Alabama wins college football title in thriller

Alabama claimed the title with a 45-40 win over Clemson in Glendale, Arizona Monday night in a game that fans said thrilled them until the last minute.

“‘It was tough. It really was”, said Saban, who now has more national titles than every other coach but Bear Bryant, the man who first made Alabama synonymous with college football greatness.

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide have nailed down another national championship. Clemson (14-1) came into the game ranked No 1 with a ideal record.

For much of the night the game was a highlight reel battle between Deshaun Watson of Clemson and Alabama’s Derrick Henry, two of the three Heisman Trophy finalists this season.

But Henry ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns in 20 carries in the first half. While Clemson’s Jordan Leggett managed to catch a 24-yard touchdown pass from Watson with 12 seconds left in the championship game, this final touchdown was too late for the Tigers. Watson finished 30-for 44 and 405 yards with four touchdowns. So they’ll have to get through that first before the national championship talk can start again.

Saban’s own players agree the decision was a brilliant one: “Desperate times call for desperate measures”, said Alabama center Ryan Kelly.

Asked if he would have made such a risky call if he were younger and not established as the most successful coach in the college game, Saban said, “It was worth the risk, I felt”. Howard revealed before the title game that Alabama players voted to withhold opening letters from the board until the national championship game had been played.

“When you play players like (Watson), the whole team has to win”, Saban said.

Sometimes, the sign of a truly great team is the ability to win football games in many different ways. “All the stats don’t really matter to me”. Even though this did not lead to a touchdown, it did lead Alabama deep into the Tigers’ territory.

And Alabama showed both its flexibility and depth of talent, erupting for 24 fourth-quarter points after trailing 24-21. Drake broke free and streaked down the sideline for a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown, diving the last 5 yards to the pylon.

Alabama may have won the national title, but the Tide had an “L” in the loss column this past season.

The 6-foot-6, 242-pounder always had the speed, as evidenced by that eye-catching play against LSU as a freshman.

Clemson will have nine defensive starters returning next season as well as eight on offense, none bigger than his starting quarterback. They also noticed that Clemson safety Jayron Kearse had a tendency to turn and run back before the ball was kicked.

“Well, we had the same play against SC past year, and we caught the ball and they took it away from us, said that we didn’t have an opportunity, didn’t give them – no matter what, they have to have an opportunity to catch the ball”, Swinney said.

The $7 million-a-year coach is insane like a fox.