"All hail the underdog!" The CFP Championship game did not disappoint (unless you had big money on big, bad, Bama). The CFP has done well at matching up the best (probably) two teams and this year was no exception.
It was just a matter of time before Saban's continued success would catch him off guard. Make no mistake - he's the best in the business. But I think that the 2016 Bama team may have gotten lulled to sleep over the course of the season and went in a little too cocky (think 'Rocky III"). They had not faced a Clemson-esque team as evidenced by their inability to maintain their lead in the 4th as they had done all season through the SEC.
But Swinney and team were confident, especially the second half. A little shell-shocked the first half but they came into the 3rd with a confidence in their eyes and kept it (note Deshaun Watson's demeanor coming up to the line with 30 seconds left). They knew they were wearing Bama down and that they had Hurts and company figured out. Sark did a fine job calling plays but Clemson had done some serious late night studying, making the Bama offense too predictable (note the multiple times that Clemson's Ben Boulware was waving his teammates to where the play was going before the ball was snapped).Allow me to opine about a few teams after seeing them in bowl games:
Georgia: Not a dominant or pretty win but they left us fans feeling good about next year.
BYU: Another nail biter, and also made fans feel good about next year.
Utah: Also a nail biter and fun game to watch, but worried about 2017.
Colorado: Whaaaaat?
Michigan: Whaaaaat?
Houston: The pre-season Cinderella team didn't make it home before midnight.
Idaho and CSU: A total of 111 points!
Boise State: Not the BSU we all expected.
Miami: Showed they have serious 2017 plans (if they can keep their QB).
LSU and USC: Leaving 2016 strong.
Penn State: Awww, darn. I like PSU.
And the playoff games:
Washington: We were all hoping, but no one really thought you were ready for Bama. Probably a year or two away from another shot like that.
Ohio State: Did. Not. Belong. Period.
Clemson (vs OSU): Absolutely un-believable, start to finish.
END-ZONE
A great article about the Joe Mixon fiasco by Lindsay Schnell (SI) written HERE.
Another Brent Musberger slip of the tongue resulted in this article HERE. And I must agree whole-heartedly with Christine Brennan on this. It's time for Musberger to hang it up and stop embarrassing himself and his boss.
Until next year!