Nick Saban: Saban, Swinney feel teams ready for battle

But the Tigers have faith in themselves and their quarterback and Deshaun Watson of Gainesville is the multi-talented type who has troubled Alabama’s defense.

Toss in the championship he won at LSU, and Saban is looking at five.

Facing a final college season, Coker claimed the starting job, and opened all but one game, the Tide’s loss to Mississippi.

Clemson is ranked No 1. and Alabama is ranked No 2. (To be fair, Dabo can run on.) But the younger man didn’t appear goggle-eyed to be sharing a stage with the emperor of college football, and Dabo knows all about Alabama.

Which brings us to Clemson, Alabama’s opponent in Monday’s championship game.

Alabama’s four championships under Saban, who took over in 2007, have all come in at least 13-game seasons.

“I guess we’ve got a good team, so it’s like E.F. Hutton, when you say something, all of a sudden it’s a bigger deal”. The Crimson Tide would go another 17 years after that before Saban returned the crown to Tuscaloosa.

Over the weekend, however, the Associated Press reported that the secondary ticket market for Monday’s championship was sinking, as some Alabama and Clemson fans were scared off by the extravagant cost of flights-a hazard of a system in which fans can’t make travel commitments until the semifinals are wrapped, and airlines are, well, airlines.

It didn’t work. The ball rolled around for a second before a Longhorn defender fell on it to give his team the ball and huge momentum in a turnover that would eventually lead to Texas winning the national championship. Nebraska, meanwhile, had almost two dozen future National Football League players, including center Dave Rimington and running backs Roger Craig and Mike Rozier.

“Dabo is a player’s coach because that’s just who he is”, Evans said. He was on the Tide team that won a national championship in 1992, upsetting Miami in the Sugar Bowl.

“We’ve got some guys that are just as hungry and are gonna match Shaq’s effort”, Dodd said. “Not everybody can coach a great team”. But, you know, if not, I don’t think coach (Nick) Saban is going to cancel the game over there.

Swinney did not like the improvisation, but he never lost his trust in Teasdall, which he demonstrated by calling for a fake punt in the Tigers’ next game, against Oklahoma in the national semifinal.

While Clemson’s offense is aiming to turn the game into a track meet and to tilt the numbers in its favor by having Alabama have to account for the quarterback run game, the Tide are better equipped than ever to handle the spread. Asked then about what he kept in mind regarding his chances of earning the fulltime job (Spoiler alert, Swinney got it following the season), he referenced Lloyd Christmas’ huge underdog line as he tried to get the girl in Dumb and Dumber: “You’re telling me there’s a chance”. “We finished the season playing 10 in a row, and the last stretch of that was a challenge because this is obviously a physical game, and it’s mentally taxing, and the balance of school and all those things, you know, mount up”.

No surprise: Saban has not been part of the legacy talk this week. Hopefully it’s Monday night. “I think the depth is just about the same on both sides”.

When I checked StubHub late Sunday afternoon, it was possible to get yourself into the stadium Monday for $199, a mere forty bucks more than that cotton pullover sweatshirt.

“I mean, it’s just incredible, especially in today’s time when you’re playing 13, 14, 15 games”.

Watson, a sophomore, is just the third quarterback in FBS history to pass for 3,500 yards and rush for 1,000 in the same season. Watson set the Atlantic Coast Conference mark for total offense with 4,731 yards, 1,032 of those coming on the ground.

Maybe the toughest question for Sims is this: Who was more deserving of the Heisman trophy? Henry proves he is deserving of the Heisman with his fifth 200-yard performance of the year, wearing down Clemson in the fourth quarter.

Clemson: CB Mackensie Alexander is the leader of the secondary, a lock down corner who usually shadows the opponent’s best receiver.

Alabama’s defensive line is the best and deepest in college football, led by All-American A’Shawn Robinson.

Ragland will have to key in on Clemson running back Wayne Gallman between the tackles as well, but Watson’s escapability will be a huge point of emphasis for Ragland.

The standout junior left the Tigers’ Capital One Orange Bowl win over Oklahoma after suffering a sprained MCL in his left knee and did not return to the game. He is expected to play, but how much?