Alabama and Saban are college football’s gold standard.
Advertisement
Clemson had lined up its kick return unit exactly the way Alabama wanted.
Alabama had never been challenged like this in a championship game under Saban.
Clemson has one national championship, won by the Tigers in 1981 under Coach Danny Ford, like current Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney a former Alabama player and assistant coach. But it was the first time in history Clemson lost when producing at least 500 total yards (85-1-1).
Heisman Trophy victor Derrick Henry carried 36 times for 158 yards and three touchdowns.
Story of the Game: Big plays.
But this wasn’t an ordinary game. After hitting a field goal to tie up the score once again at 24, kicker Adam Griffith found an empty pocket in the Clemson special teams coverage and executed a perfectly placed onside kick that was recovered by Alabama. And it paid off. “It’s not about being the favorite and being the underdog, it’s about how you play the game, and our core values and the things that we believe in – the things that we think help us win are the same in this game as they are all these other games”. Watson was one of three Heisman finalists this season (along with the trophy victor, Alabama running back Derrick Henry).
Just try to wrap your mind around that. “It was a slugfest out there”. But from that moment on there was a feeling in the desert air that the Tide owned the outcome.
“Going into this game, I was expecting to win”, said Watson, who became the first NCAA Division I quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards (4,104) and rush for 1,000 yards (1,105) in a season. The game was over after Alabama kneeled down on the final play. Watson has emerged as a dual-threat quarterback, meaning he is as deft running the ball himself as passing to his receivers, and some say this could give Clemson an edge in getting past Alabama’s monstrous front seven.
Clemson would not go away, however.
On the ensuing kick off, the disbelief only grew for the fans who came together to form a sea of orange.
But Kenyan Drake returned the kickoff 95 yards, hitting the pylon with the ball on a dive for a touchdown.
It was a dagger. “This program doesn’t take a back seat to anybody”.
“It’s truly just a few plays that make the difference”, Swinney said. The onside kick wasn’t the only time the Alabama special teams unit came up big for the Crimson Tide.
“I’m not really thinking about it right now”, he said.
No reasonable person can doubt Saban’s coaching ability, and this season was one of his finest jobs.
So who has had the better run in Tuscaloosa?
Alabama finished with a 14-1 record and won Southeastern Conference and Cotton Bowl championships along the way to the national championship. See what the coach told ESPN seconds after his team captured its fourth national title since 2009. “If we didn’t get it, they’d have got the ball on the 45- or 50-yard line, so it’s not really like it would have been the end of the world, but it was worth the risk I felt”. “I thought we physically matched up great with these guys”.
“I dropped it this week”, Humphrey said.
Advertisement
It proved to be the turning point in a constantly tied game. He said from the outset that he wouldn’t let that change his style – and Watson did not. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article. “We didn’t seem to have the juice like we had against Michigan State [38-0 win in national semifinals]”.
