“As a team, we had a mentality of: Don’t remember the wins, remember the losses,†Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “And we never forget what happened.â€Â
Sounds a little chilling from a player in a program that has lost 15 games in the last 10 seasons. Fifteen total losses in a decade.
Give Saban time, and he is a devious genius. He made sure his players were aware of every slight, real or perceived. He made sure the Tide understood that Clemson had erected a tombstone back at its South Carolina campus commemorating last season’s victory in the national title game. Never mind that it’s a long-standing Clemson tradition to mark significant road victories in this fashion. To Alabama, this became about the Tigers and Coach Dabo Swinney essentially mocking them.
Was that the truth? Didn’t matter. It’s what they believed. Listen to Brown, the defensive back who was part of the coverage in the game-deciding play a year ago.