Note: The following appears in the South Carolina football gameday program.
Editor’s Note – Last season, Dabo Swinney became the winningest coach in Clemson history when he led the Tigers to a win over Notre Dame. It was his 166th career win, one more than Frank Howard had between 1940-69. In each gameday program this season, Tim Bourret reviews an important victory in Swinney’s head-coaching career. Today, we recall Clemson’s win over Alabama that gave the Tigers the 2018 national title.
To win its second national championship in three years, Clemson had to defeat the two schools with the most national titles since the poll era began in 1936 in the College Football Playoff. The Tigers started the journey with a 27-point victory over eight-time national champion Notre Dame in the semifinal, the Cotton Bowl at Arlington, Texas.
To win the national championship, Dabo Swinney’s team had to defeat 17-time national champion Alabama. The Crimson Tide had already won five national titles since 2009 and was ranked No. 1 in the nation in every poll in 2018.
Entering the championship game, both teams were dominant, winning 12 games by 20+ points, and they were the only two teams in the nation with an average victory margin over 30 points per game. In fact, Alabama was winning by 31.4 points per game, and Clemson was winning by 31.3 points per game.
Clemson wasted little time taking the lead, but it did so in an unusual way. On Alabama’s first possession, sophomore cornerback A.J. Terrell stepped in front of Jerry Jeudy for an interception and sped 44 yards for a touchdown.
Alabama came right back on the ensuing possession and scored in just three plays, capped by a 62-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Jeudy, who had won the Biletnikoff Award in December.
The scoring continued on the next possession when Clemson executed its own 62-yard pass play. On third and 14, Trevor Lawrence found Tee Higgins on a 62-yard reception to the Alabama 17, then Travis Etienne raced around left end on the next play to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead.
The Crimson Tide then marched to a touchdown drive that culminated with a one-yard pass from Tagovailoa to Hale Hentges.
Clemson could not hold serve on its next possession, and Alabama drove 45 yards in 11 plays, a drive that took 6:07 off the clock, to take a 16-14 lead on a 25-yard field goal by Joseph Bulovas.
The Tiger offense regained the lead on the next drive when Etienne scored on a one-yard run to end a 65-yard drive. A key play took place on the following drive when Tagovailoa threw a long pass into double coverage. Trayvon Mullen intercepted the ball and the junior, who was named the game’s most valuable defensive player, returned the theft 46 yards to the Alabama 47. Eight plays later, the Tigers took a two-score lead when Lawrence executed a five-yard shovel pass to Etienne.
After Clemson held a 31-16 halftime lead, Alabama opened the second half with a five-minute drive to the Clemson 22. On fourth and six, Head Coach Nick Saban called for a fake field goal. Reserve quarterback and holder Mac Jones took the snap and tried to run up the middle, but he was stopped by Nyles Pinckney for a two-yard loss.
On the ensuing drive, Lawrence completed another third-down pass, this time to Justyn Ross, and the freshman from Alabama, who narrowed his recruiting choices to Clemson and Alabama, sped 74 yards for a touchdown, the longest pass play in school history in a bowl game. Ross finished the game with 155 receiving yards.
On the night, Lawrence completed 8-11 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns on third down. Ross’ score gave the Tigers two players wearing #8 a touchdown (Terrell also wore #8), just the second time that two Tigers with the same jersey number scored a touchdown in a game.
The Tigers scored again in the third quarter on a 12-play, 89-yard drive that came immediately after another fourth-down stop by the defense in the red zone. Lawrence connected with Ross twice on the drive thanks to circus catches by the freshman.
Lawrence completed his third touchdown pass of the night on a five-yard slant to Higgins, who made a leaping reception in the back of the endzone. It gave the Tigers a 44-16 lead with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.
That would be the final score, as Clemson ran out the last 10:02 off the clock. The non-scoring 94-yard drive was the longest in terms of time of possession in Tiger history.
Nothing could have brought a bigger smile to the face of Swinney as the final 39 seconds ticked away. Clemson handed Alabama a 44-16 defeat, and the 28-point difference was twice as large a defeat as Saban had suffered at Alabama.
