Crimson Tide swallows up the Buckeyes; Alabama cruises to the National Championship, 47-7

Glendale, Arizona could not ask for a better match-up for the BCS National Championship than the rabid fan bases of #2 Alabama and #5 Ohio State.  And Alabama fans were foaming at the mouth for another championship.  Appearing in six of the last seven Football’s Final Fours is quite a feat for the Crimson Tide, but a sole national title, a 21-2 win over LSU four seasons ago, has Bama fans wanting more crowns.

To win it all, Alabama would have to oust Urban Meyer’s Ohio State Buckeyes.  In 2009-2010, Nick Saban and the Tide were denied a title by Meyer’s Florida team lead by Tim Tebow.  After beating Florida in the SEC Championship showdown of undefeateds, Alabama received their comeuppance in the Semi-Finals, losing the rematch to Florida.  

This time, it was Saban’s team who started on all cylinders.  After finishing the scoring with a kickoff return for a touchdown in the Semi-Finals against Stanford, Alabama’s Kenyan Drake returned the opening kickoff 100 yards to get the Tide fans rolling.  Six minutes later, Bama QB Jake Coker hit Calvin Ridley on a 14 yard pass TD play to put the Buckeyes in an early hole.

Alabama unveiled a bit of trickery in the second quarter, with Heisman winning running back Derrick Henry throwing his first ever collegiate pass to O.J. Howard for a 16 yard TD play, and Alabama held Ohio State scoreless to take a 21-0 lead to the locker room. 

The second half showed no sign of change, and Henry added a 1-yard TD plunge to extend the lead in the third.  The fourth quarter was an absolute Tide deluge, as Alabama added another Henry TD, two field goals, and a 43 yard interception return for a score, and Bama was up 47-0.

Ohio State finally added a Braxton Miller TD run, but this night belonged to Alabama, as they cruised to a 47-7 BCS National Championship win.

The SEC returned to the top of the college football world after three seasons of non-SEC winners.

FINAL TOURNAMENT RESULTS!:

FIRST ROUND:

In Shreveport, LA:
7 Iowa 16
10 Houston 34
 
In Chicago:
8 Notre Dame 28
9 Texas Christian 30
 
BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):

Orange: 
1 Clemson 37
9 Texas Christian 22
 
Sugar: 
4 Oklahoma 17
5 Ohio State 31

Peach: 
2 Alabama 38
10 Houston 8

Rose:
3 Michigan State 0 
6 Stanford 29


SEMI-FINALS in San Antonio

1 Clemson 40
5 Ohio State 42

2 Alabama 45
6 Stanford 36
 
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP in Glendale, Arizona

2 Alabama 47
5 Ohio State 7

San Antonio Semi-Finals: Ohio State nips Clemson, Alabama rallies past Stanford

The Alamodome was the perfect place for a couple of real San Antonio shoot-outs in the Semi-Finals of the BCS National Championship Tournament.  And Texas Christian QB Trevone Boykin must not have been serving as local tour guide for the teams, because the players found no trouble along the RiverWalk.

In the spirit of “quality over quantity,” three of the Power Five conferences had only a single tournament team, but the lone representative of the ACC, SEC, and Pac-12 all made it to Football’s Final Four.  Of course, quantity didn’t hurt the Big Ten, with three teams in the tournament, and Ohio State, the one that didn’t win a division, also makes the trip to San Antone. 

GAME 1: #5 Ohio State 42, #1 Clemson 40

Compared to the second game, these were a couple of relative newbie programs to Football’s Final Four.  It was the first appearance for the top seeded Tigers of Clemson, and the first time in five years, and first time for coach Urban Meyer, for Ohio State. 

The talented troupe of Buckeyes that Urban Meyer has assembled was ready for the task.  Michael Thomas 15 yard pass reception from J.T. Barrett gave OSU the early lead.  But unlike a jittery first half in their Orange Bowl win against TCU, Clemson responded immediately.  Deshaun Watson hit Hunter Renfrow with a 31 yard TD pass midway through the first, then ended the frame with a 11 yard pass to Renfrow.  Clemson entered the second quarter leading 14-7, and would take that lead to halftime after a scoreless.

Halftime, 14-7?  San Antonio was supposed to be filled with shootouts!  Well, the shootout was coming, don’t worry.    OSU QB Barrett hit Michael Thomas on a 50 yard TD pass play to tie, the game, and the Buckeyes struck again on an Ezekiel Elliott 1 yard TD run, to give Ohio State a 21-14 lead.   But Clemson fought back, with a Greg Huegel field goal, followed by Wayne Gallman’s 1 yard TD run, and the Tigers regained the 24-21 lead. 

But Clemson gave up too many big plays in the fourth quarter.  J.T. Barrett’s 13 yard TD run gave the lead back to Ohio State to start the fourth quarter fireworks.  Tigers kicker Huegel‘s 31 yard field goal narrowed the OSU lead to 28-27.   Elliott ran in another 1 yard TD run, though, and the Buckeyes lead by 8.  Artavis Scott caught a 15 yard TD strike from Deshaun Watson, but Watson’s run on a two-point conversion came up short, in a key play for Clemson.  

With just over a minute to go, OSU QB Barrett ran it in from 5 yards out, and things looked good for the Buckeyes with a 9 point lead.  Clemson was not done though, and Watson threw a 24 yard TD pass to  Jordan Leggett with 12 seconds remaining.

Clemson’s last chance onside kick was recovered by Ohio State, and the Buckeyes held on to the 42-40 victory.  Urban Meyer returns to familiar territory, the BCS Championship Game, but this time with OSU.

