College Football Blitz: The rematch is on, Lane Kiffin won’t be there
By Jack Crosby
We’re getting the rematch for the national championship that everyone predicted, and how did the College Football Playoff ratings perform this year?
Not even as this college football season began, but even dating back to last January, many assumed that we would be getting a rematch for the national championship between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. Well, it’s time for those people to cash in on those bets.
This is where we begin the College Football Blitz for Monday, Jan. 2.
The Tide and the Tigers will do the thing one more time
The 2016 College Football Playoff semifinals took place over the weekend on New Year’s Eve, and while they were quite underwhelming contests to watch for the most part, they did give us what could be remembered as a rematch for the ages. On January 9, Alabama and Clemson will battle it out for the national championship for the second year in a row, this time in Tampa.
In the Peach Bowl to start the 2016 playoff slate, Alabama did to Washington what most thought they would — they dominated them. The 24-7 Crimson Tide win would be led by the punishing running outing for Bo Scarbrough, who torched the Huskies defense to the tune of 180 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. One of those two scores was this 68-yard scamper that had him looking less like the bulldozer that he is and more like 2005 Reggie Bush in some respects.
And of course, yes, the ‘Bama defense put on yet another stellar showing, limiting a good Washington offense to just seven points. And, yes, the defense scored another touchdown on a Ryan Anderson interception return. Alabama defense scoring a touchdown — we haven’t seen that at all this season, huh?
Then to close out this year’s College Football Playoff slate, Clemson beat Ohio State. End of story.
No, wait … that didn’t come out right. Let me try that again.
To close out this year’s College Football Playoff slate, Clemson punched Ohio State in the face repeatedly, then kicked them in the stomach a few times while they were down for good measure.
Saturday night, the ACC Champions imposed their will on both sides of the ball to hand Urban Meyer the worst loss of his career, as well as his first shutout. When Deshaun Watson and Co. were done, the Tigers set up the much-anticipated Alabama rematch in the title game with a 31-0 win. The Clemson defense will be seen in the nightmares of Ohio State for the foreseeable future, and Watson was his usual, amazing self, tossing for 259 yards and adding 57 rushing yards as well.
Monday night, a rematch for the ages is on.
Final Thought: It was another wild college football season filled with some parity as usual, but this is the national championship game that we deserve. After the classic these two put on last January out in Arizona, they’ve more than earned the right to entertain us all one more time –this time in Arizona– for all the marbles. Next Monday night cannot get here quick enough.
A little better viewership this time around
Last year the College Football Playoff made the bold move in its second year of existence by placing two of the most important games of the season on New Year’s Eve. Most expected a TV ratings disaster, and that’s exactly what we got, as the 2015 ratings saw a 35 percent drop from the inaugural season.
In 2016 we were getting these pivotal matchups on New Year’s Eve once again, so all eyes were on how they would perform this year, especially seeing as the games were played on a Saturday as opposed to a Friday last year. Well, the numbers are in and there was some improvement.
Alabama and Washington pulled in an overnight rating of 11.5, while the Clemson-Ohio State mauling brought in a 10.5. Both of these numbers are up slightly from the disappointing numbers that the 2015 semifinal games produced — but still not as good as the inaugural ratings, which again, were played on New Year’s Day.
Final Thought: Being played on a Saturday this time around may have played a hand here, but still, the New Year’s Eve experiment was a failure for two years, all things considered. I would definitely expect some better numbers going forward beginning next season.
Lane Kiffin … he gone!
Yeah, we’re gonna save the absolute best news for last. Monday, a somewhat bombshell was dropped as Alabama announced that offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin would be departing earlier than expected. He will not be coaching up the offense in the national title game next Monday, rather Steve Sarkisian will be making the calls in his place.
Kiffin was already on the way out of Tuscaloosa, having accepted the head coaching position at FAU recently. However, he was expected to stick with the Tide through their College Football Playoff run, and he was calling the plays in Saturday’s win over Washington in the Peach Bowl. That is where his Alabama journey ends, though, as they have decided to “mutually” part ways — if that’s something you want to believe.
Final Thought: It was time for this marriage to end, regardless of timing, as I explained here shortly after the news was announced.
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Bowl game stat of the day
Fiesta Bowl – 31-0
Sticking with the theme of the College Football Playoff, it has to be noted once again just how significant the Clemson win over Ohio State was. Many expected an offensive shootout between these two, but Clemson made sure that wouldn’t come close to taking place, coming away with the emphatic 31-0 win.
Urban Meyer is one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, without a doubt, and up until Saturday evening he had never walked away from a game without scoring a point. The pack of wolves that is this Tigers defense decided they wanted to re-write history, and they went out and did just that en route to their second consecutive national championship game appearance.