It’s deja vu all over again! Same teams, different day! Once more, with feeling! The more things change, the more they stay the same!
There seems to be an unending line of clichés that can be used to describe this year’s college football national championship game, featuring a rematch between the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (14-0) and the No2 Clemson Tigers (13-1), the finalists from last season. But having these two teams vying for the championship again, with apologies to fans of semi-final losers Washington and Ohio State, was exactly what most college football fans have been clamoring for since the end of last season’s classic 45-40 shootout won by the Crimson Tide in Glendale, Arizona.
The win gave Alabama coach Nick Saban his fourth national title with the Tide and fifth overall (he led Louisiana State to the promised land in 2003), and a win on Monday night would tie him with the legendary Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for the most national titles won by any coach at the Division I level. For Clemson, a win would give the Tigers their first national crown since 1981 and only the second in school history. Over the last two seasons, Alabama has a record of 28-1: Clemson is 27-2. This time the scene is Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, a day’s drive from both schools, and a raucous crowd is expected to see if this is the night where the Tigers and Clemson coach and Alabama grad Dabo Swinney finally announce their arrival as an elite college football program, or if Emperor Saban finally puts down for Clemson’s pitiful rebellion for good.
What’s at stake?
At Rama Jama’s, a restaurant near campus in Tuscaloosa, one of the more popular items on the menu is the National Champ BLT, a sandwich featuring the standard lettuce and tomato, but also 16 pieces of bacon – each slice representing one of the 16 national championships that Tide fans claim to have won over the years (a closer examination of the titles in question would put that number closer to 11, but who’s counting?) Under Saban, the Tide have won four of the last seven national championships. Alabama looked sloppy by their standards in their 24-7 semi-final victory over Washington in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve, but the win leaves them just one win away from claiming back-to-back national crowns. For Alabama, this is about legacy. And another slice of bacon.
For Clemson, this is about revenge and redemption. Ask a Clemson fan, and they will tell you that the Tigers outplayed the Tide for large parts of last year’s title contest, only to be undone by several long plays and an onside kick that swung the game’s momentum. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson torched Alabama for 405 yards in the air, and threw four touchdowns, but the crTigers allowed four scores of 50 yards or more, including a backbreaking 95-yard kickoff return by Kenyon Drake that gave the Tide a two score lead midway through the fourth quarter and the Tide rolled from there. Clemson has played this entire regular season with one goal in mind, getting back to the national championship game. And although they will never admit it publicly, you know that they had to be quietly hoping see Saban and Alabama again. Clemson pummeled Ohio State 31-0 in the Fiesta Bowl to claim their spot in the title game.
So what’s new?
A lot, actually. Nine players from Clemson’s 2015 roster were selected in last April’s NFL draft and seven Alabama alums also found their way onto NFL rosters this year. But several key players return, including Watson, who after finishing third in the 2015 Heisman trophy balloting, was the runner-up this year behind Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson. But although Watson is only a junior, he has already announced his intentions to enter the NFL draft, and this will be his last game in a Clemson uniform.
Watson leads a high-powered offense that features running back Wayne Gallman, who ran for 1,000 yards for the second consecutive season, and a trio of wide receivers in Mike Williams, Artavis Scott, and Deon Cain that will most likely ultimately end up in the NFL in the next two years. Williams, the consensus top wide receiver in the country, and Cain both missed last year’s title game – Williams because of injury, and Cain through suspension for failing to follow team rules before last year’s semi-final. Tight end Jordan Leggett, a holdover from last year and another draft prospect, rounds out a talented group of skill position players on an offense that racked up more than 500 yards per game this year.
But the Tigers have yet face anyone as good on defense as Alabama, who allowed the fewest yards per game, the fewest points per game, and the fewest rushing yards of any team in the nation this year. Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, a sure-fire first round pick, leads a defense that did not allow a touchdown in the month of November.
But as good as the defense has been, Alabama’s offense has been, perplexingly, out of sync for the last few games. So much so that after the Tide’s lackluster win over Washington, the team dumped offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, who had already been hired to be the next head coach at Florida Atlantic for next season, but had said that he would remain as the Tide’s chief play-caller for the remainder of the season. Saban and Kiffin, a former head coach at Southern California, had often clashed in the their three years together in Tuscaloosa, but the results were hard to dispute. Alabama went 40-3 with Kiffin running the offense.
But Kiffin, much like a high school senior who has already been admitted to college, seems to have lost his focus in the last few weeks. Alabama’s offense, and particularly freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts, looked very average against Washington, and although the Tide were able to win comfortably due to their stifling defense, a repeat performance on the offensive side of the ball against Clemson would likely lead to a blowout defeat.
So Kiffin got the boot, and into his shoes steps Steve Sarkisian, another former USC head coach who had been hired by Saban as an assistant after being fired after by the Trojans for drinking on the job. It is a huge gamble to change play-callers at this late date of the season, and Clemson’s defense, led by linebacker Brian Boulware, is no slouch. Whether Sarkisian can turn the offense around in such a short timeframe is the biggest question heading into the game.
Prediction
So who win this thing? People have lost a lot of money over the years betting against Alabama, but it feels like it’s Clemson’s time. Watson is a transcendent player and Williams is the type of big, athletic receiver that has given the Tide trouble over the years. Clemson will score points, so it will be up to the Alabama offense to do the same. Tide running back Bo Scarborough was Alabama’s saving grace against Washington, rushing for 180 yards and two scores, so expect the Tigers to load up against the run and dare Hurts to beat them with his arm. Sequels are rarely better than the original, so don’t expect another classic shootout tonight in Tampa. Just a workmanlike victory for the Tigers, and their first national title in 35 years.
