Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Alabama’s Nick Saban discuss CFP title game

Of the two returning starters from last season, center Ryan Norton was slowed by an injury and tackle Isaiah Battle left the team for the National Football League supplemental draft in the summer.

The humorous nature of the video notwithstanding, his teammates appreciate Allen’s message that Alabama expects to dominate games. The Ohio State Buckeyes enjoyed a longer winter break, and therefore more practice time, than the Oregon Ducks.

Now Swinney faces not only his alma mater but a wily head coach in Nick Saban, who’s led three Crimson Tide teams to national titles since 2007.

Furthermore, unlike last season’s inaugural CFP, there was no debate about who the right four teams to play for the title were.

Two teams. One goal.

The odds against Clemson don’t seem to concern a couple of Tigers players.

Mike Bercovici threw for 418 yards and hit Gary Chambers on a 58-yard pass in the fourth quarter for his fourth TD of the game, but Arizona State (6-7) kicked an extra point instead of going for 2, then turned the ball over on downs its last possession.

So here is my prediction for this game.

Position group you need to know: Clemson’s defensive line.

The first resulted from coach Nick Saban dancing on the podium just prior to the trophy presentation. But Clemson’s line shouldn’t be overshadowed by any group. The Crimson Tide also have history on their side, having won 15 claimed national championships.

“He called and wished me well”, said Causey, whose brother played at Alabama with Swinney.

Handling the Heisman victor: Clemson has a decision to make on Derrick Henry.

All five of members of the offensive line received honors on one of the three all-Atlantic Coast Conference postseason teams. It was a way for both of them to have a sense of normalcy after a tumultuous past. Of course not, but it probably doesn’t hurt the team getting it.

Alabama is, of course, a supremely impressive team.

Deshaun Watson had a magnificent season for Clemson in 2015.

It is well known in college football that if you are going to lose, do it early in the season, and Alabama reinforced that theory.

Typically a run-oriented team, West Virginia (8-5) went to the air, and Howard broke the Cactus Bowl record of 476 yards set by Washington State’s Drew Bledsoe in 1992. Watson not only poses a run threat but also a deep passing threat, where Alabama has been vulnerable at times.

But seriously, nothing would make things more interesting than a Clemson TD to start off the title game.

“There’s a lot of closet Clemson fans at Alabama”. Everything about the Tide defense is a concern, but Alabama is particularly stingy in the red zone.

Each and every one of those losses came against a team that plays into Alabama’s lone defensive weakness – their struggles against uptempo spread offenses with mobile quarterbacks. Alabama outgained the Tigers more than 2-to-1 and did not allow an offensive touchdown.

McElroy said the true turning point for the program was Alabama’s 30-27 victory against Colorado in the Independence Bowl to end ’07. Clemson is just 65th nationally in red zone touchdown percentage (60.7 percent of drives). Almost as impressive, Clemson has held opponents to 20.0 points and 301.6 yards per contest – giving the Tigers a top 25 ranking in each category. Florida State got whipped. Former Alabama receiver Julio Jones kept his simple.

The redshirt junior has 32 tackles with four tackles for loss and a sack.