By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services

Going into the college football season the top two teams were Clemson and Alabama. They met in the national championship again this year, making their fourth consecutive match up in the College Football Playoff. Most of us expected these two teams to play but the outcome was shocking.

The Tigers trounced Bama 44 – 16. This is the largest margin of defeat in the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide got out played and out coached.

Since the national title game last year, the media has hyped up Tua Tagovailoa and rightfully so. Tua has struggled against elite competition and that played a factor in the blowout loss.

He threw two interceptions that resulted in 14 points for the Tigers. The first was returned 44 yards for a touchdown only 100 seconds into the game.

The Tide also had six penalties for 60 yards.

“I just have a feeling that I didn’t do a very good job for our team, with our team, giving them the best opportunity to be successful,” Saban said. “I always feel that way, even sometimes when we win, I think there’s things we could do better or that I could have done better.”

“But particularly in this case, never really ever got comfortable with what we needed to do to win this game, especially on defense, especially the matchups we had in our secondary versus their receivers. That was something that was kind of bothering me going into the game, and as the game unfolded, it worked out that those matchups were a big difference in the game.”

Alabama came back to take a 16 – 14 lead in the second quarter before the wheels fell off. Saban seemed to feel the pressure and made some very puzzling moves.

They struggled in the red zone and ran one the worst fake field goal I’ve ever seen in the third quarter. On fourth and six they snapped the ball to holder Mac Jones and kicker Joseph Bulovas was the lead blocker (no, seriously). He ran right into Clemson’s elite defensive line to lose yards.

One big take away from this game is true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence is a stud. I knew he was the projected top overall pick in 2020 but I thought the moment might be too big for him right now.

Lawrence threw for 347 yards, 3 touchdowns, completed 63% of his passes and did not turn the ball over. I’m expecting him to be the Heisman front runner next year.

True freshman receiver and Alabama native Justyn Ross had another huge game. He had 6 receptions for 153 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Travis Etienne ran for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Tigers only had 1 penalty for 12 yards. They converted on 66% of third downs.

“There was a lot of talk about best ever, all year long,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “We were never in that conversation.”

This is the first time I’ve seen a team with more speed and athleticism against Alabama. Clemson looks like the team of the future but I wouldn’t panic yet if I were an Alabama fan.

They have the topped rated recruiting class coming in this year. The Tigers are also losing several senior defensive linemen.

I fully expect to see a rematch in the playoffs next season.