Title fight: Clemson’s O-line vs. Alabama’s defensive front

They love being overlooked.

Alabama guard/forward Riley Norris (1) blocks the shot of Norfolk State guard Charles Oliver (20) during an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Jeff Short led the Spartans, scoring 16 points after shooting 4-for-7 beyond the arc.

There’s another story line to the title game.

The above line is a playful jab at Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney – a former walk-on and assistant coach at Alabama – hosting a full-capacity pizza party at Memorial Stadium the day after the Tigers claimed the ACC championship last month (and a No. 1 seed in the four-team Playoff).

Now, he’s going against the greatest coach of this generation.

“It’s fantastic to me that, you know, I told them, you ain’t favored to win the (dang) game, but we ain’t no underdog”, Swinney said after his team defeated the Sooners.

“That’s the thing that has been most pleasing to me about this team, and it’s not just what we’ve done in any of the three phases of the game”, Alabama coach Nick Saban said. This year, however, there was no Clemsoning for the Tigers. Embattled coach Tommy Bowden resigned after six games, and Swinney – who was in charge of receivers – took over as the head coach.

Swinney is not surprised his team has reached this point and will play for its first national title since the 1981 season January 11 in Glendale, Ariz.

“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.

Saban said his team came into this playoff with a different attitude. “You like to feel like you preach and breed and nourish that toughness with the concept and in the weight room or whether we’re doing the Paw drill or Oklahoma drill or last week or whatever, it’s a mentality”, Venables said. Seeing a national trophy make its way back to the Palmetto State would be a good thing, right?

“When the other team doesn’t score, they don’t win”, Alabama junior linebacker Ryan Anderson said.

Alabama opened as a seven-point favorite over Clemson, but that won’t matter. The Tigers have blasted away a school record with ten consecutive 500-yard total offense games; the previous long streak was four.

Clemson will do that in a big way if it can hold off the Crimson Tide defense, which limited Michigan State to 29 yards rushing.

Deshaun Watson might not be the second coming of Johnny Manziel or Cam Newton, but he’s an accomplished passer and a unsafe runner. Watson is the best dual-threat QB in the game today, and he accounted for over 4,700 all-purpose yards and 43 total touchdowns up to this game, including a 322-yard, two touchdown performance against Oklahoma. Ben Boulware is the playmaker of the linebacking corps, and he made a crucial interception against the Sooners that clinched the game for the Tigers. He was diagnosed with a sprained medial collateral ligament. “But never in my career, never, any sport, going back to when I was a little kid have I been undefeated”. Of course, Alabama is not just a one-dimensional team as QB Jacob Coker showed against Michigan State.

Along the way from September, quarterback Jake Coker seemed an efficient afterthought, a senior and first-year starter who, as a three-year part-timer, went 3 for 5 passing in 2012, 18 for 36 in 2013 and 38 for 59 in 2014. “If we have trouble making plays on the deep ball, there it is”. But the 6-foot-6, 242-pound Howard was a big factor against Michigan State, especially early, and his 41-yard catch led to Adam Griffith’s 47-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead in the second quarter. The big tailback was just a role player against a Spartans defense stacked to stop the run. Michigan State focused its defense on stopping Henry, but he still gained 75 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns. In their semifinals, the Clemson and Alabama families won their respective second halves by 21-0 and 28-0.

Swinney doesn’t want them hiding from the opportunity.

“I’m just happy we got the W”, Obasohan said.