Alabama and Clemson Again Who Cares

B/R

Congratulations, whiners of the world. Your voices have been heard.

The best possible matchup for the College Football game Playoff National Championship has arrived, and you lot can't mutter enough.

You're ill of Alabama and Clemson.

You're sick of Nick Saban's dominance and Dabo Swinney'south syrupy Southern accent.

Y'all're sick of the same ol', aforementioned ol' when the games matter most, fifty-fifty though this time effectually—the 4th directly game betwixt the Crimson Tide and Tigers in the CFP, and the third national title game betwixt the two—might just exist the best in the modern era.

"What? Are we supposed to apologize for playing in this game once again?" Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams asked.

He is told the earth is tired of Alabama and Clemson sucking the drama out of the playoff. There's Tide-Tigers title game fatigue, you know.

A smiling creeps across Williams' face, and Alabama's brash All-American—the very guy who a week earlier in a viral video about acknowledged he wasn't so impressed with Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray before stopping mid-sentence because that'south the last thing Saban wants to hear—just can't help himself.

"Yep, well, we own't tired of being hither," he said.

Deal with it, America.

Information technology'southward not tedious; information technology'southward beautiful. It'due south not inevitable; it's indisputable.

The ii all-time teams in college football, with the two best rosters in higher football, with the two best coaches in higher football, with 14-0 records, playing for the whole damn thing.

That's non too much Alabama vs. Clemson. That's a dream matchup.

It'southward as good equally whatever faceoff we can imagine: the Steph-KD Warriors vs. the Beginning Lakers or Brady's Patriots vs. the '85 Bears. Information technology's Pep Guardiola'due south Barcelona vs. Zinedine Zidane'due south Existent Madrid or, heaven aid us, Michael vs. LeBron.

Clemson's Christian Wilkins Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

"I feel like [Alabama] is part of our schedule," Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said.

And what—in this age of fans constantly asking, "Who has your team played?"—could be incorrect with that?

Two of the three previous playoff games betwixt the teams produced 2 of the best championship games since the first of the BCS era in 1998, when the sport first changed its postseason to get the best possible matchup in the national championship game.

Alabama won the 2022 title despite a remarkable effort by Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and but after Saban decided mid-game that his vaunted defence couldn't stop Watson and that he should gamble an onside kicking to change momentum.

Then in the 2022 season, Watson delivered a performance for the ages, driving the Tigers 68 yards in two minutes and completing the game-winning touchdown pass with one second to play. A series before, Alabama freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts engineered an unforgettable get-ahead drive that, simply for Watson's heroics, would've been the stuff of legends.

However suddenly the nation is fatigued by all this thrilling history. Even last year'due south bland semifinal win by Alabama over Clemson can't stain what the Tide and Tigers accept brought to the playoff.

Tua Tagovailoa Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Fast-frontwards to 2018, and in that location's a new dynamic: Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the Heisman Trophy runner-up and the histrion who changed the way Saban thinks about offense taking on Clemson freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the histrion who (like Tagovailoa) trounce a previous starter (Kelly Bryant) who had led his team to the CFP and one solar day could become the best NFL draft prospect e'er.

That's correct, ever.

"I don't retrieve that's hyperbole at all," i NFL lookout man told Bleacher Report. "With what he now knows, his concrete ability at 19 years old, how he wants to be coached and wants to be great, his ceiling is limitless. He makes throws now that guys in our league tin't brand."

Merely get ahead and mutter most Alabama vs. Clemson. Y'all're bored with great and want intrigue or the unexpected or even an upset.

There won't be an upset. Alabama is favored to win its second straight national championship and fifth in eight years, simply almost no one in the coaching fraternity volition exist shocked if Clemson beats the Tide again for its second national title in three seasons.

"Clemson is equally complete a team every bit you will see in college football," Pitt jitney Pat Narduzzi said. "That quarterback has changed everything."

Or every bit one Power 5 coach said: "Everyone else thinks they can beat Alabama. Clemson has a lot of dudes on that team that know they tin shell Alabama. That's a large deal. They can trade punches with Alabama on the lines of scrimmage, and they'll kill you with the skill guys."

Who would want to watch that, Mr. Fatigue?

Forget about sagging ticket sales or the reality that this might be the get-go CFP National Title to not sell out. Co-ordinate to TickPick.com, prices for tickets are down 65 per centum from last season, and many tickets probable volition go for less than face value. And possibly, just perhaps, in that location volition be empty seats at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California (that has more to do with geography than interest).

You're wasting oxygen focusing on that nonsense. Instead, bathe in the glory of a national title game that will feature 2 teams that rank in the top five in the nation in scoring criminal offense, scoring defence force, plays of 30 yards or more and sacks—basically every cardinal stat in the volume.

But hither's the best thing virtually the same matchup over and over over again: watching the best players over and over again.

Years from now, nosotros'll look dorsum at this title game and curiosity at the sheer number of NFL players who played. Information technology's not merely the potential offset-round picks (of which in that location will exist many) just the mid-draft players who could make NFL rosters. Another NFL scout told Bleacher Report the combined effigy might exist as high as xxx to 40.

"Great players win big games," LSU motorbus Ed Orgeron said. "That's the easiest fashion to explain it."

So when you recruit and develop players better than anyone in college football, you're going to have the best players and you're going to play in a lot of big games. Alabama has won 55 of its final 58 games, Clemson 57 of 61. Accept away their losses to each other, and each squad has been defeated just twice over those spans.

This doesn't happen often in college football, especially in an era when big-coin television deals have given every Ability Five school an opportunity to build a winner. Instead of lament about fatigue, possibly it's time to embrace a college football rarity: 2 monster programs peaking at the same time.

"It'due south the two best teams for the last I-don't-know-how-many years. I would think that would make anybody want to turn on the TV," Alabama wideout Jerry Jeudy said. "Equally a histrion, you want the all-time team possible on the other side of the ball. You want to prove yourself. They have a great program; we have a great plan. It's the heavyweight title, and we're both coming out swinging."

Gerald Herbert/Associated Printing

It's no coincidence these programs mirror each other, with dynamic coaches fueling recruiting powerhouses and driven past an underlying philosophy of "best player plays." Not the oldest or the previous season'due south starter.

The best histrion. Menstruum.

That's why Lawrence was named the starter in Week five despite Bryant's experience and seniority. Or why Tagovailoa overtook Hurts and a grouping of truthful freshmen—Tagovailoa, tailback Najee Harris, wideouts Jeudy, Henry Ruggs Iii and DeVonta Smith and offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood—became the stars of last year's national championship game despite limited action in previous critical games.

In fact, Tagovailoa hadn't washed plenty to supplant Hurts throughout the regular season, but he practiced then well during grooming for concluding year's semifinal against Clemson that the staff had a series of plays designed for him. Hurts struggled against Clemson'southward stout defence, but Saban never fabricated the switch.

And so last twelvemonth's national championship game came around—and the scope and feel of a Saban-coached Alabama team changed.

"Tua immune united states to exercise some different things offensively," Saban said.

Which is the aforementioned sort of understatement every bit saying Alabama has been decent in Saban'southward 12 seasons. Or that Lawrence has played well for a freshmen, when the reality is Swinney has somehow recruited and developed two generational quarterbacks in the last v seasons.

"Things don't just magically happen. In that location's a lot of hard work, across the board, that goes into winning," Swinney said. "If it were easy, everybody would be doing it."

Then what would the whiners of the earth complain about?

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Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2813924-alabama-clemson-again-stop-complaining-and-enjoy-a-matchup-for-the-ages?src=rss

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