Clemson ran 85 plays. And on SI.com, Pete Thamel writes that “Saban’s savvy led to the Tide’s fourth national title in the last seven years, a stunning run of dominance in the modern era that begs a question that once would have been considered sacrilege: Is Saban the best coach in college football history?”.
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The kickoff came only minutes after an onside kick set up Coker’s 51-yard touchdown pass to Howard that put the Tide ahead 31-24.
Watson was about the only one not impressed by his showing.
“He’s the best I’ve ever seen, and he’s proven that time and time again”, said Alabama quarterback Jake Coker of Saban.
“All the stats doesn’t really matter to me”. Easy practice, hard game.’ I told the big guys that if they didn’t rush and run to the ball every time, you’re going to die in the game, because this is how we have to play.
Clemson are the heavy favorites to enter next season as the No. 1-ranked team, and Watson is the reason why. He broke the Atlantic Coast Conference mark for total yardage held for 13 years by NC State quarterback Philip Rivers.
“A play like that makes me think about coming back and making plays for coach”, Howard said.
“He’s special. He really is”, Swinney said of Watson.
This was Saban’s fourth title at Alabama and fifth overall; he also won one at Louisiana State.
“I’ve never thought too much about all that”, Saban said.
For the Tigers, Renfrow caught seven passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns, Charone Peake had six catches for 99 yards and Leggett hauled in five passes for 78 yards and a touchdown.
Alabama had allowed only 19 points in the opening quarter its first 14 games before giving up two touchdowns to Watson’s Tigers.
Not Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, who threw for 405 yards, rushed for 73 more yards and had four touchdowns. Clemson then took the lead with 4:48 left in the quarter on a Wayne Gallman 1-yard touchdown. “He’s got great toughness, great heart, a great mind for the game, and just made some huge plays all the way to the end”. Prior to the national title game, Howard didn’t have a touchdown catch all year. Alabama winning the title just makes sense.
“There’s a lot of pride”, Watson said. Asked where he can improve next season, offensive lineman Eric Mac Clain quickly interrupted, “Nowhere”. The game worked out perfectly for Vegas, in that Alabama won (saving them the liability of anyone cashing in on long shot bets on Clemson to win the title) but failed to cover (as 69% of bets against the spread were on Alabama -6.5). Clemson had not trailed in any fourth quarter until Monday. He said from the outset that he wouldn’t let that change his style – and Watson did not.
Rounding out the top five was Oklahoma, which lost to Clemson in the Orange Bowl in a CFP semifinal game.
Watson led Clemson to a field goal to make it 31-27, and boom – another Alabama big play.
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Other than that, it’s all Nick Saban’s world, and other coaches are just living in it. The 64-year-old head coach has said in the past he wants to finish out his career at Alabama, and he hasn’t hinted at retiring anytime soon.
