Clemson and Deshaun Watson Are Worthy Alabama Antidote the Sport Needs

GLENDALE, Ariz. — For the sake of the game, it had to be this way. For the sanity of the game, this is what it has come to.

Who can beat Alabama?

If you can no longer stomach all things Alabama, if the thought of the Tide winning the national title for the fourth time in six years gives you agita, if the reality of Alabama sucking the life and drama from the sport leaves you drained and desperate, there is only one hope remaining.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Clemson—and star quarterback Deshaun Watson.

“We got what we’ve been playing all season for—another opportunity,” Watson said.

Maybe you remember these Tigers, the very team that should have beaten Alabama in last year’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game but didn’t. The team built—from the defensive line, to the elite skill players to the dangerous and dynamic Watson—to beat Alabama will get another chance to sideswipe Tide fatigue and save the sport after disposing of Ohio State 31-0 in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Unlike the rest of college football that talks about wanting Alabama and doesn’t know the half of it, Clemson rolls into the championship game next week in Tampa with the biggest weapon of all: the undeniable truth that it can beat Alabama and win its first national title since 1981.

“We’ve played them, we know them,” Clemson cornerback Cordrea Tankersley said. “We know what to expect.”

They know, more than anything, how close they came last season to beating the college football king.

In fact, four unfortunate gaffes in last year’s 45-40 loss—two blown coverages that led to long touchdown passes, a kickoff return for a touchdown and a failure to recover an onside kick—were all that kept Clemson from not only winning, but winning big.

Of course, there’s also this: Alabama made those plays—Clemson didn’t.

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“They beat us, end of story,” Clemson center Jay Guillermo said. “Every team is different, every season is different. But we can absolutely take some confidence [from last year’s loss].”

But confidence and execution are two completely different animals when playing Alabama. No team embraces big games, seizes opportunity and executes in the moment quite like the Tide.

Just like they did against Washington in the Peach Bowl, the other CFP semifinal, and just like they have over and over since coach Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2007. 

The boa constrictor of the college game overpowers, waits for mistakes and eventually swallows and suffocates everything in its path. The only thing in Saban’s 10 seasons at Alabama that has prevented (OK, slowed) this inevitability: a dynamic, dual-threat quarterback.

From Tim Tebow to Cam Newton to Johnny Manziel all the way to Chad Kelly, quarterbacks who can make plays in both the pass and run game wreak havoc on the Alabama defense. Watson was nearly flawless in last year’s loss, throwing for 405 yards and four TDs, and rushing for another 73 yards.

He was so good that Saban acknowledged after the game that he called an onside kick with the scored tied at 24 early in the fourth quarter because, “I didn’t think we could stop them.” 

Imagine that, Saban not trusting his vaunted defense.

While Watson hasn’t been quite as locked in this season as he was last January, he has gotten hot at the right time. And so have the Tigers.

Despite the loss to Pittsburgh (how in the world did Pitt score 43 points on this Clemson defense?); despite beating NC State in overtime with the help of a missed chip-shot field goal at the end of regulation; despite needing to recover an onside kick to beat Troy (Troy!) in early September, the Tigers find themselves back in position to right their only wrong of the 2015 season.

The big difference between last year’s championship game and this one: Last year, Clemson played without star wideouts Mike Williams (injured) and Deon Cain (suspended), and the Tigers didn’t have star freshmen defensive linemen Clelin Ferrell and Dexter Lawrence.

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How important are those four players? Alabama’s biggest weakness is pass coverage. Alabama’s biggest strength is running the ball.

Those four players were a huge part of Clemson’s rout of Ohio State, a beating so complete, it was Urban Meyer’s first shutout loss in his coaching career (15 seasons, 194 games) and Ohio State’s first shutout loss since 1993, a span of 295 games.

It also revealed what Alabama hasn’t seen all season: a defensive line with the ability to disrupt both the run and pass games, wide receivers who can win on the outside in man coverage and a quarterback who is accurate on the run.

Basically, Alabama’s kryptonite.

“The best part about these guys is once they hit the mountaintop last year, they didn’t get complacent,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “They wanted more.”

It began in January at the first team meeting when Swinney told his players it wouldn’t be another 34 years before they played for a national title. It has made its way through spring practice and voluntary summer workouts and competitive fall practices where they go good-on-good (first team vs. first team) twice a week.

Because if you’re going to beat Alabama, no sense in beating up on the scout team all week. If you’re going to save college football from the big, bad Tide, you better be ready to stand tall when it matters most.

That’s what was so impressive about the Fiesta Bowl rout. For all the hiccups this fall—from both Watson (17 INTs) and the team—Clemson has consistently played up to competition. When the big game arrives, the best comes out.

Watson, the player Saban acknowledged was too much for his defense to handle in last year’s game, threw for 259 yards and a touchdown against the Buckeyes, and ran for 57 yards and two more scores. He made mistakes (two INTs), but he also made it look easy with a few NFL throws and plays with his legs that a talented Ohio State defense couldn’t stop.

The defense played its best game of the season, holding Ohio State to 215 yards (64 on one late run from Curtis Samuel) and getting 11 tackles for loss. At one point late in the third quarter, Ohio State had run 39 plays—and eight went for a loss. 

“We’ve wanted to get back to this point, to this game, from the day we lost to them last year,” Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware said.

From Seattle to Miami and San Diego to New England, they all talk about wanting Alabama. At Clemson, they know what it takes to beat Alabama—and give hope again to the rest of college football.

“This has been a special journey, and it’s not over,” Swinney said.

For the sake of the game, this is what it has come to.

Bleacher Report contributor Matt Hayes is a veteran college football reporter whose experience includes more than 15 years at Sporting News. You can follow him on Twitter at @MattHayesCFB.