Classic rivalry gets new chapter
The early numbers didn’t look great for the championship showdown Monday night between Alabama and Clemson.
Overnight television ratings were down for the teams’ semifinal victories and, by midweek, seats for the title game had dropped below $120 (U.S.) on the secondary market.
If fans feel a bit ho-hum about watching the No. 1 Crimson Tide against the No. 2 Tigers, it wouldn’t be surprising.
This is the fourth consecutive season the teams will meet in the College Football Playoff and the third time they will play for the title. With both remaining undefeated week after week this fall, another rematch seemed inevitable.
But there might be another way to view Chapter 4 of the Alabama-Clemson saga, a story line that might appeal to fans outside the boundaries of the U.S. Southeast. Think Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier. Or the Los Angeles Lakers against the Boston Celtics.
“You know the type of rivalry that we’ve done built over these last few years,” Alabama safety Deionte Thompson told reporters. “I mean, it’s going to be a war.”
In the late 1800s, the Ivy League schools went toe-to-toe each season, with Princeton and Yale winning a string of U.S. titles. Harvard had its dynasty after the turn of the century. There have been other stretches where the same schools dominated the rankings, but nothing since the advent of the title game in 1998, when the Bowl Championship Series began matching the best two teams in the nation.
Alabama-Clemson isn’t a rivalry fuelled by proximity or conference affiliation; this one was forged in the national spotlight.
Their streak began at the 2016 championship, in the second year of the four-team CFP bracket. The Crimson Tide won that first meeting 45-40; the Tigers got revenge the following season 35-31.
A rubber match in the 2018 semifinals wasn’t as close, with Alabama sprinting to a 24-6 victory. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney recalled: “We got our butts beat.”
But this fall began with the teams once again ranked atop the Associated Press poll.
The Tigers slipped a few notches early in the season, switching to freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence and nearly losing to Syracuse, then climbed back to No. 2. Topranked Alabama also had a scare, needing a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Georgia for the Southeastern Conference championship.
Their subsequent double-digit victories in the semifinals left no doubt the CFP format got it right this season.
“These are clearly the two best teams,” Swinney said.
Both feature highly ranked defences anchored by merciless front lines. Alabama’s sophomore quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, has been more productive than Lawrence, but both offences rank in the top five.