The question that will haunt Alabama: Sark or Kiffin?

The injury is unlikely to make Scarbrough decide to declare for the National Football League draft, seeing as he would not be almost as high a prospect now as he could be in the future.

Alabama players insisted the 11th-hour change didn’t affect the offense. Now we finally have a sequel that isn’t controlled by writers in Hollywood, but perhaps has just as much drama. Alabama ran the ball 21 times in the first half, 13 in the second. You have a game plan, you have to execute it.

For Alabama coach Nick Saban, who goes for a record sixth national title for his non-carryon suitcase here Monday night against Clemson, it may be a good thing.

Anyone who says that switching offensive coordinators the week of the National Championship isn’t a big deal is kidding themselves. That’s likely sent the Clemson defensive staff scrambling for old USC and Washington tape this week, as this year’s Alabama film will not answer those questions.

Watson ran a two-minute drill to perfection. Jalen Hurts, the true freshman quarterback who almost pulled a comeback for the ages, said it didn’t matter.

The reason for that is Tigers quarterback DeShaun Watson. Howard wide open again for a 68-yard touchdown pass.

The Crimson Tide struggled in the passing game, as Hurts completed two of his first eight for 10 yards, reminiscent of his game in the National Semifinals when he went 7-for-14 for 57 yards and no touchdowns against Washington on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta, a performance which certainly had an impact on Saban’s decision on Kiffin.

“I’ve within been doing this a long time”, he said during media day Saturday. “I just smiled when they scored (a Jalen Hurts 30-yard TD run for a 31-28 Alabama lead with 2:07 left). I think it was a great move and it worked out”. Playing in his final college game, the junior quarterback threw for 420 yards and three touchdowns.

Former A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital is the interim head coach at Cal after Sonny Dykes was sacked. The fact that Saban would trade luggage for luggage only illustrates how much he was frustrated with Kiffin. He later rejoined his teammates on the sideline, but never reentered the game.

Saban, naturally, defended the theory that his change of playcallers had an effect.

The 6-foot-2, 228-pounder is set to return to Alabama next season, so once he gets back to 100 percent the Crimson Tide faithful will be excited to see if he can return to top form.

For LSU, the outcome brought three rays of hope. But having said that, the seasoned coach can’t help but feel like he could have done better. “But I thought the preparation was good”.

Secondly, the only team to beat Clemson this past season was Pittsburgh, a 43-42 victor thanks to an offense coordinated by Matt Canada, who is now LSU’s O-coordinator. Injuries plagued his high school career, which started at Northridge in Tuscaloosa and finished just down the road from Monday’s championship game at IMG Academy in Bradenton. Even Jalen Hurts said that he is not even close to being as used to working with Sarkisian as he was with Kiffin.