With a win over Clemson, Nick Saban and Alabama can claim another record.
Advertisement
Can Clemson Pressure Jalen Hurts into Mistakes?
Bama always scores a lot of non-offensive touchdowns: 11 by the defense and three more by the kicking game this season alone.
“Streetcar’s running, there’ll be Uber and Lyft designated pickups, the In-Towner will be running, the new shuttle that we’ve introduced will be running, everything that we have that can roll will be running”, Buckhorn said. “We’ve run a thousand scenarios through, we can’t plan for everything, but I can tell you now, we’re as safe as we’re going to get”.
After Wednesday’s practice, Alabama coach Nick Saban refused to reflect on his impressive run at Alabama heading into Monday’s national championship game against Clemson. It merely represents the most direct path to redemption.
Watson, the Clemson quarterback, was among those who weren’t satisfied when the Tigers lost a 45-40 game to Alabama a year ago. After the Huskies scored on their opening possession, they never sniffed the end zone again, turning the ball over twice including an interception return for a touchdown from Alabama’s Ryan Anderson right before halftime.
Clemson just might be the better team Monday. The Big 12 certainly wasn’t the best conference and the Big Ten proved to be horribly overrated when it had four teams in the top ten. You only get to break through once. The offense did what they had to do. “He’s obviously our leader and we’re going to follow him”. New year. New team. Things are a little different this year than they were last season, but the game should be just as entertaining.
There are complicating factors. Alabama is going in with a new offensive coordinator.
Now, just as the Lakers eventually got their shot against the Celtics (though it was the season after next), Clemson will have a chance to dethrone the team that beat them previous year and has won four of the past seven national championships.
There are also arguments to be made that Clemson doesn’t have to change much of anything at all defensively, besides its level of efficiency. He posted six touchdowns against in-state rival SC and produced five against both Louisville and Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship Game.
Clemson, at 13-1, is a fine representative for the other spot.
Clemson is coming off a 31-0 shutout of Big Ten disappointment Ohio State; past year Bama blanked Big Ten disappointment Michigan State, 38-0. On one play, they put a WR in motion to clear out the short side of the field, and then tossed the ball there for a quick first down on the edge. So that’s not a matchup problem. Just don’t let him get flustered.
But the thinking from Saban seems to be that enough already had gone wrong in the latter stages with Kiffin. “Who wouldn’t be when you’re playing for a national title”.
ESPN Voices with Keyshawn Johnson and Bill Walton on ESPNU, where a bunch of analysts pretty much just chill in a living room and watch the game. The Tigers shut out Urban Meyer for the first time in his coaching career and shut out the Buckeyes for the first time since 1993. “He ain’t a freshman anymore”.
This is nearly certainly Watson’s last college game.
So I’m picking it. well, you have to wait til the end for that. “We realize that. We’re going to stick to our roots”.
Advertisement
Those words were spoken by former Lake Marion Gator and current Clemson wide receiver Mike Williams following the Tigers’ 31-0 dismantling of Ohio State last Saturday night in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl. But the wounds won’t be self-inflicted. According to Alabama archives, the school tried to cancel the game because several regulars were out with injuries, but Vanderbilt refused. “That will not be a factor in whether we win or we lose”.
