Free 30-Days | Newsletter | Twitter | Facebook | Youtube | Instagram
Forums: TOC | Recruiting with Andrew Bone | Contact Us
SANTA CLARA, Calif — Instead of walking off the field inside Levi’s Stadium as possibly the greatest team in college football history, Alabama left trying to forget one its worst defeats in recent memory. Alabama’s 44-16 loss to Clemson in Monday night’s national championship game was the worst loss in the Nick Saban era and ended the Crimson Tide’s pursuit of a perfect season.
Meanwhile, Clemson became the first Division I college football team to go 15-0 in the modern area. Alabama ends its season at 14-1 and will now face a long offseason. Before that, here are five things we learned from Monday night’s lopsided loss.
Alabama suffers too many mental errors
The Alabama team that ran through opponents with machine-like efficiency didn’t show up Monday night. Its Heisman finalist quarterback made two critical mistakes while its defense, which ranked No. 5 in the nation in scoring heading into the game, was torched by a freshman quarterback.
After turning in one of the best games of his stellar sophomore season in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma, Tua Tagovailoa suffered two uncharacteristic errors against Clemson. The Alabama quarterback matched his season high with two interceptions, including one that was returned 44 yards for a touchdown by Clemson cornerback A.J. Terrell on the Crimson Tide’s first offensive possession. Tagovailoa’s second interception occurred as he overthrew his receiver in the second quarter, allowing Trayvon Mullen to secure the turnover. Clemson scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive to take a commanding 28-16 lead, allowing it to begin to pull away from Alabama.
Tagovailoa finished the game 22 of 34 for 295 yards and two touchdowns. However, his two mistakes, coupled with Alabama’s dismal 4 of 13 showing on third downs, left a sour taste in his mouth.
"I don't think it was anything that they were doing that stopped us,” Tagovailoa said. “That was totally a bad decision. It was a poor decision on my part. I just think we came out, and we were killing ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot by me throwing that interception for a touchdown, and then not finishing drives the way we wanted to. Just didn't go the way we wanted to.”
Meanwhile, Alabama’s defense allowed Clemson to rack up 482 yards of total offense while giving up multiple big plays on crucial downs. The Tigers dominated on third downs, converting on 10 of their 15 attempts. Five of Clemson’s third-down conversions came on gains of 15 yards or more, including a 74-yard touchdown from quarterback Trevor Lawrence to Justyn Ross to give Clemson a 37-16 lead in the third quarter.
“We just didn't execute,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “We didn't do — we had a lot of busts, a lot of things that we could have did better, and that's basically it.”
