TAMPA, Fla. - If you didn't care who won, if you didn't care what time you got to bed, Monday night's College Football Playoff championship game between top-ranked Alabama and second-seeded Clemson was everything you could ask for.
Again.
Never mind that the Tigers won 35-31 in their rematch with the Tide with all of one second on the clock, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson connecting with Hunter Renfrow from 2 yards out to deny the Tide a second straight title over them.
"Clemson has waited 35 long years for this!" screamed Tigers linebacker Ben Boulware, the game's defensive MVP, in referencing the school's last national championship in 1981. "It's finally come home. It's finally come home."
It wouldn't be awful if these two proud programs would come home to this game every year, for they not only know how to get to the championship round, having done it each of the past two seasons, but also know what to do when they get to their sport's grandest stage, what with the largest crowd ever to watch a game at Raymond James Stadium (74,512) and at least 25 million Americans expected to have watched on television.
So even as Bama roared to a 14-0 lead with 10:42 left in the second quarter, it also watched Clemson fight back to 14-7 at halftime.
And when the Tide defense appeared to have forced one of those game-changing turnovers at the start of the second half, forcing a fumble that Ryan Anderson grabbed and headed off for the end zone with the football, Renfrow - who was pretty much the unexpected star of the night for Clemson even if Watson justifiably won the MVP honor - tackled him to save a score.
Four plays later, Bama settled for a field goal and the Tigers were still in the game at 17-7.
When the Tide shanked a punt a couple of series later, Watson wasted little time finding Renfrow for a 24-yard touchdown pass to pull the underdogs within 17-14.
Perhaps this is why Bama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt said of the irrepressible Watson's leadership and skill set: "I'd say he's dangerous as soon as he gets on the field."
Side note: Anyone who doesn't now think Watson deserved the Heisman over Louisville's Lamar Jackson needs to have his or her Heisman voting privileges revoked.
However, the problem for Bama at this point was that other than the strong, swift legs of sophomore running back Bo Scarbrough, who scored the Tide's early touchdowns on runs of 25 and 37 yards, no one else appeared very dangerous for Alabama.
And the longer the game went on and the more body blows it absorbed from a Clemson offense that put 31 on Ohio State nine days earlier, it seemed as if Bama's belligerent defense was slowly bending on its way to breaking.
Then the worst possible thing that could have seemingly happened to the Tide's offense happened. Scarbrough limped from the field after gaining a first down late in the third period. Bama quarterback Jalen Hurts threw incomplete. The Tide called a timeout prior to lining up for second down.
If you want to know what makes Bama Bama, what makes the Tide so difficult to beat, the next play explains it. Following that timeout, Hurts hit the Clemson Killer - tight end O.J. Howard, who owned the Tigers a year ago - perfectly in stride down the left sideline. Howard hauled it in for a 68-yard score to put the defending champs back on top 24-14.
But that couldn't solve the Tide's fatigue problem on defense. Watson kept proving to be both decisive and dangerous, picking apart the Tide secondary on 10- to 12-yard routes, a kind of Chinese aerial torture. The front seven couldn't consistently pressure Watson, and without that pressure, the secondary couldn't defend the pass.
Suddenly, Watson found Mike Williams all alone in the right corner of the end zone from 4 yards out and the Tigers were within 24-21 in the opening minute of the final period.
A single stat to show how completely Clemson's offense was overshadowing Alabama's offense in that third period: The Tigers held the ball for 10:19; the Tide controlled it for 4:41. By the close of the third period, Clemson had run 21 more offensive plays than Bama.
Yet this is also what you always want in these title games. You want Auburn 22, Oregon 19 to capture the 2010 crown. You want Texas 41, Southern Cal 38 to wrap up the 2005 season. You want a repeat of last year, when the Tide won 45-40 in as tight and entertaining a game as this CFP championship may ever witness.
And inside the final seven minutes, college football got its repeat. A 26-yard throw from Watson to Williams got the Tigers inside the Tide 35. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty moved it inside the 15. A Watson run got into the shadow of the goal line, inside the 1 yard line.
One play later, Clemson's Wayne Gallman was in the end zone and the Tide were down 28-24 with but 4:35 to play.
But the Tide hadn't won four of the last seven titles without knowing how to come back. On third-and-16, Hurts found ArDarius Stewart for 15 yards. On fourth-and-1, Damien Harris got the first down on the ground. Then a flea-flicker found Stewart hitting Howard on a big pass to the 30. From there, Hurts ran into the end zone to put the Tide back on top 31-28.
But there was still 2:07 on the clock and Watson wasn't ready to walk away from this game with a loss for a second straight game.
"Let's be legendary, let's be great," Watson told his teammates before throwing the last of his three touchdown passes.
And so they were. And because they were, this matchup was.
Again.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.