Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers play in the College Championship

He felt before the year that Clemson had as good a shot as anybody to reach the title game.

He got his wish after Alabama defeated Michigan State 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl later in the evening.

Now they’re a touchdown favorite over Clemson, which dominated the second half in beating Oklahoma 37-17. Ohio State upset the Crimson Tide 42-35.

Folks down south view Clemson as the most SEC of teams that aren’t SEC, so folks from everywhere else might look at the Tigers’ showdown with Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T on January 11 (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET) in Glendale, Arizona, as a glorified SEC game.

If you missed the College Football Playoff Semi-final games, you didn’t miss much. But what may be more impressive is that he’s done so while helping to redefine what a successful college-football coach should look like. Alabama beat Michigan State 38-0 later Thursday in the Cotton Bowl.

The Orange Bowl, a matchup between top-ranked Clemson and No. 4 Oklahoma that kicked off in the late afternoon on New Year’s Eve, could’ve passed for an Alamo or Holiday Bowl.

There’s another story line to the title game.

“It’s great to be able to play in the national championship and play against a team that’s really good”, Tide first-team All-American defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson said. “They’re undefeated. They’ve got a great program, so I’m sure our guys are going to be motivated to play the best they can”.

The numbers have not gone Oklahoma’s way in their last three Orange Bowl trips, all three of which had national title implications. Ben Boulware, named the game’s Most Valuable Defensive Player, halted an Oklahoma drive deep in Clemson’s end with an interception to thwart the Sooners’ final scoring try. This year, however, there was no Clemsoning for the Tigers. He takes his team to see action movies and buddy comedies the night before games and then breaks down the films with them afterward.

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Alabama is 13-1 and ranked 2nd in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Saban said his team came into this playoff with a different attitude.

Do us all a favor: Move these games back to New Year’s Day. In their semifinals, the Clemson and Alabama families won their respective second halves by 21-0 and 28-0.

“I think he might do a little Dab”, Evans said. Oklahoma was favored in the Orange Bowl by 4 points. He finished behind Alabama’s Derrick Henry, Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey and Watson. Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield could have said the same thing Cook did about ‘Bama’s defense, except he didn’t speak postgame while being checked for concussion symptoms. Part of the reason is the threat that the Clemson offense poses to Alabama. But he’ll meet his match in the CFP title game against one of the very few who may have a coaching edge: Saban.

“They played more physically than we did”, Stoops said.

However, the Tigers lost defensive end Shaq Lawson, a finalist for the Lombardi and Nagurski awards, who sustained a left knee injury in the first half and did not return. Supporting Watson in the backfield is fellow sophomore Wayne Gallman, who has rushed for 1,469 yards and 12 touchdowns, including a 150-yard, two touchdown performance against the Sooners. The total points or over/under for this game has risen to 52.5 since opening at 48.5.