I’m sorry but, every one talks about how great Clemson was at the end of the year but, look at who they played.
They played a ranked (and pretty good) Texas A/M on the road.
They beat Ga Tech by more points than UGA did.
They beat Louisville by more points than Alabama did.
Their Sagarin rating only moved up from 46 to 40 after beating an unbeaten Irish; ours moved up from 42 to 23.
Outside of maybe 2 or 3 games, their schedule isn’t much better then ND’s.
Clemson and Notre Dame played four of the exact same opponents. Clemson beat 3 of them by more points, and lost their new QB in the other but still won. It isn't substantially better - but Clemson IS substantially better than Notre Dame, too.
They haven’t really been test this year and haven’t seen anything near as talented as Bama.
That's true, but Alabama hasn't seen anything near as talented as Clemson, either.
Bama has face a few of the top defenses in the country and just faced the best offense (maybe second best now).
The best defense Alabama played was MSU and scored 24.
The best defense Clemson played was Notre Dame and scored 30.
Clemson faced Syracuse, who scores 40.8 ppg and held them to 23.
However, you're correct that overall Alabama has faced more challenging defenses AND offenses. That is absolutely correct.
Bama is ready and Clemson won’t know what hit them.
I sincerely hope you're right.
This Clemson team just doesn’t make me as nervous as the last one we faced in a title game. It won’t be as lopsided as last years semi but, I think Bama puts it away with plenty of time remaining.
I think what a lot of people forget about the game 2 years ago is how close we were to blowing it open. And if we had had a quarterback who could throw worth a damn, DeShaun Watson still wouldn't have a title ring. We led by 14 in the fourth quarter.
But at the same time - that's playing the "what if" game. There's not a doubt in my mind that if Eddie Jackson wasn't lost for the year in October that we would have drubbed the two years ago....but that doesn't matter. Dabo's team SMARTLY kept an all-world defense on the field for 100 plays and beat it.
And for that, tip the hat.
But I suspect that with the improved passing game, some of the folks predicting "blowout" or "pull away" might be right.