ALABAMA
SAN JOSE, Calif. — We’re only a few hours from kickoff for Alabama-Clemson IV, so we have to get all of our thoughts out now.
Both Alabama and Clemson are incredibly talented, well coached and undefeated, but this matchup has the potential the be lopsided because of how explosive Alabama’s offense is. No team in the country has this explosive of an offense with the ability to hold other teams in check defensively.
Clemson is explosive on offense, but I don’t see them being able to win a shootout with Alabama. Clemson’s defensive front is as talented as they come, but its secondary is suspect and I believe Tua Tagovailoa will carve them up.
Furthermore, this is the game where people will finally give Deshaun Watson the proper respect he deserves as a college quarterback. Clemson is a talented team and a top program, but it was Watson’s brilliance that kept Clemson in the game they lost in 2015.
When they beat Alabama in 2016, it was Watson’s toughness and moxie that willed the Tigers to victory.
That’s not a shot at Dabo Swinney, his coaching staff, the players or Clemson’s program. But we saw what Clemson looked like against Alabama without Watson in the Playoff semifinal last year. They couldn’t score a touchdown.
Granted, freshman Trevor Lawrence is a better passer than Kelly Bryant, but he lacks the overall mobility of Watson and Bryant. If you’re going to beat Alabama, you need your quarterback to be able to run for key first downs on 3rd-and-7 or pick up yards on 2nd-and-long to make third down manageable.
Will Lawrence be able to do that? We’ll see.
Frankly, this game comes down to one matchup: Clemson’s offensive line vs. Alabama’s defensive front.
Will Clemson’s offensive line be able to hold up against Alabama’s defensive line to give Lawrence time to set his feet and make throws? Or will Quinnen Williams, Raekwon Davis, Isaiah Buggs, Anfernee Jennings and others get after Lawrence?
I don’t believe Clemson’s offensive line will win this battle. Look for Williams and company to have their way with Clemson’s offensive line later tonight.
Alabama fans should enjoy this group because there’s a chance that all three — Williams, Davis and Buggs — will be gone after this season. Buggs is definitely gone because he’s out of eligibility. Williams will likely be a top-10 pick, and Davis has a chance to be a first-round pick as well.
Just like Da’Ron Payne put on a show during the Playoff last season against Clemson, I expect Williams to put a cap on what has been an incredible season.
Alabama’s front has been so dominant this season that they haven’t had to do a lot of blitzing. Look for Williams, Davis and Buggs to pressure Lawrence all night and make him uncomfortable.
If that happens, things could get really ugly for Clemson on Monday night.
Bama by 14 at least.
Same thing I thought about UGA last week. Oops!
Texas AM is arguably one of the least relevant teams in the SEC. Never wins anything, collapse late every year, perennial 8 win team.
Well, we won 9 this year…you might need to look up the word perennial. And, nice job against a mediocre tsip team. Ooops.
Collapse late every year? Might wanna look at our November record this year bud. And you might not want to speak of collapse, unless you didn’t watch your last two games against bama lol
Legend is right. UGA won the SEC Championship last year. TAMU hasn’t won sh!t. Win something first.
Don’t talk smack. Jimbo Fisher is a good coach and recruiter. We will have to play them next season and we will have our hands full.
Bammer fans are on suicide watch.
Hell no we aren’t. We can sleep well tonight knowing we’re not coon ass, corn dog smelling uncle fücking LSU fans! Enjoy your night!
Dang salty much?
Stop your whining and take it like a man. Fair weather fans like you can dish it out, but you apparently can’t take it. Looks like you are facing a little period of adjustment.
You might want to also clean up your rather untidy language a bit while you’re at it. There’s a stench coming from your direction the rest of us would prefer to have you clean up.
When you get home from work at the junkyard make yourself a mayonnaise sandwich, pour yourself a tall glass of pickle juice and watch a replay of the beatdown on the SEC network. Have a good day Billy Bob cornhole.
Glad someone finally realizes that Alabama’s DL vs Clemson’s OL (who they manhandled last year, and its the same guys back) is the bigger question mark than Clemson’s DL vs Alabama’s OL.
Questions answered.
I agree completely. I see the possibility of a blowout by “Bama. If Trevor Lawrence gets really hot – he has that potential – it could be close. The Tide have a decent margin for error, though, and Clemson would have to be nearly perfect to pull off a win.
You may need new glasses if that’s what you saw.
What I saw was that Clemson did exactly that – they played a nearly perfect game. They did have several incompletions during the game and one of their OL was called for tripping,, but other than that, they really played a perfect game. And that was against a great Alabama team, so it’s even more impressive. Hats off to Clemson – they came ready to play.
Pretty sure how well Etienne does plays a pretty big role….it usually isn’t the QB trying to make 2nd and long manageable anyway
It will come down to the Alabama DL play vs. the Clemson OL play. If Clemson can’t establish the run and protect the pocket, they’re toast. Tua will be able to get it done against a mediocre Clemson secondary pretty easily, so the Tigers have to match the firepower.
The part I’m hyped for is the sucky kicking games.
This is grown man football. The battle will be won in the trenches. Don’t let Trevor “Sunshine” Lawrence fool you, this kid has some deceptive speed. For a tall, lanky QB, he has good speed to run and escape pass rush if need be. Bama just has too much depth and they will pull away in the 2nd half.
(Homer Simpson voice) Mmmmmmm, peach clobber.
Ready to rethink this Marq?
Yeah they’re running them out of the building lmfao.
How long before Saban pulls Mr All Everything QB for Hurts like he did in the Georgia game?
