How Clemson Compares to Nick Saban's Past Title Game Opponents at Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Even though this will be his last game with the University of Alabama, national championship games have become familiar for defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.

This will be his fourth as Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator, and thanks to the BCS and College Football Playoffs, all have seen matchups of No. 1 vs. No. 2.

While statistically Alabama is pretty similar to its national title teams of 2009, 2011 and 2012, the opponents have been as different as the venues. Should it defeat Clemson in Arizona on Monday (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. CT) it’ll have a clean sweep of what used to be the four BCS title sites, Pasadena, New Orleans and Miami being the others.

“You’ve been in there with LSU, kind of tight, bunched up, running at you; Texas was a little bit spread; then Notre Dame spread it out some,” Smart said.

“These guys are probably the fastest tempo we’ve played in a championship game. So they create a lot of challenges for us because they’ve got a lot of formations, a lot of space plays, a lot of good skill players. So it creates kind of a new dynamic, this situation for us, to be able to stop those guys in what seems like a short week.”

That dynamic, of course, is led by sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson, who will be going up against a defense that just pulled off a 38-0 shutout of Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl and has Alabama fans drawing comparisons to the great Crimson Tide defenses of old.

Its place among them can be debated after the national title game, and when it comes to intangibles, some claim Alabama has a big advantage because it’s been there before. All of the seniors who didn’t transfer in were at the BCS game at the end of the 2012 season, and a few were there in 2011 as well.

Nevertheless, Clemson will be the Crimson Tide’s biggest challenge of the four title opponents.

“Looking back, I would say absolutely,” said ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, who has been a broadcast analyst for each Alabama championship game.

Category	Texas 2009	LSU 2011	ND 2012	Clemson 2015
Total	3 (251.9)	2 (261.5)	7 (305.5)	6 (301.6)
Scoring	12 (16.7)	2 (11.3)	2 (12.8)	T16 (20.0)
Rushing	1 (72.4)	5 (90.1)	11 (105.7)	18 (124.4)
Pass. Eff.	10 (100.5)	3 (95.6)	16 (111.4)	4 (99.47)

Of the four, LSU clearly had the best defense and the most overall talent. Combined, the two teams have had 45 players from that game selected in the NFL draft, including 16 of the 22 defensive starters (12 in the first three rounds).

It was a rematch of what had been hailed as “The Game of the Century” and turned out to be just that for fans of defensive football. Neither team was able to reach the end zone, with the Tigers pulling out a hard-fought 9-6 overtime victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

With the loss occurring so late in the season, Alabama needed some big-time help to get another shot at LSU, which was being hailed as maybe having the best team in college football history. But with the defense giving up just 92 total yards, including 39 rushing, the Crimson Tide made five field goals and then finally scored a touchdown for a 21-0 victory.

LSU, which had defeated eight ranked teams en route to the BCS Championship Game, didn't cross midfield until eight minutes remained and finished with only five first downs. In contrast, Alabama had 384 yards of total offense.

Jordan Jefferson was LSU’s quarterback that day, while Texas had Heisman Trophy finalist Colt McCoy (who won the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Davey O’Brien, Johnny Unitas and Manning awards), and Notre Dame was led by Everett Golson.

All three were known for the ability to run as well as pass (McCoy actually had 1,571 career rushing yards), but none of them did so like Watson this season.

The list of college quarterbacks who have passed for 3,000 yards and run for 1,000 during a single season is short, and includes Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel in 2012, Texas’ Vince Young in 2005 and Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick in 2010 (along with Dan LeFevour of Central Michigan in 2007 and Chandler Harnish of Northern Illinois in 2011).

Manziel was the only one to pull it off during the regular season. Watson didn’t clear 1,000 rushing yards until the Orange Bowl, but it was his fifth 100-yard game out of the past six. Previously, he didn’t have any.

“I would say he’s unique,” Smart said about comparisons to Manziel, Nick Marshall and Cam Newton. “You could go there, it’s almost like a mixture of the three guys with Nick Marshall as a perimeter runner. Deshaun runs well on the perimeter. Johnny Manziel was a great athlete, create things in space. So does Deshaun Watson. This guy runs more power run game like you would say Cam Newton does. Obviously, he’s not the same stature as Cam, but he runs some of the similar plays that Auburn ran with him.

“So the mixture of those three guys, he takes a little bit from each one.”

Category	Texas 2009	LSU 2011	ND 2012	Clemson 2015
Total	29 (421.2)	86 (355.1)	54 (412.2)	11 (512.0)
Scoring	3 (39.3)	17 (35.7)	78 (25.8)	16 (38.4)
Rushing	61 (147.6)	22 (202.6)	50 (173.7)	16 (228.6)
Pass. Eff.	35 (138.4)	24 (147.5)	74 (128.7)	22 (152.2)

Smart, who recruited Watson for Alabama two years ago (“We wanted him. We wanted him bad”), added that the quarterback has the “it” factor that all coaches are looking for and creates an enormous confidence with his teammates.

Consequently, Clemson has the best offense that Alabama’s seen in a championship game, and the last team that moved the ball against this defense was Ole Miss, which runs a very similar system.

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press/Associated Press

Moreover, the Tigers are peaking at the right time and really have nothing to lose. Despite having been ranked No. 1 since early November, they’re playing up the “us against the world” mentality, complete with Dabo Swinney dancing in the locker room and massive pizza parties with fans.

“When you’re 14-0, the confidence that this football team is playing with, that somehow they’re able to maintain a chip on their shoulders, play that disrespect card, and 18-to-23-year-olds, when they all believe it, can become a very powerful thing much like Ohio State did a year ago—Clemson has that on its side right now,” Herbstreit said.

Season	Pre-game line
2009 Texas	Alabama -4
2011 LSU	Alabama -1.5
2012 Notre Dame	Alabama -10
2015 Clemson	Alabama -6.5

Yes, Alabama has faced undefeated teams in the title game before. It’s been favored in all four games and, like Clemson, is playing its best football at the right time.

But it has yet to win a title in the playoff format and has never played in this desert venue, and Clemson is nothing like the team that it crushed 34-10 in 2008. This will be much more of an endurance test.

“This is going to be a totally different kind of game, too, because these guys average 80-something plays a game,” Saban said. “Michigan State didn't average that many. They weren't a fastball team. The game's going to be long, and the players are going to play more plays. It’s going to be a game where conditioning's going to be at a premium.”

Category	2009	2011	2012	2015*
Offense
Total	42 (403.0)	31 (429.6)	31 (445.5)	51 (423.8)
Scoring	22 (32.1)	20 (34.9)	12 (38.7)	33 (34.4)
Rushing	12 (215.1)	16 (214.5)	16 (227.5)	29 (204.4)
Pass. Eff.	34 (138.5)	35 (142.5)	1 (174.3)	39 (139.92)
Defense
Total	2 (244.1)	1 (183.6)	1 (250.0)	2 (256.8)
Scoring	2 (11.7)	1 (8.2)	1 (10.9)	1 (13.4)
Rushing	2 (78.1)	1 (72.2)	1 (76.4)	1 (70.8)
Pass Eff.	2 (87.7)	1 (83.7)	7 (103.7)	6 (104.01)

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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