Well, well. It's been almost two years to the day that I started this blog. If you've read any of my previous posts you'd know that I am absolutely terrible at providing quality content. Or at the very least providing it on any sort of organized time schedule. But here we are again. It's nearing the end of my time at school and once again I find myself in need of a blog for a class. So here we are. I'm hoping that this time I'll be able to keep up with it even though, once again, we find ourselves at the beginning of the off-season. Ugh. I hate the off-season. But for today we have a partially interesting post: The College Football Playoff!!
Playoff Time!
So yesterday was the college football playoff. The third annual I believe. And this time guess who was in it? Go ahead guess. Alright I'll tell you. It was the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. One of those teams absolutely no one was surprised that they got there, Alabama, and the other well they've been earning respect for a few years and they did so well against my arch nemesis, Ohio State in case you're new here, that I was sure they also deserved to be in the playoff. That's Clemson, by the way. In case I've never mentioned it before I'm an Auburn fan. A huge Auburn fan as a matter of fact. And if you're also new to the whole college football thing, you should know that Auburn and Alabama are huge rivals. As such it was extremely hard for me to pull for them AGAIN to win the National Championship AGAIN. If Alabama had won last night it would be the second college football playoff win for them and their third National Championship in five years. For an Auburn fan, such as myself, it's insanely depressing to see your arch rival go to yet another National Championship when we can't even make it past 8-5 on the season. But being a good SEC fan I pulled for Alabama mostly due to the fact that I also don't care for Clemson who has also beat us a handful of times and annoyed me more than a handful of times.
The problem arose, however, that Alabama did not win. Nope you read that right. They didn't win. Clemson did. In fact, it was Clemson's first National Championship in 30-some odd years. It's always weird when Alabama loses, I guess because it happens so rarely. It wasn't an easy game for the Tide. Not that they didn't play well, they just sort of let the game get away from them. That and there were certainly some sloppy mistakes. Alabama had 9 penalties for 82 yards, which is high for a usually very calm and collected Alabama squad. One could argue that Clemson didn't get called for penalties that they should have been called for but, for the purpose of this post, let's pretend that Clemson only actually deserved the three penalties that they got for 35 yards. Alabama looked a little iffy. Not just on defense, which allowed 420 total passing yards, but also on offense. Jalen Hurts was only 13 of 31 for 131 yards against Deshaun Watson who was 36 of 56 for those previously mentioned 420 yards passing. Hurts just didn't quite look like himself. He also ran for 10 carries and 63 yards but even that didn't seem to help much.
Now, let's give credit to Alabama where credit is due. They owned the first half. In fact they owned the first three quarters. Alabama scored a total of 24 points in the first three quarters to Clemson's 14. OJ Howard even surprised everyone by running for 68 yard touchdown off a pass from Jalen Hurts. But the person who scored those first two was missing later on in the game. That's right. Bo Scarbrough. The running back. The guy that everyone has been saying to hand the ball off to all year because when he touches it, no one can touch him. It's been a source of stress for Alabama fans. Watching their offensive coordinator call pass plays or screens or pitches or whatever and not give the ball to one of the best players on their team who has consistently proven he can bash defenses to bits to get yards and points. Bo lit it up last night with his 16 carries for 93 yards and two touchdowns. But he went out in the third quarter with what was eventually named a broken bone in his leg, and the Crimson Tide seemed to falter along with his departure.
Clemson was able to rally behind their quarterback not to mention their exceptional running back Wayne Gallman who had 18 carries for 43 yards and a host of receivers. Among them were Jordan Leggett who had 7 receptions for 95 yards, Mike Williams who had 8 receptions for 94 yards, Deon Cain who had 5 receptions for 94 yards, and Hunter Renfrow, who caught the game winning touchdown pass that ended the game, with 10 receptions for 92 yards. In case you're not keeping track that is four receivers who each had almost 100 yards receiving. Alabama didn't have anywhere close to that. OJ Howard had 4 receptions for 104 yards, which is impressive, but the only other person who managed to have substantial receiving yardage for the Tide was Calvin Ridley who caught five balls for 36 yards which just isn't much when compared to Clemson's receiving corp.
Make no mistake Clemson earned their National Championship. They rallied in the fourth quarter and scored three touchdowns, one in the final seconds of the game, to beat the number 1 team in the country. Nick Saban had never been beaten in a National Championship game before. And yet Clemson beat them. It was a good night for Alabama, and they have a lot to be proud of. After all they have the exact same record as Clemson does even with their lack of National Championship. More than likely Alabama will be ranked number 1 in any pre-season poll that comes out, and they will probably go back to the playoffs next year. But for now the National Championship is Clemson's, and I think they deserve it.
Until next time college football fans, and dad, see ya!
Now, let's give credit to Alabama where credit is due. They owned the first half. In fact they owned the first three quarters. Alabama scored a total of 24 points in the first three quarters to Clemson's 14. OJ Howard even surprised everyone by running for 68 yard touchdown off a pass from Jalen Hurts. But the person who scored those first two was missing later on in the game. That's right. Bo Scarbrough. The running back. The guy that everyone has been saying to hand the ball off to all year because when he touches it, no one can touch him. It's been a source of stress for Alabama fans. Watching their offensive coordinator call pass plays or screens or pitches or whatever and not give the ball to one of the best players on their team who has consistently proven he can bash defenses to bits to get yards and points. Bo lit it up last night with his 16 carries for 93 yards and two touchdowns. But he went out in the third quarter with what was eventually named a broken bone in his leg, and the Crimson Tide seemed to falter along with his departure.
Clemson was able to rally behind their quarterback not to mention their exceptional running back Wayne Gallman who had 18 carries for 43 yards and a host of receivers. Among them were Jordan Leggett who had 7 receptions for 95 yards, Mike Williams who had 8 receptions for 94 yards, Deon Cain who had 5 receptions for 94 yards, and Hunter Renfrow, who caught the game winning touchdown pass that ended the game, with 10 receptions for 92 yards. In case you're not keeping track that is four receivers who each had almost 100 yards receiving. Alabama didn't have anywhere close to that. OJ Howard had 4 receptions for 104 yards, which is impressive, but the only other person who managed to have substantial receiving yardage for the Tide was Calvin Ridley who caught five balls for 36 yards which just isn't much when compared to Clemson's receiving corp.
Make no mistake Clemson earned their National Championship. They rallied in the fourth quarter and scored three touchdowns, one in the final seconds of the game, to beat the number 1 team in the country. Nick Saban had never been beaten in a National Championship game before. And yet Clemson beat them. It was a good night for Alabama, and they have a lot to be proud of. After all they have the exact same record as Clemson does even with their lack of National Championship. More than likely Alabama will be ranked number 1 in any pre-season poll that comes out, and they will probably go back to the playoffs next year. But for now the National Championship is Clemson's, and I think they deserve it.
Until next time college football fans, and dad, see ya!
