Crimson Tide Defense Intends to Show Clemson's Deshaun Watson 'The Real 'Bama'

When the players think back to what happened a year ago, payback is on their minds.

Not just Clemson's, who obviously want revenge for the 45-40 loss in the national championship game, but Alabama's as well.

"They didn't see the real 'Bama last year," sophomore defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick said. "They got a little flash of it. Hopefully this year if we go play right, they're gonna get a little taste of the real 'Bama."

By the "real" Alabama defense, he meant the one that leads the nation in most statistical categories, including total scoring and rushing defense. It's been a nightmare for quarterbacks to face, including Washington's Jake Browning during last week's 24-7 semifinal.

Yet the Crimson Tide defenders are still irked about the way last year's title game became a shootout in the fourth quarter. Alabama kept scoring to try to pull away, only to see Watson repeatedly counter to keep it close.

Consequently, despite coming off its best game, the 38-0 shutout of Michigan State at the Cotton Bowl, Alabama's defense had its worst statistical showing of the season. The 550 offensive yards weren't just the most allowed, but only one other opponent topped 400 (433 in the loss to Ole Miss).

Alabama celebrated the championship regardless, but the 40 points left an unsatisfactory taste and continues to bother the Crimson Tide.

To give an example of how they can hold a grudge, when asked about Washington's propensity to try trick plays in the Peach Bowl, senior defensive end Jonathan Allen said he remained mad about a flea-flicker Western Kentucky successfully executed in September: "I'm still pissed off about that. We practiced it all week."

Just like for their initial matchup in the College Football Playoff, Alabama knows the key to stopping Clemson is limiting quarterback Deshaun Watson as much as possible.

The two-time Heisman finalist was still able to tally 405 passing yards and 73 rushing against the Tide last year, so it's easier said than done. Even in Clemson's loss this season, versus Pitt, Watson completed 74.3 percent of his throws en route to an ACC-record 580 passing yards, and the Tigers scored 42 points.

He was also picked off three times.

That's the one knock on Watson this season: his 17 interceptions. Head coach Dabo Swinney will be the first to say that Clemson can't afford any more, especially since Alabama has already scored 11 defensive touchdowns.

When the teams faced off a year ago, Watson had only one interception and was sacked just two times, both by reserve Rashaan Evans. But Clemson also didn't have standout wide receiver Mike Williams (neck injury) and had to play four freshmen wideouts. Left tackle Mitch Hyatt was also a true freshman.

"I think we're just better across the board offensively," Swinney said. "We've got more guys at running back. We're more experienced at receiver. Even though we've got a true freshman at right tackle, I think we're better up front.

"And then Deshaun Watson is a better player right now than he was last year."

With Clemson also coming off a 31-0 shutout of Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, it's easy to see why the Tigers are confident.

So are the reigning champions.

Alabama sophomore defensive tackle Da'Ron Payne used the two words that will key its effort to stop, or limit, Watson: "contain" and "relentless."

In other words, do everything possible to bother Watson without letting him escape the pocket. Playing keep-away with the ball would also help, but the defensive game plan figures to include a lot of different elements, including a little spying by interior linebackers Reuben Foster and Evans, timely blitzing and alternating between zone and man coverage.

The idea is to shut down the rushing game and the deep ball at the same time.

"That's kind of an oxymoron in today's college football, when you have an ability to keep two safeties back, and also at the same time stop the run," said analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who will call the game for ESPN. "They did it against Washington.

"If they do that against Clemson, you'll see Deshaun Watson run it 20 to 25 times until they get out of that look. Then they can start to throw the football."

The most rushing yards Alabama has allowed to a quarterback this season was 43 by Chad Kelly, although the numbers are a little skewed because college football counts sacks against rushing yards, not passing. It notched three sacks for 25 against the Rebels.

At the time, Kelly was trying to do something that Heisman Trophy winners Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel had failed to pull off: beat head coach Nick Saban and Alabama a second time.

Interceptions is a statistic that jumps out from the Crimson Tide's 12 losses since 2008. In those games, the primary opposing quarterbacks only had five passes picked off while tallying 28 touchdown throws. Moreover, during that time period, Alabama lost just once when its defense notched at least two interceptions (LSU during the 2011 regular season).

