Watson’s big night can’t lift Clemson to title
Cue the twangy bass.
“You know, Saban is basically a conservative coach”, Drake said, in a locker room choking with cigar smoke and Instagram shots and a lot of understated satisfaction.
That’s why Saban has five national titles to his name.
Miami, which considered shutting down its program due to lack of interest several years earlier, pulled off one of the greatest upsets to win its first national title.
“We weren’t playing very well on defense”, Saban said.
It wasn’t the blowout Alabama is used to in national championship games, but it didn’t matter. Pete Carroll owned college football at the University of Southern California, and even he had only seven consecutive 10-win seasons.
“It’s not all about me”, Henry said. “Special coach, special person, he does everything the right way”.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban gets doused after the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Clemson, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.
The game was a thrill-a-minute.
Deshaun Watson threw his fourth and final touchdown to Jordan Leggett with 12 seconds left.
Griffith said Saban asked him if he wanted to give the onside kick a try.
The players on the Alabama sideline erupted in gleeful hopping and arm-waving.
Alabama tied the game on a field goal to open the fourth quarter, and then stunned Clemson when they successfully attempted an onside kick.
Swinney railed at officials after the perfectly executed kick, mostly because a similar play Clemson executed in 2014 against SC was disallowed.
“That was a huge play in the game because I felt like we had all the momentum and we were getting ready to get the ball back”.
“I would say it’s bad coaching on my part that he didn’t have the opportunity to do that all year long, because he is a really good athlete and he’s improved tremendously as a player this year”.
“(Watson) was extending plays and making big plays, so I thought we needed to do something to change the momentum of the game, and I thought if we didn’t get ahead in the game at some point in time that we couldn’t just trade serves with them”.
The risk immediately paid championship dividends. Two plays after Marlon Humphrey recovered the onside kick, quarterback Jake Coker hit O.J. Howard for a 51-yard touchdown.
In risking his reputation to give his team a chance, Saban showed his greatness, and Alabama mirrored his resilience.
Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, who finished third in Heisman balloting behind Henry and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, passed for 405 yards and four touchdowns, with an interception, and rushed for 73 yards. Howard said he plans to sit down with Saban and family Wednesday and talk about his future plans. Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin – who once got fired by USC in the middle of the night at LAX – got left behind at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Howard caught five passes for 208 yards, an Alabama record for receiving yards in a game by a tight end. “It was a tie game”. It was yet another surprise from a guy who began the night with a confession.
Clemson (14-1, 8-0 ACC) appeared to be en route to its second national championship – leading the Crimson Tide 24-21 as the third stanza drew to a close.