A touchdown pass by Deshaun Watson to Jordan Leggett with 12 seconds left proved too little, too late for the Clemson Tigers.
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The Alabama Crimson Tide did just enough to edge out the Clemson Tigers to win a marvelous shootout in the Arizona desert Monday night, as the Tide went on to win their 16th National Championship on the gridiron in school history, the fourth of the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa (2007-present).
But what a thriller it was in the desert.
Watson finished with 405 yards passing, the most any quarterback has hung on the Crimson Tide this year. “It probably wasn’t one of our best games when it just comes to flat execution”, Saban said.
“Great play by them”, said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.
The Tigers entered the game ranked No. 1 in the land, but Alabama exited the field as the top team in the country. To the victor goes the title, and to the loser, an off season of wondering, “what if”. Until then, Alabama had relied upon big plays to keep pace with the Tigers.
Alabama coach Nick Saban drew on his inner Sean Payton and then did the most remarkable thing. Bryant’s best runs were four championships in 13 years (1961, 1964, 1965 and 1973) and three in five years (1961, 1964, 1965).
Clemson, a 6 ½-point underdog at kickoff, had a big offensive game against the vaunted Alabama defense, outgaining the Crimson Tide 550 yards to 474. “We didn’t seem to have the juice like we had against Michigan State [38-0 win in national semifinals]”. “We just had three critical errors”. Next season, the ending could be very different.
A 33-yard Adam Griffith field goal with 10:34 to go in the game would tie the game for Alabama, but the Crimson Tide would snatch momentum away immediately. Coker’s 63-yard pass to Howard set up the 1-yard touchdown run by Henry that finally sealed the victory with 1:07 to play.
Renfrow broke out when he caught a 35-yard touchdown pass in the Orange Bowl, but the walk-on from Myrtle Beach established himself as a key part of Clemson’s roster by making the only two Clemson touchdowns of the first quarter. I would say it’s bad coaching on my part that he didn’t have the opportunity to do that all year long, because he is really a good athlete, and he’s improved tremendously as a player this year. We didn’t cover as well as we’re capable of and we weren’t able to handle him up front with our rushers. Two plays later, Jake Coker found O.J. Howard for a 51-yard touchdown and the lead.
The teams traded touchdowns and Clemson pulled to within 45-40 on Watson’s final scoring pass, but the onside kick went out of bounds. Alabama’s Marlon Humphrey leaped and caught the ball to give the Tide possession.
“There were a few plays that we didn’t really capitalize on”, Watson said. And when Kenyan Drake took a kickoff back 98 yards for a score, after a Clemson field goal cut Alabama’s lead to 31-27, the outcome was all but determined.
Watson, who finished third behind Alabama’s Derrick Henry and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey in the Heisman Trophy voting, had carried the Tigers all season. The game was over after Alabama kneeled down on the final play. “This program doesn’t take a backseat to anybody”.
“We said, ‘OK, we’ve got that, ‘” Saban said after the game. “We can beat anybody, and that’s a fact”.
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Clemson’s Deshaun Watson loses the ball as he tries to get past Alabama’s Daylon Charlot (4) and Jarran Reed on a two-point conversion attempt during the second half of the NCAA college football playoff championship game Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.
