Alabama mauled Michigan State. How will the Tide handle Clemson’s defense in Monday night’s national championship game?

Let’s take a look and see how the two defenses compare.

Clemson’s defense was very impressive in the Tigers’ 37-17 victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl last week. In the other national semifinal, Alabama took apart Michigan State’s defense in its 38-0 win in the Cotton Bowl.

The strongest part of Michigan State’s defense was obviously its scheme against the run. The Spartans held Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry to just 75 yards on 20 carries. But Alabama gained 79 yards on its other 15 rushing attempts against a defense that ended up allowing 116 rushing yards per game on 3.62 per carry. Even with outstanding defenders Shilique Calhoun and Riley Bullough, Michigan State couldn’t prevent Alabama from easily surpassing both of those numbers.

Michigan State’s pass defense — which ended up allowing 233.9 yards in the air per game — was even worse. Alabama QB Jacob Coker completed 25 of 30 passes for a career-best 286 yards and 2 TD passes to Calvin Ridley. Coker exposed a good, but not great secondary.

Clemson’s defensive performance against Oklahoma was even more eye-opening for opposite reasons.

Not only did the Tigers shut down the Sooners’ high-powered offense that had averaged 52 points over its previous seven games, they held Oklahoma to just 67 yards on 33 carries — the Sooners had averaged 232 rushing yards over their previous seven games.

They did so without even getting a full game from All-American defensive end Shaq Lawson, who sat out the second half after spraining his left knee in the second quarter. Entering Monday night’s matchup with Alabama, Clemson is allowing 124.4 rushing yards per game, which is 18th in the FBS — and Lawson has said he’ll be ready.

The Tigers, however, did not have a banner day defending the pass against Oklahoma. Clemson, which is yielding 177.2 passing yards a game to rank ninth in the FBS, allowed Sooners QB Baker Mayfield to complete 26 of 41 passes for 311 yards and a TD, but most of those numbers came in the first 30 minutes as Oklahoma did not score in the second half.

Clemson sacked Mayfield five times, with linebacker Ben Boulware, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins, defensive end Kevin Dodd and Lawson all recording one apiece. If the Tigers’ pass rush performs this way against Coker and Alabama, their secondary — cornerbacks Mackensie Alexander and Cordrea Tankersley and safeties Jayron Kearse and T.J. Green — will be tough to beat.

Clemson’s linebackers deserve credit as well. Boulware and teammate B.J. Goodson, who have combined for nine sacks and four interceptions this season, are tackling machines. Goodson, who also has recovered two fumbles, leads Clemson with 98 stops while Boulware is third with 79. Boulware, who made 11 of his tackles against Oklahoma, leads Clemson’s linebackers with seven pass breakups.

Despite surrendering 378 total yards to Oklahoma, the Tigers still rank sixth in the nation, allowing 301.6 yards a game.

Both Clemson and Michigan State use a 4-3 scheme, but the Tigers have obviously been better on defense. Clemson doesn’t have the deepest defensive line, so if Lawson is not 100 percent by Monday night, Dodd and freshman Austin Bryant will have to step it up. Against Oklahoma, Bryant had four tackles and half a sack, including a key hit on a fourth-down stop.

But despite Lawson’s injury, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is confident that his best defensive player will face Alabama.

“He looked pretty good, so, so far so good,” Swinney said earlier this week of Lawson, who tops the Tigers with 10.5 sacks and leads the FBS with 23.5 tackles for loss. “… I think the prognosis is good at this point. … I’m very optimistic that he’ll be able to play.”