Thanks to Alabama, the nightmare possibility of Clemson becoming national champions has been thwarted. God, how miserable would the college football scene have become if Clemson were the reigning champions?
But in all seriousness, that was among one of the more exciting games that I’ve watched. Although I was hoping for Alabama to roll Clemson like they rolled Michigan State, and just about everyone else in front of them en route to the playoffs, when the day is over, I’m simply glad that they won. I’m not really an Alabama fan by any stretch of the imagination, especially since they’ve had their way with Virginia Tech in more recent history, but as a Tech fan, I loathe Clemson and their own successes against my team. So when push comes to shove, I was decidedly rooting for Alabama last night, and pleased to have witnessed them emerge victorious against an extremely competent Clemson squad that could have just as easily won the game themselves.
Even if it means another year of hearing ROLL TIIIDE with heavy southern drawls.
Really though, the game was very, very good, exciting, and had just about everything that encapsulates what makes college football so fun to watch. For all the times we see scores like Oklahoma 62, Florida International 3, when two very strong squads collide, it really does turn into a heavyweight fight that is fought tooth-and-nail and typically requires every play in the book in order to attempt to gain an upper hand.
Honestly, for the first three quarters of the game, it looked very much like Clemson should have won the game. As much as sickened my stomach. It’s just Clemson moved the ball at will, with the same kind of ease as putting Double Dragon on easy-mode and watching bad guys walk into chasms when you stand on the other side of a pit. Deshaun Watson’s scrambling and improvising style baffled Alabama all night long, and he was on another planet playing galactic chess while Kirby Smart’s defense was trying to figure out Connect Four. For every 4-5 minute drive Alabama put together that yielded any sort of points, Clemson Watson would answer with 2-3 plays that covered 70 yards and put them in or near the red zone.
Seriously though, Deshaun Watson is an absolute beast-monster who has carried the entire team on his shoulders all season, and as much as it drives me bonkers to see a scrambler succeed so much, it’s truly undeniable just how good he is. Probably better than college-Jameis Winston and college-Michael Vick, and had he actually won a title, then he’d be with college-Vince Young, when it comes to similar style players. If I didn’t dislike Clemson so much, I’d say it’s a travesty that such a talented player ends the season as empty-handed as Watson does.
It was by the grace of god, and Clemson’s suspect red zone play-calling that Alabama remained in striking distance at all times, but if Clemson were just a little bit more competent inside 25 yards, they probably should have won this game by 25 points. Thankfully, they didn’t.
Alabama QB’s Jake Coker’s stat line is way prettier than the story really tells, because removing the makeup and the push-up bra on his line, and it was the story of a QB that is nowhere near as good as his predecessors like A.J. McCarron or Blake Sims, but was truly bailed out by three massive catches by an unsuspecting O.J. Howard, and it also helped having the reigning Heisman Trophy-winning Derrick Henry running on your team. I basically compared all of O.J. Howard’s catches equating over 200 yards to government bailouts, because that’s precisely what just about every single one of them did for Coker and Alabama all night long.
But truly, if there’s anyone that should really be called the hero of the night, it would have to be Alabama’s special teams, whom accounted for 14 critical Alabama points, as well as denying three Clemson points on a deflected field goal. The 95-yard kickoff return was a demoralizing answer to a Clemson score, and it goes without saying that Nick Saban calling for the onside kick in the 4th quarter was undoubtedly the momentum-changer that Alabama rode into the lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
It was a game that was truly a roller-coaster of lead changes and tied scores, where it felt like the bad guys would win, and if not some creativity and ingenuity, as well as the tenacity and delivering when it counted, the good guys would not have been able to come back and come out winners, and champions.
And even if it means another year of Alabama smugness and hearing more roll tide, at least we don’t have Clemson as the national champions.
