Congratulations! It’s official, Alabama is the new NCAA champion!
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A brilliant performance by superb sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson just wasn’t quite enough to save the Tigers in a 45-40 loss to the Crimson Tide on Monday night.
Alabama was first to score early in the first quarter, but Clemson backed things up with two back to back touchdowns before the clock ended the quarter.
Watson threw another touchdown pass to cap a wild 40-point fourth quarter, but would not get another chance. By halftime the score was tied 14 – 14.
But Alabama was able to tie the game up early in the fourth quarter and that was when the Crimson Tide made a decision to run the aforementioned onside kick. Drake broke free and streaked down the sideline for a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown, diving the last 5 yards to the pylon. The undefeated Tigers didn’t panic and scored on their following possession but blew their two-point conversion, leaving them five points back.
Alabama, which lost in last season’s playoff semifinals, was not done exerting its special teams superiority after the onside kick.
“I think that changed the momentum of the game, and our guys finished it”, Saban said.
– This is the fifth time Alabama has won a national title without being ranked No. 1 during the regular season.
When Alabama’s Heisman victor Derrick Henry rumbled for a 50-yard touchdown to open the scoring, Watson calmly answered back with a 31-yard scoring pass that he neatly dropped into Hunter Renfrow’s arms between Crimson Tide defenders Eddie Jackson and Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Each team missed 44-yard field goals, including Clemson in the final seconds of the half.
“All the stats don’t really matter to me”, Watson said. Coker finished 16-for-25 for 335 yards. Another Alabama big play. Coach Dabo Swinney took some comfort that next year he’ll still have Watson, who ran and threw for 478 yards against Alabama’s defense, one of the best in college football memory. Derrick Henry plunged into the end zone for his third touchdown of the game to make it 45-33 with 1:07 left. Clemson won its only national title in 1981.
Clemson responded with a 55-yard drive that culminated with a 37-yard field goal by Huegel, then regained the lead, 24-21, with a nine-play, 60-yard capped by Wayne Gallman’s one-yard touchdown plunge with 4:48 left in the third quarter.
Back and forth it went.
Throughout Alabama’s unprecedented run under Saban, the Tide was hardly challenged in a championship game. Alabama blanked LSU for the next in 2011 and crushed Notre Dame to repeat in 2012.
But all those five-star recruits and future National Football League players that dot the Alabama roster showed they also have plenty of resiliency and toughness.
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That onside kicked stunned the stadium and Clemson, and brought a big grin to the face of the country’s most serious coach.
