Alabama football fans, we gained some added perspective on the National Championship game from conversations with our counterparts on the Clemson site, ‘Rubbing the Rock.’
In assessing the national title game, Alabama football fans benefit from three seasons of the Tide going up against Clemson. As much as we know, it does not match the knowledge of experts who follow another team year-round.
We reached out to our companion site Rubbing the Rock and got some great insight from Andrew Boardwine and Shawn Spencer. Before jumping into their observations about the 2018 Clemson team, a key point stands out. Our exchanges with Clemson experts over the last few years show a mutual respect between the two programs. Given the current and past history between the football programs, mutual respect is warranted.
Of course, sharing respect also follows the tone maintained by Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney. As we wrote earlier, the seemingly very different men actually have much in common.
What we learned from the Clemson experts
On Trevor Lawrence: Those of us expecting the freshman phenom to crumble a bit under the pressure of a national title game and a complicated Saban defense may be surprised. The Clemson guys think he may “whiff on a blocking scheme or picking up a coverage” a few times but overall do not believe his performance will dip against the Tide.
Andrew Boardwine said,
"I don’t expect Trevor Lawrence to get rattled. The freshman has had a calm demeanor all season and he just doesn’t make too many mistakes.I think each game he has gotten better at different things … This postseason, in my opinion, has been huge for his development."
On the Clemson run game and offensive line: Alabama football fans probably know Clemson running back, Travis Etienne is much improved over last season. Despite that, the Clemson guys are not optimistic the Tigers’ run game will have much success.
"the offensive line (is) much improved. The unit has played a lot better for the most part, although I still wouldn’t call it an elite position group. They’ve been really good is pass-blocking, but haven’t been able to open holes in the running game."
Our Clemson counterparts don’t sugar-coat the fact Dabo’s Tigers will be challenged by the Alabama football passing game.
"The secondary has been a concern all season. It’s not particularly the corners. It’s the safeties and linebackers, particular in zone and one-on-one coverage.The Tigers have been very inconsistent in the secondary and if the defensive line can’t apply pressure, it could be a long night for the Tiger defense."
Frankly, we are somewhat surprised any Clemson person would use “if” when discussing the Tigers’ defensive line applying QB pressure. We expect them to try to get pressure with four and if they do, the suspect Clemson secondary will be much less vulnerable.
Clemson leads the nation in team sacks. If it can get pressure without being overly dependent on blitz packages, Tua (or Jalen) will be looking at some tight windows.
As they should, the Clemson writers feel confident their team is good enough to win. In our conversations, there were no predictions of an upset, but they expect the game to be close.
Alabama football fans may not realize the Clemson football team in 2019 is not the same team that had a tough time beating TAMU and Syracuse. Kelly Bryant was the starting QB against the Aggies and Trevor Lawrence was injured in the second quarter of the Syracuse game. And because of Lawrence, Clemson is definitely not the team Alabama football overwhelmed last season.
Looking for additional, detailed national championship game insight? Check out our several game predictions.