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No matter which team emerges victorious Monday in the College Football Playoff National Championship between Alabama and Clemson, an SEC-type program will be crowned the best in America.
The Crimson Tide are the resident bullies of the SEC West, as coach Nick Saban is on the cusp of winning his fourth national title in the last seven seasons — unheard of in a sport that has had more parity the last two decades after scholarships were reduced to 85. From a pure talent perspective, nobody can match ‘Bama when it comes to signing waves of four- and five-star recruits year after year.
Meanwhile, the Tigers call the much-maligned ACC Atlantic home. But they’re essentially an SEC-caliber institution at this point.
“In terms of facilities and the overall mentality of the program and the way it operates, Clemson does resemble an SEC program,” said Corey Long, who is a recruiting analyst for Saturday Down South. “Better yet, any top-tier program. And Clemson is in that top tier now. They have won BCS Bowls, won conference titles, been ranked in the top 10, had top-10 recruiting classes. Now they’re playing for a championship.”
Clemson has won it all before, back in 1981 under Danny Ford, but the Tigers have never been set up for annual success like they are now for coach Dabo Swinney.
Offensively, while Heisman Trophy-finalist quarterback Deshaun Watson gets most of the headlines, running back Wayne Gallman is almost a 1,500-yard rusher and there is never a shortage of speedy receivers. NFL stars DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and Martavis Bryant all used to rub Howard’s Rock. On the other side of the ball, just like you see in the SEC, the Tigers always seem to be rich with destructive defensive linemen.
Sure, Swinney and Co. don’t have to negotiate the weekly death march that is the regular season in the SEC, but Clemson resembles Alabama a lot more than it does, say, Georgia Tech or North Carolina from the ACC.
“Clemson has also managed to keep its own identity with their style of football and what they sell to recruits,” Long said.
Through hard work, perseverance, Dabo Swinney made sure he was noticed https://t.co/NPDZgmWBA6 (@georgeschroeder) pic.twitter.com/ZEFuFVdw7w
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) January 10, 2016
Make no mistake about it, there will be plenty of players suited up in orange at University of Phoenix Stadium that could have been fitted for crimson instead.
Watson, for example, hails from right in the middle of SEC country — Gainesville (Ga.) High School, as a matter of fact, less than an hour from Athens. The top QB prospect nationally for the class of 2014 had offers from the likes of Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee and, you guessed it, Alabama. But he committed to Clemson two years before putting pen to paper and never really wavered off that pledge.
Clemson’s spread system was likely a lot more attractive to a dual-threat weapon like Watson than Alabama’s ground-and-pound approach. He’s not the only swing-and-miss for Tide coach Nick Saban that will be standing on the other sideline, though.
“Mackensie Alexander, Shaq Lawson, Deon Cain and Artavis Scott are the ones everyone wanted off the top of my head,” said Long. “Mitch Hyatt was the top offensive lineman in Georgia in his recruiting class, in my opinion. Austin Bryant, who backs up Lawson, is another one that will eventually be a top draft pick. Jayron Kearse, Charone Peake, Tay Scott, Ray Ray McCloud — the list goes on.”
When you compare the two teams’ starting lineups, there isn’t much of a difference in terms of high school pedigree, collegiate accomplishments or pro potential.
Watson is arguably the premier signal caller in the land — light years better than Jake Coker. Gallman may not be Derrick Henry, but he’s a heckuva tailback. Clemson’s receiving corps is much deeper, as Alabama leans on starters Calvin Ridley and ArDarius Stewart. Tigers tight end Jordan Leggett has been consistently productive, while the Tide’s O.J. Howard tends to be hot and cold.
While the ‘Bama front seven is the ultimate equalizer, as there are future first-round picks throughout the depth chart, Clemson’s Lawson, Alexander and Kearse will all be first- or second-rounders this spring.
“On the first team, things are very close,” Long said. “Clemson has an advantage at QB and depth at wide receiver, and they have the secondary pieces beyond Alexander to deal with Ridley.”
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However, five years of dominance on the recruiting trail for the Crimson Tide does have its share of advantages.
For the 2011-15 cycles, which will encompass most of the athletes playing in this game on either side, Alabama signed a total of 20 five-star and 69 four-star prospects as ranked by Rivals.com. By comparison, Clemson got a John Hancock from eight five-stars and 41 four-stars — that’s good, mind you, but not ‘Bama good.
“Whereas Ohio State was nearly identical to ‘Bama on the two deep last year in regards to talent,” said Long, “Alabama has a better second team than Clemson.”
Still, not only can Clemson match up with Alabama better than almost any non-SEC team when it comes to personnel, but Tigers culture is just as passionate about football.
Memorial Stadium — the “other” Death Valley, according to LSU — lists its capacity at 81,500 but has housed as many as 86,000-plus, earning a reputation as one of the loudest and most hostile venues in the country. Swinney himself spearheaded the effort to build a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility, which was unveiled in 2013 at a cost of $10 million.
Real fans likes the ones found in the SEC travel to big games, and there were “C-L-E-M-S-O-N!” chants echoing in the streets of Glendale over the weekend.
When Saban first arrived in Tuscaloosa nine years ago, Clemson was a program known for, well, “Clemsoning” — defined by the Urban Dictionary as “the act of delivering an inexplicably disappointing performance.” The Tigers would rise in the polls, only to lose to unranked N.C. State right about the time pundits were ready to take them seriously.
But this is a different breed of Tiger. Don’t let the ACC logo on the jersey fool you. They’re as SEC as you can get without actually being SEC.
John Crist is an award-winning contributor to Saturday Down South.