Clemson is just rolling all over the Tide. Tua needs to do a better job of reading their defense and Alabama’s defense needs to find ways to make stops.
Well this is disconcerting…
If Bama doesn’t pick this up after halftime, we might see Bama fans performing a disappearing act on this site.
Already happening, I see none on this article since this started going downhill for them. Bama fans, come out come out where ever you are!!!!
Roll Tide :/
On the bright side I don’t have to worry about them blowing a halftime lead lol
The bandwagon has dispersed and the result of the game isn’t even final yet. Pathetic. I find it humorous that Bama attempted a fake similar to Kirby’s fake after mercilessly hammering him for that decision. Bad look for the Bama coaching staff. They look lost and desperate. The Fake field goal is evidence of that.
Now it’s final and the Bama fans are nowhere to be found. Dabo is a magician, making all the Bama fans jump off the bandwagon and disappear.
I guess Kirby is mentoring Saban on fake kicks. Glad to see Saban is following the leader.
Saban is a magician for sure. He turned Georgia fans into Clemson fans for a night. Who would have ever thought it!!!
How’s that working out for you Marq?
We probably won’t see Mr Hawaii All World QB after halftime.
I still have faith in Alabama.
Headline not aging well lol!
That’s what I came here to say. Glad I read through before posting. Haha
Bama getting annialated!
It’s “annihilated” moron. And yes, they are. It’s pure bliss.
Perhaps they were both annihilated and analated?
Wouldn’t expect anything less from these “expert” journalists at SDS. Hahaha this site is trash.
No. Basketball. Reporting…
Ha Ha Ha! Suck it Bama!
This is glorious!!!! Finally Bama gettin a taste of their own medicine. Hope they can recoup some of that money they paid all those players.
Why Clemson will clobber Alabama and win the National Championship. There fixed it.
South Carolina, who just got blanked by UVA, looked better against Clemson than Alabama does. Just sayin…
Yes,yes we did.
Alabama is slow, undisciplined, and unprepared. Very Sad!
By all means Marq Burnett. Tell us why Alabama will clobber Clemson. Thrill us with your acumen.
How does that butt smacking feel? And I hate Klempson but it’s nice to see y’all get to take your medicine for a change…I guess you could call it character building…LOL
Would someone please talk Finebaum off the ledge.
No excuses…this season is a total loss and disaster. Y’all have the best of EVERYTHING. At least you can call yourselves…1st loser.
I’ve been saying all year long that Clemson was overrated but looking at this game I have to admit that I was wrong! I never thought I would see a team make bama look this bad!
Oh my word…y’all look worse than we do…but we played Klempson better.
SEC, SEC, SEC!!
How do you get a pansy tsip troll off your front porch? Pay him for the pizza… Here’s to watching LSU kick your butts next year…maybe the coward DeLoss Dodds will be there to cheer you on. Or maybe Hermann will man-kiss everyone to death. Either way, it will be entertaining. Gig ‘Em!
Ya UT graduates… Deliver pizza.. Nice one country bumkin. Not worried in the least to playing LSU.. The SEC narrative is finally put to bed, Georgia was a fraud and we beat the pants off of them. Bama, still a great team got dominated, I mean dominated by Clemson. But yes.. The aggs had such an amazing bowl win against… NC State?? They dont deserve to play Baylor. Their best win? Against the mighty Florida St or Virginia, take your pick. Cheers lil brother, and your mediocrity in whatever conference you are in lol.
hahahah Texas36 yea congrats on you and BIG12s irrelevant bowl wins – since you all cant seem to actually win ones that matter where the other teams actually have motivation to play and their best players arent sitting – but hey congrats im sure they will remember the sugar bowl decades from now lmao
Well bama718, I know they will remember the 2019 Bama beat down for decades! The no motivation is such a lame and SEC excuse. Your two top dogs got curb stomped, deal with it. LSU next.
Oh and Bama718, what were the mighty SEC bowl wins this year? LSU?, A&M?? Yall set up your bowl games minus the playoffs and always have a lousy showing.
Lol. Texas wins a meaningless bowl game and struts. OK, dude. Enjoy it.
And Georgia lost a “meaningless” bowl game, enjoy. Must suck this year you cant cheer Bama to another national championship. Also.. Georgia, when was the last time you won a “meaningful” bowl game? Just so you dont get confused a national championship.
Bama718 is a UGA fan not a Bama fan…
Well this bammer homer is certainly out of his league predicting big games. Maybe he should try another line of work?
Why are there no update articles on the butt whupping Dabo is putting on Nicky? SDS bammer homers all jumping out of high rise windows?
Having this article be the first thing people see when logging onto SDS is pretty funny.
WRONG!!!
Where all the Bama fans be at??
This post did not age well.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the pro Bama and uga writers on SDS.
Maybe you can hire some thoughtful writers in the future.
Georgia can always take comfort knowing we own the Gaytors.
yea good call u redneck…bama got utterly exposed, steamrolled just like when OSU did 5 years ago when they were ‘unbeatable’ Roll tears
Someone should nominate this article for a Pulitzer.
This didnt age well
Who was it getting ugly for on Monday night?
Wow, this article will go down in history. Could Burnett ever have been more wrong? I’ll put a copy of this in my Hope Chest.
The only question to be answered is will Burnett still be writing for SDS after tonight?
Uh-oh Marq, your home coooking perspective just boiled over in the lop-sided loss to Clemson. So much for the “clobbering,” as you wrote was forthcoming. Hope you enjoy humble pie!
This article is the next contestant on Freezing Cold Takes….
Some good points here.