Bama Wins Yet Another National Championship, #16

[Jamos]

What an amazing feat for the Crimson Tide and they did the hard way, they earned it. It's so sad that all of the Bama haters in football, analysts and fans, didn't grow up learning to like Alabama football because instead of being so mad or very disappointed in the Bama win, they could all be happy and celebrating like we are doing now.

What an amazing comeback for an Alabama team this year in that many folks gave up on them after the Ole Miss loss. I for one, looked at their schedule after that loss and pretty much said it would be impossible for Bama to make it back to the championship game. I mean you don't lose a game at home and then expect to go all the way considering the tough schedule that Alabama had left and then having to make it through the playoffs. The biggest problem that Bama had to face now was they still had no starting quarterback and already had a loss. Thank goodness Coker accepted the challenge and developed himself to lead the Tide to another chance for yet another championship.

There were a lot of things that had to happen for Bama to make it to the playoffs and the first thing was they had to win the SEC Championship. In most cases Bama would not have won the SEC but some things had to happen over the course of the season, some teams had to lose some key games. We must remember that Auburn was predicted to run away with the SEC and win the National Championship as well there is LSU, Tennesse, Arkansas, Georgia and others that Bama still had to beat. Well, I must say that the "Football Gods" were good to Alabama this year because I didn't see Alabama ever winning the SEC West, Ole Miss and LSU had to lose some games and I didn't think it would ever happen.

Well, it did happen and Bama beat Florida for the SEC Championship. By now, I am feeling pretty cocky about Bama's chances to win it all and I'm ready for them to bring on the best. Thanks to Bama's #2 ranking, I felt we were set up to play Clemson in that championship game IF we could beat Michigan State and Clemson beat Oklahoma. I felt all along that the committee really wanted Clemson and Bama in the final game because that's where all the money was.

Bama did beat the Spartans and it was very easy as most folks thought it would be and Clemson did the same to Oklahoma and the two best teams in the country were set up to play the big game. Bama came out a 7 point favorite which I thought was about right because I didn't think Clemson could dominate the Tide. I had watched them play some games but still wasn't sold on them being that good but I was about to find out how wrong I really was.

The game was being billed as a battle between the Clemson offense and the Bama defense. Clemson's quarterback Watson was being hailed as the best thing since sliced bread and Bama's defense was being labeled as the "The Rock of Gibraltar" so we have ourselves a football game.

In most cases a big game such as this one usually doesn't pan out the way it was predicted in that so many times one team will totally dominate the other as Alabama did Michigan State in the playoff game. Well the committee got this one right, what a perfect game for a National Championship. It reminded me of some of the past games of the Iron Bowl and the LSU rivalry, two evenly matched teams that didn't know what fear was. They played at a level that represented their standings in the polls, they were the two best teams in the country. After the game  I felt that there wasn't but one team that could have beat Alabama that night and it was Clemson. I felt the same way about Clemson, there was only one team that could have beaten them and that was Alabama.

I think it will be a long time before a National Championship game of this caliber will ever be duplicated. Clemson was a much better team that I thought and Watson, their QB, is as good or better as labeled. He was their football team. Bama on the other hand had many heros of the game, Henry, Drake, Howard, Griffith, Coker on the offense and the whole defense plus some others. Watson pretty much extended Bama's defense to their limits and I'm just glad the game didn't last five minutes longer than it did.

Call it luck or whatever but I'm calling it NUMBER 16 and as Jackie Gleason would say, "How Sweet It Is."  ROLL TIDE!!!!!

[ricky023]

AMEN RTR!

[Chechem]

Excellent summary, Jamos.  
We all shared your emotions of the 'steep climb to the top'.
Thank you for penning your thoughts (and so well expressed).  

[Merk]

It has been a special year, Jamos. A very good article.

[KoKoPuf]

Good post, Jamos! I did not give up on the Tide after Ole Miss, I always thought Bama could shut down LSU and Fournette and never thought UGA and AU were threats. Then, drawing FL and MSU was a real break but I was a bit worried about Clemson. Too many similarities to TX-USC when Vince Young ran wild. You are absolutely right, the Playoffs produced the two best teams playing their best games and, fortunately, it went Bama's way! Maybe a rematch next year!

[pmull]

We won the Championship playing the most difficult schedule in the country. We were ranked high in the preseason but the media picked Ohio State, Baylor, LSU and Auburn as the teams with the best chance to win it all because our schedule was too difficult. Some pundits picked us to lose 4-5 games. Opening with Wisconsin in Dallas. Road games at Georgia, A&M, Miss State and Auburn. Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tenn and LSU at home. Bama played 12 teams this year that played in bowl games. It was truly a remarkable year.

Many thanks to Jamos for giving us his thoughts and observations each week. His knowledge, attendance at home games and inside connections provide many of us with information we do not get from the media. Jamos also treats us with updates from REC meetings. I especially enjoy hearing about the different guest speakers. Thanks again my friend and I look forward to seeing you at a basketball game very soon.

[McBaman]

Thanks J for a great post that sums up my feelings too.  If you've been a Bama fan for very long, you know never to give up on a game or a season.

And to the previous post from pmull... Here, here!!

[2Stater]

Great insight, J! The good things in life don't come easy, and that game was especially satisfying because there was nothing easy about it. It truly is amazing how the team fought an uphill battle all the way against the toughest schedule of anyone in the country, just to make it to the playoffs. Then, to win the NC game in that fashion, made the whole season extra special.

I really appreciate #16 and all that came with it! ROLL TIDE!!!

[2Stater]

For anyone who thinks we didn't play the toughest schedule in the country; we played every single SEC team that went to a bowl game. The same SEC that went 9-2. 2 of those were our wins. 

[ricky023]

For anyone who thinks we didn't play the toughest schedule in the country; we played every single SEC team that went to a bowl game. The same SEC that went 9-2. 2 of those were our wins. 

Our wins beat the others that won those bowl games. RTR!

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