There are 40 college football bowl games, and quite frankly, many of them this season were snoozers.
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Here are five things I took from the very entertaining and competitive national championship game. You must have been really exhausted.
In a back-and-forth game that featured multiple lead changes and countless momentum swings, we were given a title game for the ages.
It was memorable for the way the title was won, a 45-40 down-to-the-wire shootout over previously unbeaten Clemson on Monday night to claim the 2015 College Football Playoff national championship.
“We weren’t playing very well on defense”, Saban told reporters after the game.
“Really, really frustrated with how the clock was handled”, Swinney said at halftime. “It’s the offense doing what they need to do, making the plays on special teams that you need to make”. “I think that’s the kind of competitors that win championships, and that’s probably why we’re sitting here”.
The Tigers went undefeated in the regular season with impressive wins against Notre Dame and Florida State, topped off by a 45-37 win in the ACC Championship game over then-No. Despite Mackensie Alexander and Shaq Lawson turning pro, this is a team built for the long haul and Clemson has arrived as one of the premiere programs in college football.
After Alabama kicker Adam Griffith tied the score at 24-24 with a 31-yard field goal, head coach Nick Saban called for a little trickery. “But”, he said, “from a program standpoint, from a philosophy standpoint, helping these young guys develop as people”, including being educated, “is what college football is all about”.
Clemson quarterback, DeShaun Watson was 30-of-47 for 405 yards and four touchdowns and one interception in a losing effort.
“I owe them as the leader of the organization”, Saban said. Coker threw a 51-yard pass to O.J. Howard, who ran in for a touchdown.
The Tide scored its final TD six play later.
Five catches, 208 yards.
To all those who think Nick Saban leads a joyless life, that all he cares about is winning football games, he’d like to set the record straight. The two best teams in the country squaring off with greatness on the line.
It was supposed to be a tough, defensive struggle, but each defense cracked at just the wrong times.
Watson was asked after the game about what areas he needed to improve in next season. Alabama had 473 yards. Howard revealed before the title game that Alabama players voted to withhold opening letters from the board until the national championship game had been played.
With 10:34 left in the fourth quarter and Alabama having just tied the game with a short field goal, Saban took a gamble to try to keep the ball away from Watson and the Tigers.
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“I am concerned about how does a playoff and a bowl system coexist, ” Saban said, “and how could we make it better, if it’s possible to get it right”.
