College Football Championship 2017: Picking Winner for Clemson vs. Alabama

Last year's national championship game was so good that both Alabama and Clemson just had to run it back one more time in 2017. 

The College Football Playoff National Championship matchup is set, and the No. 1-seeded Crimson Tide and No. 2-seeded Tigers have separated themselves from the pack as the two best teams this year. 

The game will take place on Monday, Jan. 9 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Alabama had a tough test in the Peach Bowl against the Washington Huskies, and while the Tide's offense struggled to gain any traction at times, the team's defense (as usual) stepped up and took over the game to hold off the Huskies 24-7.

While Alabama's dominant win wasn't a surprise to many, Clemson's 31-0 beatdown over Ohio State certainly was.

It was the first time that OSU head coach Urban Meyer was shut out in a game in his entire head coaching career, and the Tigers' Fiesta Bowl win over the Buckeyes served as a warning to the Crimson Tide that Clemson is ready for revenge after last year's 45-40 loss to Alabama.

After coming up so close last season, Clemson is back and still has Deshaun Watson at quarterback, who put on a show against Ohio State, throwing for 259 yards while rushing for 57.

He scored three times on the day (one pass, two rush), and while he did throw two early interceptions in the game—the first pick coming on his first pass attempt of the game—he rebounded and showed the nation why he is a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist. 

Alabama will surely have its hands full trying to stop Watson, again, but Clemson will also have to worry about a familiar force coming out of the Tide backfield. And no, it's not last year's Heisman winner Derrick Henry, but it sure looks like him when you watch him run.

Bo Scarbrough ran all over Washington's defense on New Year's Eve, scoring two touchdowns to go along with 180 rushing yards. It's almost hard to believe that he's only a sophomore. 

As for picking a winner, it's too early to predict a score after the CFP semifinals. But going into the New Year, it's difficult to pick against a Nick Saban-led football team.

While Dabo Swinney has done an incredible job as head coach at Clemson over the past few years and built that program from the ground up into a national powerhouse, he's just not at the same level as Saban, but he's getting there.

Clemson and Alabama learned a lot about each other in last year's title game, so it will be interesting to see how each team's game plan differs from their first meeting. Clemson is one of the best teams in college football and would have a good chance at beating any team in the country, including Alabama.

But it's going to be difficult to beat the Crimson Tide in a game of that pedigree, and I suspect that the rematch will be a repeat of last year's game: an exciting, action-packed thriller to the end. 

All stats and information are courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise mentioned.