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Ranking the 10 most significant plays Alabama made against Clemson

Christopher Smith

By Christopher Smith

Published:

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It’s the Electoral College that counts, not the popular vote.

That’s the best way to describe what happened inside University of Phoenix Stadium on Monday.

Alabama won its fourth national title in seven years on a night when Clemson may have won the majority of the plays. The Tide overcame that by churning out huge plays like butter, scoring on touchdowns of 50, 53, 51 and 95 yards.

That’s not to mention the special teams trifecta of a blocked field goal, a kickoff return for a touchdown and an onside kick.

Here are Alabama’s 10 most significant plays from the 45-40 win against Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

1. Adam Griffith successfully executes an onside kick. Griffith, threatened after the Kick Six loss to Auburn and cursed for missing a field goal against Clemson earlier in the game, now will be canonized as a hero when he leaves Tuscaloosa. Not only did he get a perfect hop, but like a Cy Young winner in baseball, he disguised his pitch. Clemson never saw it coming. As a side note, Bama practiced the play — code name “Pop Kick” — in Thursday’s walk-through. Marlon Humphrey dropped it then. Not against Clemson.

2. Eddie Jackson’s second-quarter interception. It represented the only turnover of the game for either team. Alabama couldn’t afford to lose contact with Clemson early, and Deshaun Watson already had led two touchdown drives. The Tigers would’ve gone ahead 21-7 early in the second quarter with another score. Instead, Watson thought he had 1-on-1 coverage on Ray-Ray McCloud, but Jackson sat on the route. His sixth interception of the season gave Alabama a short field and eventually earned him Defensive Player of the Game honors.

3. Jake Coker to Ardarius Stewart on third-and-11. We’ll be talking about coach Nick Saban’s onside kick call a decade from now. But it never would’ve happened without the field goal that precipitated Alabama that kickoff. Down 24-21 well into the fourth quarter, the Tide couldn’t risk giving Clemson a chance at a two-score lead. Facing third-and-long, as effective the Tigers pass rush was all night, the odds didn’t seem good. Then Stewart made this spectacular sideline catch. Without it, who knows if Bama wins?

4. O.J. Howard’s 51-yard touchdown after the onside kick. One stumble is all it took. After tying the game 24-24, Alabama regained possession with the most shocking successful onside kick in a championship game since the New Orleans Saints did it in Super Bowl XLIV. The Tide delivered a jolting body blow two snaps later in the form of this 51-yard Howard touchdown, made possible when a Clemson defensive back stumbled out of his backpedal.

5. Kenyan Drake’s 95-yard kickoff return touchdown. Alabama made some huge special teams plays. This one ranks up there, and not just because of Drake’s sweet Superman dive into the pylon. In the press conference afterward, Saban admitted that before the season he thought that Drake and Henry had more or less an equal chance to lead the offense in production. But Drake again fought through injuries and then sometimes pressed. This return was a reminder of how explosive he was at times.

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6. Derrick Henry’s 50-yard touchdown run. The rest of the first quarter, Alabama managed 64 yards on 17 plays. But Clemson crashed into the line of scrimmage near midfield as if it was a goal-line play. Alabama sealed off an alley. And if you give Henry a runway to get up to top speed, forget it. He already had a forward lean as he took the ball from Coker 5 yards from the nearest Tigers defender and barely had to change directions to hit the Grand Canyon-sized gap.

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7. Howard’s 63-yard catch-and-run. Clemson scored with 4:40 left in the game to get within 38-33. But Alabama sealed the outcome on the ensuing drive thanks to Howard’s gallop on second-and-12 — and the subsequent six rushes for an agonizing 14 yards into the end zone. On the play that set up the score, Jake Coker flipped the ball to Howard 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Howard then outran cornerback Adrian Baker, in the game because All-American cornerback Mackensie Alexander, to the edge. He outran three other Clemson defenders before free safety T.J. Green steered him out of bounds.

8. Rashaan Evans’ sack near the end of the third quarter. Clemson drove into Alabama territory threatening to take a two-score lead into the fourth quarter. Watson dodged would-be tacklers seemingly with ease all night. But on third-and-8 from the Alabama 46-yard line, Evans finally got to him.

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9. D.J. Pettway’s blocked field goal. Let’s start with the fact that the clock operator didn’t do Clemson any favors, seemingly letting extra seconds tick off after a Watson completion to the Alabama 26 until just 9 remained in the first half. So coach Dabo Swinney trotted Greg Huegel onto the field for a 44-yard field goal attempt, which Pettway blocked.

10. Ronnie Harrison’s end-zone strip. The true freshman played 21 snaps at the team’s “Money” position in the dime package (six defensive backs). A few times he looked out of place, like the time pre-snap when senior Cyrus Jones emphatically waved him into position. But after a gorgeous throw from Watson to Artavis Scott on third-and-9 from the 20-yard line, Harrison raked Scott’s arms, forcing an incomplete pass in the end zone. (Harrison hammered Scott’s forearms an instant before the ball arrived, but we’ll let it slide — the officials did.) The Clemson crowd briefly erupted, so sure were they that Scott completed the touchdown. Watson grabbed at his helmet in disbelief. The Tigers settled for a field goal.

Christopher Smith

An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.

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