Yours truly had to see it to believe it. Yeah, I knew Clemson was a really good team, but beating mighty Alabama for all the marbles seemed to be a bit much. Even the bookies saw it that way, with the Tide going off as about a 5-6 point favorite.
What NOBODY expected was the absolute beat down the Tigers put on Nick Sabin's crew. 44-16 speaks for itself.
This, with star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence out of the game and a true freshman quarterback in Trevor Lawrence. No relation, pretty sure. They certainly don't look anything alike. LOL
So Clemson becomes the first and only team in the "playoff era" to finish a perfect season at 15-0. With a resounding thrashing of Alabama to cap it off.
True, Clemson had a couple close calls along the way. They barely got past Texas A&M on the road, and curiously enough lowly Syracuse gave them a scare at home. But those sort of things happen during the course of a long season. True champions find a way to win when they're not playing at their best.
The two game playoff itself showed a whole different story. In the semis they throttled a previously undefeated Notre Dame team to the tune of 30-3. Roughly four touchdowns worth. Yeah, I know. The Irish are typically over-rated, but they'd clawed their way up to #3 in the national rankings, so that's saying something.
Yet most thought #1 ranked Alabama was the best team in the country. Maybe Clemson could "hang" with them, but knock them off? Highly unlikely.
And then BAM. Along comes the 44-16 slaughter mentioned above. Speaking of four touchdowns worth.....
So yep, all hail Dabo Swinney and his mighty orange Tigers.
Worthy champions indeed.
And the Alabama faithful notwithstanding, count me among those that got a great deal of satisfaction watching one Nick Sabin and his bunch get taken to the woodshed.
It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Kinda gets ya right -- urp -- there -- ya know?
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