MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – The celebration was both familiar and unique at the same time. The confetti cannons sent a crimson and white shower into the air, and Alabama players ran to the sidelines to grab their champion hats and T-shirts.
It’s a rite of passage if you’ve played for the Crimson Tide under coach Nick Saban.
This time, however, the band playing the fight song was a streaming sound recording, and when “Sweet Home Alabama” blared, there were only a few thousand Tide fans left in the stadium to sing along.
The last game of a college football season in a pandemic, a season uncertain to be played in the summer and full of disruptions in the fall, ended in the most predictable way: Alabama champions for the sixth time in the last 12 years under Saban .
DeVonta Smith was unstoppable, Najee Harris unstoppable, and Mac Jones flawless as top-ranked Tide won the College Football Playoff’s national championship game 52-24 against No. 3 Ohio State Monday night. They finished the year 13-0 – a full season where many wondered if it would be possible to play one.
“I think we are the best team that has ever played,” said Jones.
For Saban, it was career title No. 7 overall, a tie with Alabama’s great Paul “Bear” Bryant for the most severed by a major college coach.
“For me this is the ultimate team,” said Saban. “There is more togetherness in this team than in almost any team we have ever had. They’ve had so much to overcome and endure this season, and they’ve done a fantastic job. “
Ohio State (7-1) just couldn’t keep up. Justin Fields, who played perhaps his last game before going to the NFL, passed for 194 yards and a touchdown. Whether Fields was 100% after a brutal hit on the side in his brilliant semi-final against Clemson was hard to say for sure.
“I could be out there,” was all the junior quarterback would say.
On the Buckeyes’ first run, they lost the star while running back to Trey Sermon with an injury, and in a race they had to run at top speed, facing one of the big fouls in recent history, they sputtered too much. Ohio State has never allowed more points in a bowl game.
“I think there is a sense that if you don’t score, you fall behind and the pressure builds,” said Buckeyes coach Ryan Day of facing The Tide’s prolific attack.
Fans can argue which team in the Saban Dynasty is the best, but none will be more memorable than this group.
“Everyone is so together,” said Smith. Last year, people said the dynasty was over. We are not stopping. We just keep reloading. “
After playing for two full seasons without winning a national title, the Tide finished perfectly during a season that couldn’t be further from it. COVID-19 forced teams into quarantine every week and endless tests and uncertainty with matches played in mostly empty stadiums.
“For me, this team has accomplished more than almost any other team,” said Saban. “We had no disrespect for other teams, but this team won 11 SEC games. No other team has done that. They won the SEC and remained unbeaten in the SEC, then beat two great teams in the playoffs without a break. I think there will be quite a bit to write about the legacy of this team. “
Only about 15,000 fans were at the Hard Rock Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 65,326, to see the last stunning performance of Smith’s college career. The winner of the Heisman Trophy had 12 catches for 215 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half.
“Heaven knows what he would have done if he had played the whole game,” Saban said.
Using a series of moves and wrong directions, outgoing offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian spun heads of Ohio state to track Smith. At one point, he was suddenly linked to a linebacker, who he left in the dust for a 42 yards score to make it 35-17 with 41 seconds to go in the second quarter.
Smith, who finished his first season by catching the 2017 national championship-winning touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa, ended his Alabama career as the leading career receiver in Southeastern Conference history and the most outstanding attacking player of his third title game.
As for Sarkisian, he’s headed to Texas as a head coach. Longhorn fans must have loved what they saw. If only he could bring Smith and his fellow Heisman contenders to Austin.
Jones, who finished third in the Heisman ballot, was 36 for 45 for a CFP championship record 464 yards and five touchdowns. In one of arguably the most overlooked seasons a quarterback has ever played, Jones set a single season record for passer-by efficiency with 203.
Harris, who was fifth in the Heisman race, had 158 yards of scrimmage on 29 touches and scored three runs to give him an SEC record of 30 touchdowns this season.
Smith barely played in the second half and left with an injury. He returned to the sidelines in the fourth quarter with his right hand wrapped around the wrist, two fingers taped together and a Heisman mask on.
Alabama barely missed him, creaking 50 in the early part of the fourth quarter when Harris went out from a yard untouched.
Smith and Harris surprised some by returning to college for their senior years after last season.
Boy, did it turn out to be worth it. Along with Jones, another member of that 2017 recruiting course, they will leave Alabama as the leaders of a team that has managed to make a tough march through the pandemic seem easy.
“We all had a mission to end things the right way,” said Smith. “We all got to work and it ended the way we wanted.”
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