The Clemson Tigers travel to the Bay Area to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the NCAA football championship game on Monday, January 7, w019 at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The Tigers defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the semifinals while the Crimson Tide beat the Oklahoma Sooners in their final four assignment. Both teams are unbeaten this season but only one will remain spotless on Monday as College Football decides it champion.
As expected, the Alabama Crimson Tide have rolled to the College Football Championship game with a double-digit win over the Oklahoma Sooners in their semifinal assignment. The Crimson Tide scored 31 points in the first half, en route to 45 total points in the game to score an 11-point win over the Sooners. The Crimson Tide have destroyed one opponent after another this season and now they are one win away from winning it all.
Tua Tagovailoa is at the helm of the Alabama offense. The second year man saved the Crimson Tide in last season’s title game and has been a dominant force ever since. Tagovailoa has thrown for 3,671 passing yards with 41 passing touchdowns while completing 88.9% of his passes. No question he is having one of the best seasons ever in college football and he is hoping to put a stamp on their unbeaten season.
The Clemson Tigers booked their ticket to the College Football championship game by blowing out the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a margin of 27 points in their semifinal game. The Tigers dominated the Irish and logged up 290 more total yards en route to a convincing win that set up this title game. Clemson has been touted all season long as the only team that is capable of dethroning Alabama. However, beating the Crimson Tide may be an entirely different story.
Freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been a standout for the Tigers as he’s completed 65.5% of his passes for a total of 2,933 passing yards with a total of 27 touchdowns and four interceptions on the season. Lawrence wasn’t the starter when this season began but will certainly be the one to finish it for Clemson.
Both Clemson and Alabama finished the season with an unbeaten 14-0 record. Head to head, these teams have face each other a total of four times with the Crimson Tide winning three of those games including the last one, a 24-6 victory on New Year’s Day in 2018.
These are the Top 2 teams in the nation and rightfully so, they are facing each other in the championship game. As we said earlier, Clemson has been touted all season long as the team that is capable of beating Alabama. But the Crimson Tide are #1 for a reason and head to head, Alabama is the slightly better team than Clemson.
The Tigers allowed the second fewest points per game in College Football at 13.7 points per game while the Crimson Tide scored the second most point per game this season at 47.7 points per game. Alabama was 14-0 SU and 8-6 ATS on the season, winning by an average winning margin of 31.5 points per game. On the other hand, Clemson looked vulnerable in a couple of games as they beat Texas A&M by just two points and Syracuse by just four. I think Clemson is going to have a tough time keeping up with Alabama. We’re picking the Alabama Crimson Tide to beat the Clemson Tigers on 1/7/19 and win this season’s National Championship.
Clemson was 8-6 ATS in 14 games played this season. The Tigers had a record of 5-1 ATS in six games played away from their home field. On the other hand, the Alabama Crimson Tide were also 8-6 ATS on the season. However, Alabama only had a record of 3-2 ATS in five games played away from their home field. Head to head, the Tigers are 2-1 ATS against the Crimson Tide.
The team that was closest to beating Alabama this season was Georgia in the SEC championship game where the Crimson Tide had to come back from a 14-point deficit to win the game. However, Alabama still won that game by a touchdown and their seven point victory over the Bulldogs was their lowest winning margin of season. Other than that, Alabama was virtually spotless and unchallenged. Prediction: Alabama -5.5
The total has gone under in eight out of the 14 games played by Clemson but the over was 4-2 in their six games away from home. On the other hand, the over was 9-5 in Alabama’s season and the Crimson Side saw the over hit in three out of their five games away from home. Head to head, the over is 2-1 in their previous three meetings.
This game features two of the Top 5 offenses in College Football this season. Tigers averaged 44.2 points per game this season while the Crimson Tide scored 47.7 points per game. Alabama has seen the total go over 60 points in twelve out of their 14 games played this season. On the other hand, the Tigers went over 60 points in just five of 14 games played this season. This is the fourth playoff meeting between these teams and each of the previous three games netted a total of above 60 points. With two powerhouse offenses, the Over is the play here. Prediction: Over 59.5
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