Clemson, Oklahoma Advances to College Football Playoff Championship Game

Alabama Crimson Tide advances to the College Football Playoff National Championship in Glendale, Arizona. Alabama won 38-0…

There’s another storyline to the title game.

The Crimson Tide have been favored in 80 of their past 81 games, including all three national championship game appearances under head coach Nick Saban.

Now, he’s going against the greatest coach of this generation.

Success was especially sweet for the Spartans in a year when Ohio State was coming off a national title and MI had just hired Jim Harbaugh. He went down at the 1-yard line, and Henry punched it into the end zone for his 24th touchdown of the season, setting an SEC record and giving Alabama a 7-0 lead with 5:36 to go in the first half. Alabama has a 12-game winning streak over the Tigers stretching back 110 years.

Defensive end Kevin Dodd said Mayfield began to tire of the abuse he was taking from Clemson’s defense. “It was just a matter of when”. Nobody can know how long Saban, who’s 64 years old, plans to coach, but nobody should ever wonder again if he or Alabama are sliding.

“No”, Drake said. “We were focusing on our game”.

Saban, the only coach to bring his program to both of the first two annual playoffs, said his concern about the four-team format was that it devalued the rest of the bowl season. But this performance showed what an incredible all-around team they have. Coker threw quick and short to the outside and Henry didn’t touch the ball on Alabama’s first drive and got it twice for seven yards on its second. Oklahoma was favored in the Orange Bowl by 4 points.

Alabama had the better quarterback – for the night, anyway. Alabama led 24-0 with 3:24 remaining in the third quarter.

The Heisman finalist has passed for 31 touchdowns, with 12 interceptions.

Running back Wayne Gallman rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns on a day when Clemson ran for 312 yards.

They won one of the biggest bowl games in the country, so that would have been that. The Sooners (11-2) actually came into the game as favorites, but the Tigers showed their flawless record was no fluke.

The Spartans managed only 29 yards on the ground, and it was not for lack of trying. The secondary, the third-ranked unit’s Achilles’ heel, was strong in coverage, highlighted by Jones’ interception in the end zone to close the first half. He was diagnosed with a sprained medial collateral ligament. So Jake (quarterback Jacob Coker) reads, ‘What’s the box?

Two 50-yard Jake Coker passes to extraordinary freshman wideout Calvin Ridley and Cyrus Jones’ 57-yard punt return for a touchdown were the other three plays that made this a laugher. He had a 50-yard pass to Calvin Ridley that set up a touchdown and another 50-yarder to Ridley for a touchdown.

Despite a pair of touchdown runs and a Heisman-pose stiff arm to the chest of a Michigan State defensive lineman, it wasn’t Derrick Henry who ignited the Alabama offense. The big tailback who has carried the Crimson Tide offense most of the season was more of a role player against a Spartans defense stacked to stop him.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two touchdowns, helping Tennessee cap its best season in eight years with a victory over Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. The depth also allows them to stay fresh. That’s Mr. Never Happy Nick Saban saying that.

The players said they were more focused and promised to be more prepared, more precise in their execution and more relentless in their effort. It’s a great opportunity for them.