On Monday night after a weekend packed with NFL playoff football, it was time for the NCAA National Championship to commence. This game was a match-up between the Clemson Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama were the undeniable favorite headed into the game led by freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts. The Tide finished the season undefeated and ranked number 1 in the country. Alabama were the reigning champs and their coach Nick Saban was aiming to add another trophy to his case. Their defense had played incredible all season and the team was poised to win. The interesting thing about Alabama teams is that every year a large percentage of the players declare for the draft. So each year they are getting new talent that is hungry to impress and win themselves a national championship.

The Clemson Tigers would be no easy task for Alabama. This team was led by Heisman candidate Deshaun Watson. Watson had put up incredible numbers all year and was poised to win his first national championship. This game meant something extra to him because last year they lost to Alabama in the national championship. This was a bitter loss and this was going to be Watson’s final year before heading to the NFL, it was all in for Clemson. Their coach David Swinney preached to his players all year that they would see Alabama again in Tampa and this was their chance to achieve their goal.

        As the game kicked off, it was clear that Alabama were the stronger team, their defense was playing lights out and the combination of Jalen Hurts and running back Bo Scarbrough were too much to handle. Despite a dominant half from Alabama, Clemson stole a late touchdown and only raced a seven point deficit at the half with the score of 14 to 7. Alabama continued to roll putting up another 14 points in the 3rd quarter. It seemed that Watson was not able to do his normal routine, he was being rushed and hit hard. Just when things were looking down for Clemson, they received hope when Bo Scarbrough left the game with injury. Their defense could now make some stops and Watson began to roll. With just 5 minutes left in the game, Watson drove his team down the field and scored a vital touchdown which put them up with 3 minutes to go. It was up to Jalen Hurts to respond. Hurts rushed the team downfield and capped off the minute long drive with a 30 yard touchdown run.  Luckily for Clemson they had 2 minutes to tie the game with a field goal or win it with a touchdown. Watson scripted an absolutely incredible drive and with seconds left, he tossed a pass to Hunter Renfrow. With just one second left the game ended. Coach Swinney and Deshaun Watson gave each other a long embrace. They had achieved their end goal, they had done what they set out to do all season. Senior captain, Ben Boulware couldn’t contain his emotion when asked about how much this meant to the team.

The future’s still bright for Alabama, freshman quarterback will be returning for his sophomore season. Hopefully Bo Scarbrough will be able to rebound from his broken leg and continue to dominate the NCAA. On the other hand Clemson will be depleted. A large percentage of their team is either graduating or declaring for the draft. The positive is that with them winning the National Championship, they will receive heavy interest from top recruits around the country. Although the season has just ended, a poll was taken of 75 Oakton High School students of who they think will win next year’s national championship. Out of the 75 asked, a whopping 85 percent predict Alabama will return to the top, The rest was split between 12 percent Ohio State and 3 percent Penn State. Next year the NCAA is expected to produce another great season filled with talented players and coaches.

Clemson Knock Off Alabama

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