Alabama wins it all
That was a great game. Very entertaining and competitive.
(Two quick side points: Congrats to War Eagle Terry, who with Clemson's backdoor cover finished second in our Bowling for Bowls of Bowl Game Success ((Bowler optional)). Yes, the low-end estimate was that $10 million in Vegas flipped direction on that final TD with less than 20 second left that allowed Clemson to cover the 7-point spread. No telling how much illegal wagering was lost, especially around these parts. Secondly, college football has got to start this puppy earlier. Man, that was a late finish.)
A lot to dissect from a game that changed directions and momentum a multitude of times.
We loved the onside kick - and the execution of it was better than the call - and were perplexed to see Nick Saban smile that much.
Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin talks with the media in the College Football Playoff press conference, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, at Naylor-Stone Media Suite in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Vasha Hunt/Alabama Media Group via AP) We think Lane Kiffin has grown into as good of an in-game play caller as there is in college football this side of Bobby Petrino and David Cutcliffe. Kiffin put down a foundation, then used that foundation - Derrick Henry is a pretty good foundation - to stretch the field and confuse Clemson's coverage. Kiffin also wisely picked on Mackenzie Alexander's replacement. In truth, even the biggest anti-Kiffin fan among us has to be impressed with the way he has handled the Alabama offense the last two years.
Alabama has oodles of talent. Just overflowing talent. That's not an indictment on anyone; it's simply a statement of fact. Alabama is so good the Tide won 12 straight to end the season and didn't need O.J. Howard until Monday night. O.J. Howard looked like the second- or third-best offensive player on the field last night and he's been little more than a decoy for the last three months.
The embarrassment of riches didn't stop of defense either. Heck, we have discussed Alabama's other-worldly defensive line. Well, for the better of the first half, Deshaun Watson was unfazed by that star-studded group of future NFL millionaires. So, Alabama calls on five-star freshman Rashaan Evans to come in and speed rush off the edge.
It was a great win, and Alabama got contributions from every phase. (Yes, the defense was exploited at times - Saban's defensive scheme has cracks when faced with an elite mobile quarterback, and Deshaun Watson was that and much, Much, MUCH more. More on that below.)
It was a great win, and one that seals Alabama's seven-year run with four titles as the best ever.
Which leads us to
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Nick Saban, best major college football coach ever
What else is there to say?
Saban has achieved dynastic dominance in a sport designed for anything and everything but that.
Saban has worked miracles - dude gets five-star recruits to come in and wait their turn and bust their rumps on special teams - on the recruiting trail.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban gets doused after the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Clemson, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz. Alabama won 45-40. (Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic via AP) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT He has posted eye-popping numbers that make every Alabama fan beam and everyone else turn green with envy.
Over the last eight years at Alabama, Saban is 98-12. That's an 89.1 winning percentage for crying out loud. Alabama's has won four national titles in that span, and has not finished outside of the AP top 10 in that span. And quite possibly the the most amazing thing is Alabama's the Kick-Six miracle and a Sugar Bowl for the ages from Cardale Jones to potentially having five consecutive national titles.
Sorry, Bear, but it's time to move your houndstooth hat a run to the right.
Under Nick Saban, Alabama is just the second team in college football history to win four national titles in seven years. (Notre Dame did it in the early 1940s.)
When the Bear was marching his way to a record six national titles, there were no scholarship limitations or recruiting regulations to speak of, and there was very little competition by comparison.
Saban is topping all comers and doing it when more and more schools are pending eight and even nine figures to try to keep pace.
Saban is so good he's a bargain at $7 million per year.
Saban is simply the best there ever was at his craft.
Enjoy his greatness or loathe it. That's the ripple effects of being in such a passionate field as college football.
But respect his gift and his place in history.
Because there is Nick Saban, the best there ever was in his game.
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Too early Top 25
Yes, this is all college football, all the time.
It's how it's supposed to be, we supposed.
The top two entries above were mainly about Alabama and its level of greatness.
As we brush into our annual, way too early 25 rankings, we will pay a little more homage to Clemson.
Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, left, tries to get away from Alabama's Jonathan Allen during the first half of the NCAA college football playoff championship game Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.Clemson stood toe-to-toe with the best team in college football - and stood man-to-man with the best defensive line maybe in the history of college football - and did not blink.
Clemson, quite simply is legit, and the Tigers played their guts out. To take it a step further, there were at least 20 NFL players on the field last night, and Deshaun Watson was the brightest star among all of them.
In fact, with Friday's deadline to declare for the draft looming, the Tigers are the most intriguing team in the country to follow for the next four days.
If all the players with eligibility return to Clemson, the team that was one more score away from winning it all could return eight offensive starters and nine defensive starters. That's an impressive haul for any team. It's an overwhelming haul for a team that went 14-1 and lost to Nick Saban because of an onside kick.
Even if a slew of those Clemson starters decide to enter the draft - and it's hard to see Shaq Lawson and Mackenzie Alexander not taking their talents to the next level - Watson comes back.
That simple fact, can't be understated, considering Watson threw for more than 4,000 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 this year as a sophomore. He was a more accurate Vince Young and really a physically smaller version of Cam Newton this year, and to think what he will unleash on college football is scary.
Heck, Nick Saban may even be worried. (Or maybe not.)
With Watson, Clemson clearly is our pre-pre-pre-preseason No. 1. (For comparison's sake, here's last year's too early top 25 which had all of the four teams in the college football playoff in the top 15, with Alabama 3, Michigan State 4, Clemson 8 and Oklahoma 15.)
