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CFP: Clemson Would be Alabama’s Biggest Test

By John Richardson

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Alabama claims 15 national championships and enters the College Football Playoff (CFP) for the second straight year with the eyes set on number 16.

Alabama was rolling in 2014 and appeared to be headed for another national championship.  In the CFP semifinal they faced Ohio State and jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first quarter.  With as well as Alabama’s defense had been playing, many thought it was all over but the crying.

The Buckeyes, as we all know, had other plans.  Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliott put on a stunning performance and led Ohio State to a 42-35 victory.  After pulling off the upset against Alabama, the Buckeyes went on to win the first ever CFP national championship against Oregon.

We now sit in a similar situation in 2015.  The Tide is again rolling, fresh off a dominating SEC Championship win against Florida.  Alabama has its flaws but no one outside of Ole Miss has been able to turn them into a victory against Nick Saban’s Tide all season.

If Alabama had it’s pick of teams to play in the College Football Playoff, I would have to imagine they’d prefer to play Michigan State and Oklahoma.

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Why?

I’m glad you ask.

Michigan State:  The Spartans have the 43rd ranked total offense and 46th ranked total defense.  While the Spartans win, they have needed a miracle or two to remain at one loss.  Don’t believe me?  Just check out the video below.  The Spartans are unimpressive but win.  This isn’t your typical Michigan State-Mark Dantonio defense and their offense is quite vanilla.  Alabama has to like their chances in that matchup.

Oklahoma:  The Sooners have the 10th overall total offense to go along with the 28th ranked total defense.  Both categories are significant improvements compared to Michigan State, but you also have to take conference into consideration.  There are 4 teams from the Big 12 inside the Top 10 of total offense.  Oklahoma isn’t even the third best offensive team in their own conference.  Again, Alabama has to like their odds if they are matched up with the Sooners.

Clemson:  The Tigers own the country’s 8th ranked total offense and 13th ranked total defense.  With both units in the top 15, Clemson easily stands out as the most impressive of the group.  But even more than that, it is the type of offense that Clemson runs that should have Nick Saban pulling for Oklahoma in their semifinal.  Clemson has a mobile quarterback to go with a slew of talented receivers.  Sounds a lot like the offenses that have beat Alabama the last two seasons: Ole Miss (twice) and Ohio State.

Be on the lookout for a preview of this game with a heavy emphasis on Deshaun Watson v the Alabama secondary.

Note: Alabama has the country’s 34th total offense and 3rd ranked total defense.

Next: SEC Football: Power Ranking the SEC East Coaches

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