"Last year is last year," Watson said about preparing for Monday's rematch. "You can't live on last year's success. You've got to keep moving forward and see what's going on this year."

There are three other important elements to consider regarding the Crimson Tide's attempt to curtail Watson. The first is that 177 of his passing yards in the initial meeting came in the fourth quarter after Alabama had taken the lead.

Clemson essentially ditched the playbook and let the quarterback loose on Alabama's secondary, which in the dime package included three freshmen. Two of them were named All-Americans this season, Fitzpatrick and Marlon Humphrey. The third, safety Ronnie Harrison, became a starter and did a terrific job of picking up the slack after Eddie Jackson went down with a season-ending injury.

"I had two touchdowns scored on me," Fitzpatrick said. "I've never had that done ever before in my whole life. I was young. I wasn't really playing my best game technique-wise. He made a couple of good throws. I still could have played them better, played the routes better. Just little things I wasn't doing right that I tried to work on this season.

"I'm real excited to get another chance cuz I didn't play real well against them."

Name	School	Pass/Rush Averages	vs. Alabama
Chad Kelly	Ole MIss	306.4/36.9	421/43
Joshua Dobbs	Tennessee	226.6/63.9	92/-31
Trevor Knight	Texas A&M	221.1/55.8	164/24
Nick Fitzgerald	Miss. State	186.4/105.8	145/15
Deshaun Watson	Clemson	298.1/41.6	TBD

Secondly, Alabama's defense is faster this year. These guys can quickly close gaps, and Watson shouldn't have as much time to throw.

"We had a bigger defensive line, so we couldn't really contain him," Fitzpatrick said. "He was moving all around, and on the back end, we had to cover for about 10 seconds, which is almost impossible no matter who you are. It's almost impossible to cover that long. We were getting tired.

"They were having a new receiver in every single play to run us down the field while he was running all over the field."

Drive Started	Plays-Yards	Outcome	Time
First quarter
Own 9	8-26	Punt	2:09
Own 46	6-54	TD	2:37
Own 27	7-73	TD	2:17
Second quarter
Own 17	2-7	Interception	0:33
Own 25	3-8	Punt	1:40
Own 18	7-12	Punt	2:40
Own 34	4-40	Missed FG	0:32
Third quarter
Own 23	3-7	Punt	1:09
Own 25	9-55	Field goal	2:43
Own 40	9-60	TD	3:38
Own 38	6-5	Punt	2:01
Fourth quarter
Midfield	4-10	Punt	1:41
Own 25	6-61	Field goal	1:58
Own 25	8-75	TD	2:51
Own 32	6-68	TD	0:55

That figures to be in Clemson's plan again, especially since Alabama doesn't have much proven depth in the secondary beyond the starters.

Finally, and it may not end up meaning much, even though the Crimson Tide's defensive coaching staff was almost completely overhauled during the offseason, both the head coach and defensive coordinator have faced Watson.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press

In July, Saban called Watson the best quarterback Alabama's faced since Cam Newton, and Jeremy Pruitt was on the opposing sideline when Clemson visited Georgia in 2014. He also saw Swinney's Tigers in 2013 when Florida State went undefeated and won the national championship.

So when Watson says there "won't be a shell shock or a shock" factor for him, it works both ways.

Plus, Alabama has seen a dual-threat quarterback every day in practice. After facing Kelly in a game that was sort of similar to how the Crimson Tide had to hold on to beat Clemson, they got better at countering them as the season progressed.

Last season's defense didn't get to regularly practice against a dual-threat quarterback until Jalen Hurts enrolled early and got to put on the pads for a couple of days before the team left for Arizona.

The guy he was mimicking, of course, was Watson.

"We understand without him, we probably wouldn't be where we are right now," Clemson defensive lineman Clelin Ferrell said.

Forget probably. He's the reason why Clemson is back in the title game and the one Alabama has to stop in order to repeat for the second time since 2012.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter: @WritingWalsh.