Alabama's Marlon Humphrey, left, breaks up a pass intended for Clemson's Artavis Scott during the second half of the NCAA college football playoff championship game Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.1. Clemson. With Watson, this pick is elementary.
2. Alabama. This is more out of respect for the process than anything else. The roster will be ravaged by the draft, but the way the Tide recruits, it will mean learning new names, not lowering expectations.
3. LSU. If the Tigers get just average quarterback play, they will be nasty. Here's betting Leonard Fournette is invited to New York in December for the Heisman ceremony. (He can clap for Watson like the rest of us.)
4. Oklahoma. Baker Mayfield will be another name on the Heisman short list, and getting a second year in Lincoln Riley's offense will only make Mayfield more dynamic.
5. Baylor. It's hard not to expect the Bears to be an offensive juggernaut every year now. Did you see the bowl game? Without his top three quarterbacks, Art Briles shuffled every speedster he had in shotgun and ran for 645 yards that felt like 645,000.
6. Michigan. This is part Harbaugh hype and part Wolverine will. Either way, if Michigan finds reliable quarterback play, there is potential for a big run.
7. Tennessee. And let the expectations level soar. UT returns a truck load of talent from a nine-win team. As important as recruiting for the next three weeks will be for the Vols future, convincing Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Cam Sutton to return this week will be huge for UT's title-run expectations in '16.
8. Ohio State. J.T. Barrett can play. THE Ohio State has talent. But losing nine underclassmen to the draft - including at least four who will go in the first two rounds - will leave a mark.
9. FSU. Shhhh, but the Seminoles return players who started games at each of the 11 offensive positions. That includes Dalvin Cook, who will be right there with Fournette pushing for the rushing title next year.
10. Houston. Tom Herman's team takes a step up in scheduling - the Cougars will play Oklahoma and Louisville this fall - and recruiting. With Greg Ward Jr. back to run Herman's offense, if Houston runs the table, it could be in the playoff. Seriously.
11. Notre Dame. Coach Brian Kelly has rebuilt the Irish roster and there's plenty of talent, paced by quarterback Malik Zaire.
12. Stanford. Christian McCaffrey returns - as do all five starters across the offensive line - for The Cardinal, who will be the Pac-12 favorites.
13. Miami. New Hurricanes coach Mark Richt welcomes back a starting quarterback and a slew of talented skill players. Watching Richt and Co. in the final month of recruiting will be a fun exercise. (And yes, the Hurricanes have more talent and will be higher ranked than Richt's previous employer.)
14. Oregon. Another transfer quarterback - Dakota Prukop will come in and play - means another year of transition. This year, though, Prukop's supporting cast will be more experienced.
15. Ole Miss. Chad Kelly returns as the best quarterback in the SEC. Yes, Chad Kelly. The most recruiting haul of 2013 have lifted Ole Miss to a place among the nation's best - hey, who else has a two-game winning streak over Nick Saban - and the Rebels appear pretty comfortable there.
16. Oklahoma State. Another team that could be hit by the early defection decisions this week, the Cowboys could be much higher if a host return to Stillwater.
17. Michigan State. Replacing Connor Cook will be a chore. Replacing seven senior starters (six of them fifth-year seniors mind you) and left tackle Jack Conklin, who is projected as a first-rounder on offense seems impossible. with that many
18. TCU. The tribulations of injuries and arrests made 2015 one to forget for a TCU club that started the season in everyone's preseason top 3. Lower expectations from the outside do not mean the Frogs are without talent, though.
19. Iowa. This feels lofty for the Hawkeyes, who find a way every four years to remind us that Kirk Ferentz is still around.
20. Louisville. Lamar Jackson is going to be a handful for ACC defenses next year. The cat-quick sophomore quarterback will be unstoppable when Bobby Petrino improves his passing accuracy.
21. Arkansas. Losing Alex Collins hurts, but there's a slew of Hogs waiting to carry the ball in Bret Bielema's run-oriented offense. Whether Austin Allen can fill the shoes and the stat columns like his older brother Brandon Allen did will be Bielema's biggest issue.
22. USC. There's talent. It's USC, there's always talent. But there are issues. It's USC, there's always issues. Max Browne gets the QB1 job, and how he develops will tell us a great deal about the direction of Clay Helton's program.
23. Georgia. Welcome home Kirby Smart. Now try to match your predecessor's 10-wins-a-year average. Oh yeah, did we mention that you'll likely need to start a true freshman quarterback and rebuild a defensive front seven.
24. Washington State. Mike Leach has his offense rolling, and the Cougars will again be fun to watch. Plus, with quarterback Luke Falk back, Leach's pass-happy ways will be smiling broadly in '16.
25. San Diego State. Crazy right, that the Aztecs are here. That's what happens when you return your conference's offensive and defensive players of the year from an 11-win team.
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This and that
- Vontaze Burfict was hit with a three-game suspension for his stupidity in last weekend's playoff loss to the Steelers. That seems pretty steep, even for a knucklehead like Burfict. Crazy stat: If the suspension stands - he's appealing - Burfict will have lost more than $647,000 in fines in a little less than two years.
Ooltewah High School head basketball coach Andrew "Tank" Montgomery has his hands full not only with his team but now with the rape and assault charges leveled at three of his now-dismissed players.- Nice basketball win for the Mocs last night.
- The Ooltewah coverage continues. Andre Montgomery was reassigned/transferred to a non-teaching role.
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Today's question
Rushmore of modern-day dynasties (post 1980)?
There are some good ones.
Whatcha got?