven years.
Clemson held the Heisman victor to just 30 yards in the second half.
It’s also something that Nick Saban had in his back pocket all season: The team had practiced the play once a week since August.
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Schlabach also pointed out that Clemson’s schedule appears “more manageable” than it was this season, though the Tigers will be tested with a road game against Florida State.
