Alabama's Superhero Defense Outdone Again by Its Kryptonite, Deshaun Watson

Hyperbole runs rampant in sports, but there's a realistic argument that only one quarterback could overcome the 2016 season's edition of the Alabama Crimson Tide defense.

Monday night, in a thrilling fourth-quarter rally, he did.

Deshaun Watson guided the Clemson Tigers to a 35-31 victory over the reigning champions, throwing a go-ahead touchdown to Hunter Renfrow with a single second remaining in the game.

For the second straight year, Watson shredded the Alabama defense. He finished the national championship 36-of-56 with 420 yards, four total touchdowns and zero interceptions.

That kind of success doesn't happen against the Tide.

Watson joined Ole Miss signal-caller Chad Kelly as the only other quarterback to twice throw for 300-plus yards against Nick Saban-coached Alabama teams, according to Saturday Down South.

Yes, it was a hard-fought 400 for Watson. He took four sacks and narrowly avoided an interception on at least three passes. The Crimson Tide often disrupted or contained the superstar, particularly with a heavy usage of spies on third down.

But on the biggest stage, under the brightest lights, Alabama's unquestionably dominant defense—one that is stacked with future NFL players—came up short. The unit surrendered 21 points during the fourth quarter, including 14 in the last five minutes.

First, Wayne Gallman dove into the end zone to give Clemson a 28-24 edge with four minutes and 38 seconds remaining. Then, after Jalen Hurts' 30-yard scramble put the Crimson Tide back in front, Watson led the championship-winning drive. On that possession, Mike Williams hauled in a spectacular 24-yard grab, and Watson lasered a 17-yard completion to Jordan Leggett before hitting Renfrow for the score.

This season, who else but Watson could've pulled off that comeback?

It only takes one drive to see the talent of Alabama's defense and understand why the Tide entered the night ranked No. 1 nationally.

Led by Jonathan Allen, who drew comparisons to Superman for a diving sack in 2016, the front seven is ruthless. Rueben Foster is one of the country's hardest hitters; at 6'1" and 228 pounds, the Hulk of a linebacker literally spun Watson 540 degrees with a hit Monday night.

Da'Ron Payne, who is listed at 6'2" and 319 pounds, regularly shed blocks and played an integral role in limiting Clemson to just 3.4 yards per carry (excluding four sacks and one kneeldown). Elite edge-rusher Ryan Anderson forced a fumble and recovered two. Rashaan Evans made 11 tackles.

That constant pressure is the downfall of most quarterbacks, who barely have time to process one read before panicking.

But not Watson. He calmly checked and re-checked at the line of scrimmage. He absorbed several brutal hits from Foster, Evans and Allen but stood right back up in the pocket. Perhaps to a fault at times, Watson never backed down from testing a secondary that owned the opening 20 minutes.

And when it mattered most, as David Caraviello of the Post and Courier notes Allen said, Watson carried the team:

Watson's most impressive throw of the showdown arrived on the game-winning drive. With three Alabama defenders bearing down, the junior calmly ripped a throw to Leggett, who hadn't even broken out of his route.

The three incoming players? Foster (No. 10), the 6'1", 228-pound heat-seeking missile, Tim Williams (56), a 6'4", 252-pound edge-rushing terror and Da'Shawn Hand (9), a menace at 6'4" and 280 pounds.

Watson isn't college football's only quarterback who would stand in and make this throw, but the list is tiny.

As always, there are other reasons to help explain a collapse.

Alabama's offense provided little help to a defense that must've been exhausted. In total, Clemson ran 99 offensive plays—15 more than any other team. The main culprit was a putrid 2-of-15 mark on third down for the Crimson Tide.

Time of possession can be overrated, but the Tigers' eight-minute advantage resulted from Alabama's lack of sustained possessions—not due to a quick-strike offense. Plus, two takeaways resulted in three total points despite starting at Clemson's 35- and 16-yard line.

But if you told Saban, Alabama players, fans or the college football world in general that the Crimson Tide would have two chances in the final five minutes to stop Clemson, the overwhelming majority of responses would be, "OK, they'll take it."

After all, the Tide had allowed just 32 points in the fourth quarter all season—16 of which came in a win over Ole Miss.

Instead, Watson and the Tigers offense engineered two drives to stun that vaunted unit in dramatic fashion.

Alabama's defense deserved every single compliment and piece of praise. It was always going to take a superhuman effort to overcome the Crimson Tide and their legion of terrorizing defenders.

No one else but Watson was capable of it. And he did it. Twice.

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Stats from NCAA.com, cfbstats.com or B/R research. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.