Tide rolls: Alabama roughs up Clemson
National championship game pits Alabama against Georgia
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The rubber match of the Alabama-Clemson trilogy was a total dud compared to the teams’ previous two meetings.
Except to the Crimson Tide defence, which will remember it as a thing of beauty.
In a game where every yard was a struggle, the ’Bama defenders took matters into their own hands, scoring a pair of touchdowns just 13 seconds apart in the third quarter to turn an offensive slog into a 24-6 rout of defending national champion Clemson in the Sugar Bowl semifinal game Monday night.
It was quite a contrast to their last two meetings, both high-scoring classics with the national title on the line — not to mention the Rose Bowl semifinal that preceded it. Georgia knocked off Oklahoma 54-48 in a double-overtime thriller that wasn’t decided until the Alabama game was on its second possession in the Big Easy.
There would be no drama in the nightcap. With Deshaun Watson off to the NFL, top-ranked Clemson (12-2) simply had no answer for Nick Saban’s latest group of defensive standouts.
The Crimson Tide’s win set up an allSoutheastern Conference showdown for the national title — with Saban matched against his former defensive co-ordinator, Georgia coach Kirby Smart.
The fourth-ranked Tide, which began the season in Atlanta beating Florida State, will return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium next Monday to face No. 3 Georgia and give Saban another shot at matching Bear Bryant’s record six national titles.
FIESTA BOWL PENN STATE 35, WASHINGTON 28
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Trace McSorley threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns, Saquon Barkley ran for two more scores and No. 9 Penn State outlasted No. 12 Washington 35-28 in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday. The Huskies gave up a season-high 545 total yards in defeat.