Alabama captures National Championship with 45-40 win over Clemson

Nick Saban was flashing a rare smile.

But classes begin Wednesday, the same day coach Nick Saban will meet with National Football League draft-eligible and draft-interested players about their futures. His biggest play of the game though and one that may be the biggest play of his career was a 61-yard catch in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

After Alabama tied the game 24-24 in the fourth quarter, the Tide elected to go for the surpise onside kick. While it remains to be seen which underclassmen opt to enter the National Football League draft early, the Tigers will welcome back a strong core of talent on both sides of the ball. Only former Crimson Tide coach Bear Bryant has won more than four national titles during the wire-service era (since 1936).

“I thought we’d do a better job against him than we did”.

Two plays after the onside kick, Tide quarterback Jake Coker again found a wide-open Howard, connecting for a 51-yard reception to give Bama a lead it would never relinquish. The Tigers just kept coming. Another Alabama big play.

The cover is a money shot of Kenyan Drake’s huge run that helped break the game wide open for the Tide and turn the tables on Clemson at the right moment. While going through a short list of players who made an impact in the game, she called Heisman Trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry “Brent”. Watson ran for 93 yards and threw for 405, and became the first major college player to rush for 1,000 yards and pass for 4,000 in a season. This will be a match, or mismatch, between one of the most relentlessly self-sustaining football programs in recent memory against a Trojans team that will bring a new quarterback, two new coordinators, and a defensive line that will need some major protein-shake intake to look like it belongs on the same field.

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

After a loss to Ole Miss in mid-September, there were doubters.

But in their disappointment, they should still burst with pride for how the Tigers played in college football’s brightest spotlight – and all year long.

Rounding out the top five was Oklahoma, which lost to Clemson in the Orange Bowl in a CFP semifinal game.

His performance was reminiscent of Vince Young’s dramatic effort in leading Texas past USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl for a national title. “It won’t be 34 years before we’re going to be back, I promise you that”.

No. 2 Clemson had its highest finish since the 1982 final poll. He finished with 158 yards on 36 carries. For the championship game alone, Howard had 208 receiving yards and from five receptions, had two touchdowns.

Watson put up 170 total yards in the fourth quarter while trying to lead Clemson back after two special teams plays gave the Crimson Tide control .

“I think special teams may have been the difference in the game”, Saban added.

It’s far from the first time Saban has pulled out a timely trick. As much as one is hard to win, repeating is exponentially more difficult: Alabama in 2011 and 2012 is the only team to do it since Nebraska in 1994-95. Alabama fans have celebrated their other titles with minimal arrests. And Saban, the quintessential CEO coach, showed he had a little riverboat gambler in him. According to Coach Swinney,”We stand toe-to-toe with everybody in the country”.