The WHNT News 19 team arrives in Glendale for National Championship coverage

Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, who is doubling as Georgia’s head coach until taking over the Bulldogs completely following this game, didn’t throw a lot of blitzes at Michigan State. Nick Saban is awesome. Saban joined in on the celebration with some dance moves on his own. I was the one first in my family to get a college degree, and to be able to get it from the University of Alabama was a dream come true for me and for my family, and not only to go down there and really as an 18-year-old kid, I left when I was 31. “It was fun to see”.

We’re less than a week away from grand finale of the 2015 college football season.

ICYMI: Jonathan Allen on no team does shutout in the semifinals of #CFBPlayoff: #Alabama does!

Let’s explore the five reasons why Alabama will beat Clemson in the National Championship Game – starting with the nation’s top player.

“I think God has got a sense of humor”, Swinney, a devout Christian, said Tuesday.

“Clemson is a great team, undefeated, a great program, ” Saban said. “He’s right”, senior linebacker Dillon Lee said.

The No. 1-ranked Clemson Tigers will likely have defensive lynchpin Shaq Lawson in the lineup for their January 11 showdown with Alabama. The suspension will remain until it doesn’t.

Lawson played only two series in Clemson’s 37-17 win against Oklahoma before leaving with a knee injury after sacking Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield.

We’re going to give it all we’ve got.

“It was just really during summer workouts, all the stuff they did”, Watson said.

“If I could’ve scripted this… chose who we’d play in a national championship, I would’ve picked Alabama because they’re the best”. Whether it was in the preseason when the Tigers held the 12th spot in the AP poll or on Thursday night as they stood behind the bowl of oranges in Miami, they’ve believed themselves to be the best all the way to a 14-0 record. Forcing Alabama to blitz and change out of its base packages could open up the space Clemson needs to make those big plays and pull off the upset. “It meant a lot for them to get a shutout. It should be a fun matchup”.

How Clemson fares against this historically good front, the best unit it has seen in more than two years, will determine whether the Tigers have a chance to win the CFP.

“But this is the way it ought to be”, Swinney said.

“This is certainly going to be the most challenging game we’ve had to this point”, Saban said.

The NCAA ranks Alabama’s defense second in the country, giving up a stingy 256.8 yards and less than two touchdowns per game.

If Lawson is unable to play or limited, Clemson is thin at defensive end. These are great football teams with balance on offense, great defense and the ability to dominate a game. “This is their fourth National Championship appearance in seven years, and I think this is – they’ve won 15 already”, he said.

Coker who entered the season embroiled in a quarterback battle with Cooper Bateman, however that battle was ended in the third game of the season when Coker entered the Crimson Tide’s game with Ole Miss in a back-up roll and finished the game with a career high 21 completions on 45 attempts for 201 yards and three touchdowns.