As I write this, I am wearing my Delta State University alumni association sweatshirt to remind me of how Alabama played in the NCAA title game Monday night.
The 14-0 Crimson Tide looked like the 2-8 Statesmen against Clemson while losing to the Tigers, 44-16.
To put it simply, Alabama stunk the place up and didn’t resemble the team that made it to the national championship game.
Unfortunately, the Tide resembled the majority of Southeastern Conference bowl teams, playing like they didn’t belong in the game in which they were playing. The best thing I can say about the game is I’m glad it wasn’t decided by one point.
Far from it. They lost by 28 points and the game wasn’t that close. The Tide had two shots to score in the final minutes, putting together long drives only to fail to score after reaching the Clemson 1-yard line. Four runs failed to score from that distance as Coach Nick Saban called four straight-up-the-middle plunges, only to see the Clemson defense stop the Tide running backs short of paydirt.
Not one pass play was called as Nick chose to heed the adage “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”
Clemson dominated Alabama, pure and simple. Dabo Swinney outcoached Saban. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence outplayed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Tigers outplayed the Tide.
The only question I have is: Where was backup quarterback Jalen Hurts?
It was obvious to me that Tua didn’t have his A-game at any point during the game, yet it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when Saban inserted Hurts.
I don’t understand that!
I do understand that Saban is the coach and I’ve seen enough Saban press conferences that I wouldnt’ dare ask him why he didn’t give Hurts a chance until the game was decided.
But, given the fact that Jalen has been so loyal to Nick and Alabama, it seems strange. Don’t you think?
Another apparent Saban oversight might be the placement specialist, who missed a field goal after being iced by Dabo in the first quarter of the game.
He had missed several extra points during the regular season. I’m surprised he was still called upon during the title game. Was there no backup kicker?
In a close game, it could have made a difference.
But not this one.
You can say it’s just a game, but the fact is it was the title game, the biggest game of the year and Alabama, the number one team in the country for the past two years, the number one team in the Southeastern Conference, didn’t play well.
But, the Tide was there and 160 other teams weren’t.
The title game was an embarrassment to Saban, Alabama and the Southeastern Conference.
Clemson is the number one college football team in the country, make no mistake about it.
And, from everything I can see, the Tigers may be there awhile.
Larry Liddell contributes a weekly sports column to The Press Register. He can be reached by email at jimbodog77@gmail.com.
