5 things to take away from Clemson’s epic national championship loss

Overlooked was their ability to change a game on special teams and that’s what won them the national championship on Monday night. Clemson scored on a pass from Watson to tight end Jordan Leggett with 12 seconds left, but Alabama recovered the onside kick.

“We want to be a program that is competing at this level on a consistent basis and I think to do that, you’ve got to be a top-10, top-15 type program year in and year out”, Swinney said. Me and my father flew to Phoenix and spent four days focused entirely on college football and the national championship game. Furthermore, Watson is only a sophomore, and with a young, talented team expected to return next year, Clemson’s already listed No. 1 in the way-too-early rankings for next season.

“I made the decision to do it because the score (was tied) and we were exhausted on defense, and weren’t doing a great job of getting them stopped”, Saban said. But right before the game could be handed over to Bama, Watson and his Tigers scored a touchdown making it 38-33 with less than 5:00 min left on the clock.

Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban gave a small and quick smile at the moment that Clemson unintentionally kicked away a National Title to Alabama.

“When you play players like (Watson), the whole team has to win”, Saban said. He led the Tigers to a 14-1 record in 2015, the most victories in school history and just the eighth team in FBS history to win 14 games in a season.

An instant classic. And no doubt, this one will last for a long time.

But Alabama came up with the big plays when they needed them.

Clemson will get back Mike Williams, who was injured in the opener against Appalachian State after leading the Tigers in receiving in 2014.

Heisman Trophy victor Derrick Henry had a monster game statistically.

Here are five things I took from the very entertaining and competitive national championship game. Henry ran 36 times for 158 yards and three touchdowns, including a 50-yard burst to start the scoring.

“We didn’t always play pretty in this game”.

Watson completed 30 of 47 passes for 405 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another 73 in a game that wasn’t decided until Alabama outscored Clemson 24-16 in a frantic final quarter.

“I mean, if we didn’t get it, they’d have got the ball at the 45- or 50-yard line, so it’s not really like it would have been the end of the world”, Saban said.

The Crimson Tide became the second team in college football’s poll era, dating back to 1936, to win four titles in seven seasons. On Monday night, thanks in part to a great set of skills and in part to narcolepsy in the Clemson secondary, Howard finished with 208 yards on five catches and two long touchdowns.

The onside kick call took guts, but had it been unsuccessful, Saban and his staff would have been second-guessed. I thought that the crowd was fantastic tonight.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinny’s motto for the season has been the phrase “bring your own guts” (BYOG) because he had the belief that everyone has counted their team out and they only had their own… guts… to believe in.