Nick Saban And The Alabama Crimson Tide Capture Another National Championship

“It was a great kick”, said Swinney, who was trying to win his first championship as a head coach after winning one as a player for the Crimson Tide in 1992. He made big play after big play.

Saban’s gamble worked. Junior kicker Adam Griffith hit the ball off the tee perfectly and Alabama’s Marlon Humphrey, a redshirt freshman who was selected to the freshman All-SEC team, recovered it right after it traveled the required 10 yards. “I just wanted to get the win and do something that we haven’t done in 34 years”, Watson said. J Howard broke for a 51-yard touchdown to make it 31-24 Bama lead. Alabama scored four touchdowns on plays of 50 or more yards. On the morning after beating Clemson 45-40 at University of Phoenix Stadium, Saban and game MVPs O.J. Howard and Eddie Jackson weren’t ready and didn’t need to talk about a repeat. Watson was a Heisman Trophy finalist this season; he will be the favorite come next fall. Kenyan Drake Takes It To The House Kenyan Drake really busted things open in the fourth quarter when he took this kickoff and returned it all the way to the house for a 95-yard touchdown.

While the first round of the playoffs were more like controlled scrimmages with Alabama blanking Michigan State 38-0 and Clemson pounding Oklahoma 37-17, the championship game was exciting nearly to the end, and the Tigers late touchdown beat the point spread.

Alabama Coach Nick Saban should have bought a Powerball ticket Monday.

Watson threw another touchdown pass, but would not get another chance as Clemson’s onside kick went out of bounds.

With the score tied, Saban called for an onside kick.

Saban won his fourth national title at Alabama and fifth overall. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson was brilliant with 478 total yards of offense and four touchdowns. But Watson couldn’t finish the job the way Young did in Pasadena, California, and win the national title.

It wasn’t the first time Howard was left uncovered in the game either, as Alabama took a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter when it was apparent that Green was the culprit in allowing Howard run down the field uncovered for a 53-yard score. He finished with 158 yards on 36 carries.

The two teams scored 40 points alone (five touchdowns, two field goals) in the fourth quarter, with some form of scoring occurring on each of the final seven possessions of the game.

Saban said he will meet with the program’s underclassmen eligible for the National Football League draft on Wednesday. “It’s 60 minutes of the game and then the 10 minutes in the locker room after the game that you remember for the rest of your life, and what you accomplish actually even transcends your life because they put a plaque up that this team won the national championship”. His other titles at Alabama came in 2009, 2011 and 2012. But all those five-star recruits and future National Football League players that dot the Alabama roster showed resiliency and toughness.