The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide will play the No. 3 Clemson Tigers for the 2016 National Championship. Here are the five keys to victory for Alabama.
Monday, Jan. 9 will be the date of the 2016 National Championship Game between the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (14-0) and the No. 3 Clemson Tigers (13-1). This is a rematch of the 2015 national title contest where Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 on January 12 in Glendale. The third annual College Football Playoff will be decided on the Raymond James Stadium gridiron in Tampa on Monday night.
Alabama hasn’t lost a football game in over a year. The Crimson Tide were a bastion of hope in an otherwise terrible season for the SEC in 2016. Alabama steamrolled just about every team it came across. No doubt this is the No. 1 team in the nation and the favorite to win the 2016 National Championship.
Alabama might be 14-0, but the Crimson Tide will face its toughest adversary in Clemson. Just because Alabama is the favorite doesn’t mean that the Crimson Tide are an overwhelming one. It’ll be tough sledding to knock off a team as talented as Clemson, but here are the five keys to victory for the Crimson Tide in the 2016 National Championship Game.
5. Get ArDarius Stewart involved in the game plan offensively
Alabama defeated the No. 4 Washington Huskies in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve 24-7, but even the most uneducated viewer could tell something was up with the Alabama offense. It looked listless for most of the first half.
Maybe that had a ton to do with former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin being distracted about his new gig with the Florida Atlantic Owls? A distracted Kiffin was bad news for the Alabama offense. Kiffin and Alabama agreed to part ways the week before the national title game. Alabama will be alright with Steve Sarkisian taking over play calling, though.
One troubling thing from Kiffin’s final game with Alabama was that he didn’t use his multifaceted wide receiver junior ArDarius Stewart at all. He had zero catches and two rushes for 10 yards in the national semifinals against Washington. How does that happen?
Stewart had been an explosive playmaker for the Alabama offense all season. He has 52 catches for 816 yards and seven touchdowns. Stewart got into the end zone one as a runner, and he is dynamic in the jet sweep game. Sarkisian may have his own idea for a game plan, but getting Stewart more than two touches has to be part of it.