Monday’s National Championship came just short of marking the most points Alabama has given up under Nick Saban. The previous high was the 45 Oklahoma scored in the 2013 season’s Sugar Bowl, when Bama only scored 31 after missing out on a BCS Championship berth. The Tide had only given up 40 under Saban eight times entering Monday.
Clemson didn’t break the scoring record vs. Nick Saban’s Bama, but only because Dabo Swinney had mercy
45 remains the most points a team’s ever scored on Bama. Clemson got 44, but just because the Tigers were nice about it.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Clemson won, 44-16. The Tigers ended the game on a 14-play, 94-yard drive that took 10:02 off the clock and added with them letting the clock run out on Bama’s 5-yard line. If Dabo Swinney decided to not be nice about it, the Tide would’ve given up the most points they ever have under Saban. As it happened, they only took their most lopsided loss, by four TDs.
The total included one touchdown from the Tigers’ defense, but it’s still true that a) Bama’s defense almost never gets worked like this and b) points are points.
The Tide gave up 31 in the first half alone, matching their high under Saban. That, too, was set in the Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma after 2013.
The most points any Saban team has ever given up: 55.
On September 7, 1996, No. 1 Nebraska beat Saban’s Michigan State Spartans, 55-14. You can judge for yourself whether the “1996” or “No. 1 Nebraska” part of that sentence makes it feel like longer ago, but either way, Saban’s teams just don’t get hit up for this many points. They never did at Toledo, LSU, or the Dolphins, and now a new standard’s been set at Bama.
The last time someone even got to 40 against Saban was in 2016, when Ole Miss put up 43 but gave up 48. Before that, the last time was 2015’s National Championship against this same Clemson program, when the Deshaun Watson-piloted Tigers put up exactly 40.
Also, Clemson had 14 in the first quarter. In the last four seasons, Clemson’s done that against Bama twice. All other Bama opponents have done it zero times.
This is maybe the wildest fact of all, however:
Saban’s Tide were 4-4 when giving up 40-plus, entering Monday.
The losses were that Oklahoma Sugar Bowl, an Ole Miss game in 2015, the Ohio State Sugar Bowl semifinal after 2014, and an LSU game in 2007. In 2013, Johnny Manziel’s Texas A&M put 42 on the Tide in a losing effort.
So now they’re 4-5.
Oh, and Clemson did this with a true freshman QB who could absolutely wind up playing two more championship games against Bama.
Before this game, we’d identified eight ways this Tide-Tigers matchup was historic. Clemson’s dominance makes nine.
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