NATIONAL CELEBRATION: CLEMSON ROLLS THE TIDE UP IN A CARPET AND GOES TONY SOPRANO ON THEIR ASS

And so we laugh, sing, dance or anything...anyway that you celebrate the death of the wicked witch....the evisceration of Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide who were, before this Trevor Lawrence and Brent Venables-led mutilation, the "greatest team in college football history" and who could argue?
      Their Heisman trophy runner-up quarterback never had to play a 4th quarter until the last two games of the season, they were up by so many points. He threw for an outrageous behemoth amount of touchdowns, yards and tossed about as few  incompletions as he did interceptions: Tua Tagovaiola may have just had the most efficient quarterbacking season in college football history, too.
      Alabama even shut out LSU, during a night game in Death Valley....completely shut them out....this team survived the adversity of the SEC championship game and the Georgia Bulldogs rabid with revenge from last year's title game escape and with some selflessness, the battered Tua and the willingness of Hurts to come in and lead his team to victory. This was all exemplary proof of 2018 Alabama being potentially Satan's (sp? oh what the  hell) greatest team ever.
       And to cap it off, they could've been at the top of the mountain, definitively, by being the first 15-0 team since college football mattered outside of a few East Coast elite schools and before they even had mixed race teams (1936).
      Instead, what happened should go down as easily the greatest national title game performance by a team in the history of any title game. This is an Alabama program that is ruthless with success, touting their complete foot to the throat ethics and their hard work in the off-season that prepares them to win the biggest, toughest and most brutal of contests....and yet they ran into something bigger, better, faster and harder coached.
      Clemson were the worst match-up for this top heavy, arrogant defense led by Quentin Williams who looked just as gassed as he did against Georgia and Oklahoma.  Clemson wanted to run Alabama into the ground and despite a few quick scores early that deviated from this plan, they did (you never drop points against Alabama and you never let off of the gas pedal when you've got them on the ropes, no matter what the game plan is).
       Dabo made sure Trevor Lawrence stayed on the Tide's ass after the interception for a touchdown and the early bomb gave them a 14-7 lead (Tua responded with his own bomb after the Clemson pick-six). Even after Alabama reclaimed another touchdown to make it 14-13, they put a question mark on their backs with an embarrassing extra point miss and then proceeded to let Clemson grind them. Now, The Clemson tigers had them on the ropes truly and were sinking the paw into Alabama as Travis Etienne finished off an outrageous 3 and a half minute drive with a walk in touchdown.

       The most insane half of national championship football since the first half of Florida State v Auburn in 2014, ended with another Tua interception and another Clemson touchdown to cap it off, with 14 points from 2 turnovers proving deadly for Alabama's chances to come back or have any foothold in the contest.  Lawrence routinely burned them with 3rd and 9 completions to Hunter Renfro and Etienne continued to rip through the weary Alabama defensive line like they were Dunder Mifflin paper.
       We saw Alabama players getting away with obvious targeting penalties, none of which were even looked at as more than a football play (four LSU players would've been removed from this game if it were LSU playing). We witnessed a disgusting moment, reminiscent of the way Alabama went after Murray's head in the Oklahoma game, where they slammed Lawrence's head into the turf as he went down from an intense hit. Lawrence got straight up and glared at the Alabama player who did it and refused to back down, much to their dismay and took the cheap shot in stride. It was obvious frustration from Alabama's defense as they gave up 135 on the ground and 347 in the air to Clemson, total surrender.

       Throughout the first half, Tua responded to the adversity with two incredible touchdown throws that set his team up in a fine position in the fight, yet thanks to their awful special teams that missed the aforementioned extra point and then proceeded to boot a kickoff out of bounds  (setting up a Clemson drive that tired the Alabama front and set up the field goal to make it 31-16 at half.
        I expected Alabama to come out for the second half ready to play with a fury we hadn't seen from a Saban team before; we were waiting for Tua to air it out again to Jeudy deep; we were thinking Saban would roll the dice some more on 4th downs and keep feeding the feverish Josh Jacobs.
       We thought wrong.
       Instead, we saw the most complete and utterly dominant showing from a defensive line in the national championship game's history. It must be said...this was an all time performance by Brent Venables' Clemson defense. Led by Christian Wilkins, Xavier Thomas and Clelin Ferrell (absolute future NFL stars) the Paw combined for only 2 sacks (with the cornerback, Trayvon Mullen getting the only full sack for Clemson's defense, though both were of great importance), yet the most eye-popping stat is the 7 tackles for loss.   Look at who they're dominating....these guys are all future NFL players and Clemson made them look straight up Disney channel.

Dabo Swinney deserves to be named as the best college football coach in the country, at least for a full year.

      Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables went after Tua all night, with crushing, devastating and vicious blows delivered to Tua, including one where Clemson's rampant front knocked the ball out of his hands after a low shot to Tago's thighs late in the 2nd that sent a clear message of intent.
      By the time Alabama were down 44-16 and Tua was wrapped up on the five on yet another fourth and goal try, Clemson had won the game. It was already over by the beginning of the fourth and Saban didn't look furious, He wasn't screaming.....he looked numb.
       Seeing Saban and his greatest  Alabama team get lit up on the national stage, at the apex of the season, by their biggest rival in modern times is one of the most satisfying and humiliating defeats I can remember. It's like the world's obsession with seeing the Patriots, Yankees, Donald Trump and the Cowboys all lose at once to the second power, such was last night's extra-late Xmas present for anyone who has a soul.

      And hell yes is this great for college football...and frankly, The world.