How last year’s Clemson loss motivated Alabama on goal-line stand vs. Tennessee
By Adam Spencer
Published:
In January, the Alabama Crimson Tide fell to the Clemson Tigers in devastating fashion in the national championship game.
Now, coach Nick Saban’s squad is taking that frustration out on the rest of college football, dominating every opponent en route to an 8-0 start.
In fact, Alabama’s defense has been motivated by Clemson’s last-second win last season, using that late touchdown to motivate them in Saturday’s game against Tennessee.
LB Rashaan Evans said he and his teammates took a goal-line stand personally on Saturday afternoon, trying to avenge last year’s failure (via AL.com):
“We basically went back to Clemson,” Evans said. “We just wanted to stop them on the goal line.”
Saban credited the Alabama crowd for affecting Tennessee’s rhythm down near the goal line, saying the fans created the Vols’ false-start penalty:
“I think the fans had a lot to do with it,” Saban said. “Obviously, they contributed to the offside penalty when they had the ball inside the 1. It gave us a chance when it was third-and-five from the five.”
The Crimson Tide still have games against Auburn and Mississippi State on the schedule, but if they play the way they’ve played so far this year, they could enter the SEC Championship Game with an unbeaten record.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
