Clemson vs. Alabama: Top Plays, Highlights from 2017 CFP Championship

Sometimes, the sequel really is better than the original.

That's certainly the sentiment of the Clemson football team and its faithful fans, as the Tigers avenged their loss to Alabama in last year's national title game with a 35-31 win Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson was the hero of this cinematic instant classic, throwing for 420 yards and three touchdowns while running for 43 yards and another score.

His completion to Hunter Renfrow (10 catches, 92 yards, two touchdowns) in the final seconds of the game earned Clemson the win, its first national title in 35 years. Here's the game-winning play, per ESPN College Football: 

Watson started the game slowly, unable to get into a rhythm in the face of the discord created by Alabama's ferocious, mostly NFL-caliber front seven. But the junior signal-caller made plays when needed, keeping Clemson in lockstep with Alabama after the Tigers initially went down 14-0 early.

The enormity of Watson's task and the effort he needed to win this game were most readily apparent when he ran the ball.

Two such highlights encapsulate the way he spearheaded Clemson's vanquishing of the most notorious tormentor in football: his second-quarter race to the pylon that gave the Tigers their first points of the game and a third-quarter run that saw him narrowly miss a first down and take a hit that sent him spinning like a gyroscope.

Here's a look at those two plays, per SportsCenter:

Watson's scrambling ability and clutch play ultimately won him the game, but his opposite, true freshman Jalen Hurts, also made some great plays with his legs. 

The best was a 30-yard touchdown scamper with just over two minutes left in the game that put Alabama up 31-28 and briefly looked like it might cement Hurts as a rather precocious legend in Tuscaloosa.

Here's the end of the run, per College GameDay: 

Hurts made several plays with his legs on the evening but wasn't quite as prolific with his arm, going 13-of-31 for 131 yards and one touchdown.

That lone scoring throw was a massive one, a 68-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to O.J. Howard. The tight end slipped behind the Clemson coverage and had acres of space in front of him as this highlight from the SEC Network shows: 

Howard had a relatively easy catch and run on that highlight, which happens when there's a breakdown in coverage.

Alabama's secondary also had its lapses on the day, as any team that gives up over 400 yards through the air is bound to have, but there was also plenty of tight coverage rendered moot by the efforts of Tigers wide receiver Mike Williams. 

The junior wideout had several phenomenal catches on the day, scaling helpless cornerbacks like skyscrapers, reeling in one-handers and securing bobbled footballs. 

Yahoo Sports' Brad Evans described his professional prospects thanks to his display:

Here's his fourth-quarter touchdown reception, one of his easiest catches, that brought Clemson back within three, per SportsCenter:

The Tigers might've considered themselves lucky to even have Williams in a position to make plays late in the game.

He missed almost the entirety of last season—including the national title game against the Crimson Tide—with a broken neck, and he took a nasty helmet-to-helmet hit early in this contest (a play that did not draw a flag) that shook him up and limited his field time. 

The early stages of the game were indeed a nervy time for Clemson, as they went down 14-0 in the first quarter thanks to a pair of touchdowns from Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough.

The scintillating sophomore's first touchdown showcased everything that makes him such a fearsome player: speed, moves to make people miss in the open field and the strength to drag defenders around like rag dolls. 

Here's the opening salvo from the game, per College GameDay: 

If Scarbrough hadn't suffered a leg injury in the third quarter that forced him out of the game, per CBSSports.com's Tom Fornelli, the outcome might've been different.

Instead, Clemson made the plays they needed to win this incredible game and emerged victorious. 

Watson secured his legacy, and with nothing left for him to prove in the college ranks, he will enter the 2017 NFL draft, per ESPN.com's news services.

"It's my time to go," Watson told reporters after the game, per ESPN.com.

Watson couldn't have picked a better time to go. Clemson's program will have to soldier on without him, but with plenty of talent in the pipeline, a great coach in Dabo Swinney and the recruiting weapon that is a national title, the Tigers could remain a force in college football for years to come.