Watson brillant but Bama wins with big plays

“We out-gained them. We had 550 yards of offense”. The risky onside kick call provided all the momentum the Crimson Tide would need.

Alabama’s Derrick Henry runs for a touchdown during the first half of the NCAA college football playoff championship game Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.

One prevailing narrative for this game pits Clemson’s star sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson against Alabama’s rock-solid defense.

After several big-bowl blowouts, Alabama (14-1) and Clemson (14-1) put a whopper of the topper on the college football season in front of 75,765 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Clemson had an opportunity to execute an onside kick of their own at the end of the game but they weren’t able to recover. Some students had tears in their eyes as they left bars there but also said they were proud of a team that won 14 games for the first time.

“I made the decision to do it because the score was (tied) and we were exhausted on defense and weren’t doing a great job of getting them stopped and felt like if we didn’t do something or take a chance to change the momentum of the game that we wouldn’t have a chance to win”, Saban said.

The Tide didn’t trail after that but the Tigers weren’t beaten. Watson threw for four touchdowns and accounted for 478 yards of offense, the Tigers topping the Crimson Tide nearly everywhere but on the scoreboard.

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. Senior running back Kenyon Drake took the ensuing kickoff and ran it back ninety-six yards for a touchdown – covering the last five years with a diving leap past Tigers’ safety T.J. The ball was miraculously caught by a twisting, turning ArDarius Stewart – a thirty-eight yard reception that gave coordinator Lane Kiffin’s squad the yardage it needed to kick a game-tying field goal.

While there were many who were disappointed in the outcome for Clemson, Swinney says his team will take aim at making a return trip to the national title game and hopefully come away with the championship trophy.

Howard would have been a primary target on most teams, just not on teams with the SEC’s best player. But then we followed it up with a bust for a touchdown. The Tigers kept pace with the Tide offensively, it was special teams that ultimately doomed their national title hopes. Bama won Bowl Championship Series national titles in 2009, 2011, and 2012.

Watson led Clemson to a field goal to make it 31-27, and boom, another Alabama big play.

Watson is a difference-maker.

Saban was so incensed about the Tide losing contain on Watson on a 16-yard run in the third quarter he ripped off his headset. It’s just not what he’s known for in a career that now includes four national titles in seven seasons and a fifth at LSU.

And just like that, the college football season is over.

Still, two of the most crucial plays in the game came on special teams for Alabama. Bryant had been a winning coach at Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M before taking over in Tuscaloosa.

“There weren’t many people early in the season that thought this team could do it”, Saban said. “It’s about me and my teammates and sharing it with my coaches”.

Griffith: “They were lining up on the hashes, so I had plenty of room on the sideline and the numbers”.

Alabama unleashed tight end O.J. Howard as a weapon to complement Henry’s power running.

In leading his National Football League preparatory school to 12 straight wins after an early-season loss to Mississippi, Saban finished this season in a flourish early in the fourth quarter after the Crimson Tide had tied the game on a field goal at 24-all.