10 reasons to watch Alabama and Clemson in tonight’s CFP national championship
By Will Heath
Published:
After a brief hiatus in 2015, the 2016 edition of the CFP national championship game includes the Southeastern Conference champion. Here are 10 reasons to pay attention to tonight’s Alabama-Clemson matchup:
10. All those Clemson jokes. “You ever go to Auburn? … Imagine that, but with a big lake, and you have Clemson.” “Know what ‘S-O-N’ in Clemson stands for? ‘Chivalry, honor and knowledge.’” And so forth.
9. Dabo Swinney. Look, we all love the guy. He seems like a pretty good dude and has his roots in Alabama. But can we also all agree that the “nobody believes in us” act is getting tired? They’ve been ranked No. 1 in the country all season. Literally everybody believes in them.
8. O.J. Howard might catch the ball a few times again. If you’re like me, you forgot he played for Alabama until the semifinal against Michigan State. It would be nice to see him again.
7. Alabama’s special teams on the big stage … again. Everyone is waiting to see if the Tide’s kicking game implodes again in a big game. Bama will almost certainly need a strong kicking game tonight.
6. Lane Kiffin vs. Brent Venables. The fear with Kiffin is that he’s spent the past 10 days coming up with brilliant ideas and not just sticking with what works. We shall see.
5. Jake Coker the game manager. Coker has basically been as good as Alabama has needed him to be all season. What if Clemson takes away the running game and the Tide is forced to throw?
4. Clemson’s run defense vs. Derrick Henry, Kenyan Drake, et al. The Heisman Trophy winner only accrued 75 yards in the semifinal game, though he stayed in long enough to do this:
3. Calvin Ridley vs. Mackensie Alexander. Pride goeth before a fall, you know.
2. Deshaun Watson vs. Alabama’s front seven. This is the key matchup in tonight’s game. Alabama has essentially built its defense around the notion that it doesn’t need additional personnel at the line of scrimmage to stop the running game. But Watson is the sort of QB who has driven Alabama defenses crazy in the past, because he’s mobile and creative outside the play design. If he’s at his best, Bama will have to do different things to stop him.
1. Nick Saban chases history. Already in the midst of a run as historic as any in the annals of college football, Saban can win his fifth national title as a head coach tonight, more than anyone other than Bear Bryant. Also, he’ll probably get Gatorade dumped on him again. And that’s ratings gold.
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
