The Tigers just kept coming. Defense has been the team’s calling card for the majority of the season, and because of that four defenders could be snatched in the first 20 picks.
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After a Clemson field goal put them within striking distance with half a quarter remaining, Alabama special teams stepped up once again.
Watson then led Clemson to a field goal to make it 31-27 before Kenyan Drake came up with another big play for Alabama, breaking free and streaking down the sideline for a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown.
Watson, who finished third behind Alabama’s Derrick Henry and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey in the Heisman Trophy voting, had carried the Tigers (14-1) all season.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney didn’t disagree. The onside kick that followed is brilliant for so many reasons I can not quite cover them here.
– If the major bowls remain part of this system in their non-playoff years, they must take lead-in slots for the semifinal games. But Saban had his team ready for the opportunity. Or so they thought.
Another year, another National Championship is what it’s starting to feel like for the Nick Saban-led Alabama Crimson Tide. While Clemson’s Jordan Leggett managed to catch a 24-yard touchdown pass from Watson with 12 seconds left in the championship game, this final touchdown was too late for the Tigers. But Watson couldn’t finish the job the way Young did in Pasadena, California, and win the national title. I trusted them, that they would go out and execute it and do it. I mean, 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. “It won’t be 34 years before we’re going to be back, I promise you that”.
Once the Tide got rolling, it was almost impossible to stop.
The pivotal moment came with just over 10 minutes to go.
Even with an entertaining championship game that offered suspense, drama and an all-time individual performance, the College Football Playoff title game couldn’t match last year’s ratings.
A night where he rushed for 158 yards and three touchdowns proves he has done everything on the college level and it’s time to move on. Clemson accumulated 550 yards as a team and the next leading rusher was Wayne Gallman with 45 yards.
Saban said he will meet with the program’s underclassmen eligible for the National Football League draft on Wednesday.
Saban is also concerned about the season becoming too long for the players, having grown to a almost NFL-length 15 games for teams advancing to the championship. Alabama pulled away from Texas for Saban’s first Tide title to end the 2009 season. Alabama managed to stop the two-point conversion, and Clemson still trailed by a hopeful five points. But Winston led them to victory – and the national title – with a short TD pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds to go. And Saban, the quintessential CEO coach, showed he had a little riverboat gambler in him.
Former UCLA and Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel said it’s harder to win titles nowadays because of factors ranging from managing social media to scholarship limits and early departures.
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I grew up with Bear Bryant and the Crimson Tide dominating the college football landscape.
