By Art Spander
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Those other college bowl games, those mismatches of the last few weeks? Those were merely teases to keep us grumbling and griping. But when it came to the big one, the national championship, the sport burst out in a show of brilliance, a reaffirmation of what is possible when two of the country’s top programs face each other and what is probable when Alabama is one of those.
It isn’t as if the Crimson Tide came into Monday night’s title game being thought of as hopeless. Yes, Clemson was unbeaten in 17 straight games, all 14 previous this season, and hadn’t trailed in the fourth quarter since some time in 2014. Yet, Bama was a touchdown favorite, mostly because it plays in the overpowering Southeast Conference and mostly because, well, it’s Bama.
Yet there was the thought that Clemson, behind quarterback DeShaun Watson, would have too much offense for the Crimson Tide. Indeed, Clemson had plenty, outgaining Alabama 550 yards to 473, but the resolute, unflappable Tide, won 45-40 with, surprise, an onside kick when the game was tied in the fourth quarter, and with big passes from its own great quarterback, Jake Coker.
Nick Saban once more proved his genius, winning a fifth championship — one at LSU, then four after becoming Alabama coach in 2007. “There weren’t many people who thought this team could do it,” he said immediately after the victory.
What the game, before 75,765 at University of Phoenix Stadium maybe a dozen miles west of Phoenix, did was restore faith in undergrad football with a game of lead changes and great performances.
Watson completed 30 passes in 47 attempts for 405 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 73 yards, becoming the first player in the Football Bowl System to total more than 4,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing in a year.
Coker was 16 of 25 for 335 yards and two touchdowns, while Bama’s Derrick Henry, the Heisman Trophy winner, carried 36 times — yes, 36 — for 158 yards and three touchdowns. Alabama receiver O.J. Howard contributed five catches for 208 yards — including one for 63 yards — and two touchdowns.
“We played the national championship against the best team in the country,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, an Alabama grad, “and we had a chance to win.” A chance, but we’re not talking about chances. It’s results that count, and Alabama, finishing at 14-1 as Clemson did, got the results, its 16th title.
If there was a turning point in this game of many turns and twists, it was that onside kick after a Clemson field goal had tied the game with 10:34 left on the clock. “We have that in our kickoffs,” said Saban. “We needed something to change the momentum of the game, and that changed the momentum.”
It was popup kick that Marlon Humphrey grabbed from the air right on the 50. From there in two plays, a one-yard Henry run and a 49-yard pass from Coker to Howard, Alabama scored the touchdown that would lift them into the lead for good.
“I’m very proud of this team,” said Saban. “After losing to Ole Miss (in the third game of the season), they worked as hard as any team I’ve had. I coached this team as much as I ever coached any team.
“This game, we didn’t always play pretty. It wasn’t one of our best games. But we competed when we needed to. That’s why we won.”
On the West Coast particularly, there was disappointment when Henry was voted the Heisman Trophy over Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey. But Henry is what football people call a horse, someone who carries as often as it's required, making one or two yards on some runs and as many as 50 on others.
“We didn’t have the same juice we had in this game as we had in the Michigan State game,” said Saban, referring to the 38-0 win in the semifinal that lifted the Tide into the championship game. Teams don’t always play at the maximum from game to game, but the best teams end up with more points than the opponent.
“Championship football,” sighed Swinney, the Clemson coach, “is a game of a few plays. And that’s really what this one came down to. It was a slugfest out there, and I thought a couple of special-team plays were huge momentum (changers). Four national championships. I mean that’s an incredible accomplishment.”
The onside kick? Swinney said Clemson didn’t have the opportunity to catch the ball, so he screamed at the officials. But he conceded it was a smart, great play by Alabama. “Then we followed with a bust for a touchdown,” he said of Alabama’s rapid score. “So it was a combination of mistakes.”
The adage is in football the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. That team again was Alabama, in a game that will be remembered, even by Clemson.