Well, the College Football Playoff National Championship is finally here and will be played on Monday night in Tampa, pitting the top ranked Alabama Crimson Tide against the No. 2 Clemson Tigers. Both teams easily won this past Saturday with the Tide defeating an overmatched Washington team 24-7 and Clemson destroying Ohio State 31-0.
The Washington Huskies are legit on the defensive line and gave the Tide fits, but Alabama found a way to win and pulled away late in the second half thanks to running back Bo Scarbrough and the entire defensive side of the football. Ohio State hung around for a little while, but Clemson never gave them anything offensively as they were slowly and methodically destroyed on the line of scrimmage.
This situation does bring up the legitimate argument once again that Power-5 conference champions should be represented in the College Football Playoffs period. Take the top 4 teams of the five champions and be done with it until the format is changed to an eight-team playoff. I know Penn State lost in a shootout to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl, but they should have been playing Clemson, period!
Now on to the game at hand. Are the Clemson Tigers the team most capable of defeating the Crimson Tide? Absolutely, positively and emphatically YES! The big question is how and why? The question of how is totally on the back of Clemson junior quarterback Deshaun Watson who has completed 352-of-523 pass attempts in 2016 for 4173 yards with 38 touchdowns with 17 interceptions. Complement that with his legs where he has carried the football 144 times for 586 yards with another eight touchdowns and he does present quite the challenge for the Tide, who are very susceptible to good quarterbacks. But Watson is not the only weapon in the backfield for the Tigers. Junior running back Wayne Gallman is another hard-to-stop running back who has rushed for 1087 yards and 16 touchdowns on 214 carries for the Tigers.
On the other hand, Alabama is all about that D. In 14 games Alabama defense, which is No. 1 in the nation, has allowed only 3416 total yards on 884 plays, which is an average of 3.86 yards per play. The Tide only allows 244 total yards of offense a game and has only given up 15 touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts is impressive, especially with his ability to run, but Alabama would be just a solid team without its stellar defensive play. Hurts, who is 227-of-351 through the air for 2649 yards with 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions, has rushed the football for 891 yards on 181 carries with 12 touchdowns and Scarbrough has been running the ball well as of late with 719 yards and nine touchdowns on 109 carries. That is the key for Alabama, win with defense. They most certainly have and are 14-0 heading into a rematch of last year’s 45-40 shootout win over the Tigers.
The 13-1 Tigers played well enough to win last year with Watson throwing for 405 yards and 4 touchdowns while running for another 73 yards. Alabama senior transfer quarterback Jake Coker threw for 335 yards and two touchdowns while Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry stole the show for the Tide with 158 yards rushing and three touchdowns to help secure the National Championship.
In my opinion, which is just an opinion, this year’s contest will not be a high-scoring affair. Clemson’s defense is ranked No. 8 in the nation and should hold the Alabama offense and true freshman Hurts’ production in check. Alabama will not give up nearly 500 yards of total offense to Watson this year because, and I hate to say it, their defense is just wicked good.
Will that be enough to win the National Championship for the Tide? In my opinion, yes, because former and legendary Alabama coach Bear Bryant said it best, “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.” Argue with that train-of-thought if you must, but Bryant won six National Championships.
My pick, Alabama 24, Clemson 20.
