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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Fans are calling out “Roll Tide!” to each other in airports, work places and doctor’s offices across the country.
It’s a great time to be an Alabama fan. Coach Nick Saban has delivered four national titles in seven years.
I’ve been fortunate to cover a lot of significant sporting events. Right or wrong, it’s easy as a media member to get numb to it. This one was so good that it was impossible not to feel joy in observation.
Here are some of my random thoughts and insights, having spent the last 5 days in Phoenix:
1. Two major topics have emerged from this game: 1) Has Saban caught or passed Bear Bryant? and 2) Will he consider going to the NFL? I’ll tackle the NFL question first. Saban is not going anywhere. In a vacuum, the only way he’d consider an NFL job is with an ideal quarterback situation. Add to that the fact that he’s 64 years old. His wife, Miss Terry, practically is the first lady of SEC football, and seems to love Tuscaloosa. I don’t know how many more years Saban will coach, but his building days are over. As for Saban vs. Bryant, it’s apples to oranges. Saban arguably has accomplished just as much in a shorter time (5 national titles in 20 seasons vs. 6 in 38). Alabama’s reach, revenue and talent never has been this good. But no one will ever challenge the cultural impact that Bryant made on the community and the state. Saban is a mercenary that decided to settle down in Tuscaloosa. Bryant is a home-grown legend whose fans still visit his gravesite every week.
2. Injuries are a part of football. So it’s not exactly shocking when they affect the game. Nor should Alabama be penalized for it. But this is the second time in a Nick Saban-coached Bama national title game that one of the premier players left due to injury in the first half. First it was Texas QB Colt McCoy. This time it was Mackensie Alexander, who was doing an excellent job on Alabama’s receivers until a bad hamstring eventually took him out for good.
3. It felt strange to be at a title game involving Alabama where the slight majority of fans wore orange. But I’d estimate that 55 percent of the crowd decked out in Clemson colors, 35 percent in Crimson and 10 percent in some sort of ambiguous garb.
4. Jake Coker should be an intriguing (late-round?) NFL quarterback prospect. He’s 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. He’s tough. He’s got a rocket arm. He played arguably his best game against Michigan State, albeit under favorable circumstances. But despite great final numbers — 335 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions — I felt that Coker did not play well. His yards came in bunches on blown coverages and a long run after a catch by O.J. Howard. He missed open receivers, held the ball for too long and allowed negative plays to get him pretty flustered early in the game.
5. At one point in the second half, it seemed that Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson was a lock to rush for 100 yards. Not even Johnny Manziel did that. He took a few sacks and threw a lot late when the Tigers got behind, ultimately falling back to 73 rushing yards. The last time a quarterback reached the century mark against a Tide defense? That would be Indiana’s Antwaan Randle El in 1998.
6. Perhaps the historically-great Alabama defensive line diminished the attention on Clemson’s pair of defensive ends before this game. For whatever reason, despite decimating Oklahoma’s offensive line, there wasn’t a ton of buzz for them. The main story was that Shaq Lawson’s knee would keep him from being his normal self. He hobbled now and then, but if that’s not his best, hide the women and children when he’s 100 percent. He and Kevin Dodd helped account for five sacks and consistently beat Alabama’s offensive tackles. They finished the season with a combined 49 tackles for loss and finished 1-2 in the nation.
7. Speaking of Watson, the quarterback clearly will enter 2016 as the Heisman Trophy favorite. Clemson will have a great chance to enter the season ranked No. 1 as well. The dude acted like Alabama’s defense slowed down for him, Matrix style. He made a unit whose backups are NFL players, a lot of them, look average. And at times the tempo at which he operated the offense was blistering, even by the standard of college football’s elite up-tempo offenses. Don’t be surprised to see him lead the Tigers back to the College Football Playoff before threatening to become the No. 1 overall draft pick after next season. After Monday’s game, Watson also casually mentioned his relationship with Henry — he plans to meet with Henry this offseason to pick his brain and learn from the superstar running back.
8. Alabama allowed 19 first-quarter points all season — then gave up 14 points against Clemson. It took everything from coach Nick Saban to pull out this win. Eddie Jackson’s interception. The successful onside kick. Several blown coverages. Huge individual plays from ArDarius Stewart and O.J. Howard. A textbook seal by Alabama’s blockers that sprung a long Derrick Henry touchdown. This was by far the most entertaining national championship involving Saban’s Alabama teams. Was it an all-time classic? Maybe not quite. But it’s close. And there was a real joy in seeing Alabama pushed so hard and responding. Whether you wanted the Tide to win or lose, it was first-rate entertainment after a bowl season mostly devoid of it.
9. Clemson did an excellent job in coverage on Calvin Ridley. Alabama’s passing game catalyst for much of the second half of the season, he caught just six passes for 14 yards in the national title game. Still, he’ll enter his sophomore season with a chance to inherit “best SEC receiver” status from Laquon Treadwell. It’s going to be fun to watch Ridley, Christian Kirk and Antonio Callaway as super sophomores.
10. Alabama tight end O.J. Howard may return in 2016, but I’d be surprised. His 5-catch, 208-yard effort against Clemson, preceded by a good game against Michigan State, should put to rest some of the concerns about the dissonance between his athletic ability and his production. Early in his career at Alabama, he got criticized for not finishing routes, not attacking the ball in the air and occasional petulance for his lack of involvement in the offense. Both on the field and off, Howard has matured. He always was going to be a Combine superstar. Maybe now NFL teams will subscribe to the theory that a loaded Tide just hasn’t utilized him all that much. After that kind of performance, it’s hard to imagine he returns.
11. Kirby Smart is a big loss. For his coaching and recruiting ability, but also for the continuity he created. He’s been at Alabama since 2007, following Saban into Tuscaloosa. But from my seat at the Phoenix/Sky Harbor International Airport, losing Mel Tucker could be just as important. The way he transformed Alabama’s secondary this season can’t be overstated. The Tide’s interceptions rose from 11 to 19. The other metrics are impressive also. But Jeremy Pruitt should be an excellent hire at defensive coordinator. The secondary has a chance in 2017 to be what this defensive line was this year with Minkah Fitzpatrick, Marlon Humphrey, Ronnie Harrison and Tony Brown, among others.
12. Some friendly, unsolicited travel advice: never rent a hotel room within 100 yards of train tracks or a half-mile of the airport. And especially not both. Also, when you get a rental car, make sure you look at the entire invoice before you sign and unknowingly accept some useless charges.
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.