GAME 2: #2 Alabama 45, #6 Stanford 36

Here are two teams familiar with being in Football’s Final Four.  Alabama’s 6 trips over the past 7 years are truly impressive, and Stanford’s 4 appearances over the last six seasons also is quite a feat.  In their only head to head over this period in the Semi-Finals, Stanford shocked Alabama three years ago.  With that history in place, plus Bama’s Heisman winner Derrick Henry facing Cardinal Heisman runner-up Christian McCaffrey, fans expected a great second act on Semi-Final day.

And Tide running back Henry showed his skills early, with a 50 yard touchdown run to start the scoring.  But the Cardinal were not backing off, and McCaffrey scored on a 75 yard pass from Kevin Hogan to tie the score.  Hogan added an 8 yard TD run, and Stanford had the lead at the end of the first quarter, 14-7.

The second quarter belonged to the Crimson Tide.  Henry’s 1 yard TD run and an O.J. Howard 53 yard reception from Jake Coker put Bama up at halftime, 21-14.  But the pendulum swung back to Stanford after the break.  Quenton Meeks 66 yard interception return tied the game, and then McCaffrey’s 63 yard punt return for TD put Stanford back on top, 29-21. 

Alabama’s Adam Griffith 33 yard field goal brought the game closer in the fourth quarter, but his subsequent onside kick recovered by the Crimson Tide brought the house down.  Two plays later, Coker’s 51 yard pass Howard pushed the pendulum way back to Bama, and they lead 31-29.  Henry added another 1 yard TD run, and pushed the lead to 9.  Austin Hooper 10 yard TD pass reception from Hogan cut the lead to 2, but Kenyan Drake’s 95 yard return on the ensuing kickoff gave Alabama the final cushion they would finish with, a 45-36 victory. 

Nick Saban and Urban Meyer will meet again, this time in the BCS Championship Game, and Alabama will try to win their first title since 2011-2012.

UPDATED TOURNAMENT RESULTS!:

FIRST ROUND:

In Shreveport, LA:
7 Iowa 16
10 Houston 34
 
In Chicago:
8 Notre Dame 28
9 Texas Christian 30
 
BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):

Orange: 
1 Clemson 37
9 Texas Christian 22
 
Sugar: 
4 Oklahoma 17
5 Ohio State 31

Peach: 
2 Alabama 38
10 Houston 8

Rose:
3 Michigan State 0 
6 Stanford 29


SEMI-FINALS in San Antonio

1 Clemson 40
5 Ohio State 42

2 Alabama 45
6 Stanford 36
 
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP in Glendale, Arizona

2 Alabama
5 Ohio State

Sugar Bowl: Ohio State wins The marquee game; defeats Oklahoma 31-17

The Sugar Bowl between #4 seed and Big XII champion Oklahoma and #5 at-large invite Ohio State was the game circled on many tournament brackets since selection Sunday.  Many see the winner of this game to have a legitimate shot at the National Championship.

During the first drive of the game, Oklahoma’s offense showed the electricity that made them a popular choice to win the title.  Behind Samaje Perine runs, and Baker Mayfield passing, the Sooners moved right down the field, until Perine ran it in for 1 yard out for the touchdown.  But Ohio State was up for the task, and running back Ezekiel Elliott’s big day started with a 2 yard TD run.

After the 7-7 first quarter, scoring alternated in a fast paced finish to the first half, as an Elliott 1 yard run was followed by a Sooner Austin Seibert 22 yard field goal.  Then another Elliott 1 yard run, followed up by a Mark Andrews 11 yard pass from Mayfield continued the back and forth scoring.  OSU led at halftime 21-17.

But the Buckeyes imposed their will in the second half, holding Oklahoma scoreless, as Elliott added a 47 yard TD in the third quarter and Buckeye kicker Sean Nuernberger hit a fourth quarter field goal.

The marquee game’s plot fizzled in the second half, but the story line coming out of this game was that Ohio State is a team to watch in this tournament, and fears no others.

UPDATED TOURNAMENT RESULTS!:

FIRST ROUND:

In Shreveport, LA:
7 Iowa 16
10 Houston 34
 
In Chicago:
8 Notre Dame 28
9 Texas Christian 30
 
BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):

Orange: 
1 Clemson 37
9 Texas Christian 22
 
Sugar: 
4 Oklahoma 17
5 Ohio State 31

Peach: 
2 Alabama 38
10 Houston 8

Rose:
3 Michigan State 0 
6 Stanford 29


SEMI-FINALS in San Antonio

1 Clemson
5 Ohio State

2 Alabama
6 Stanford
 
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP in Glendale, Arizona

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Rose Bowl: Stanford, McCaffrey throttle Michigan State, 29-0

Was it a two year pent up grudge for the Rose Bowl loss to Michigan State 24-20?  Or a desire to show that Heisman runner-up Christian McCaffrey was the nation’s best player?  No matter the reason, #6 Stanford rock, rattled, and rolled to their fourth Football’s Final Four over the past six seasons with a convincing win over the Spartans.

From the start, McCaffrey ran, punt returned, and pass recept-ed all over the Spartans defense.  The only redeeming factor was that the Spartans defense initially kept the Cardinal out of the end zone.   Stanford kicker Conrad Ukropina hit 4 first half field goals, 2 in the first quarter and a pair in the second, while the Spartans offense sputtered, and the Cardinal led 12-0.  But a bit of trickery gave Stanford a chance to cross the goal line.  With 8:22 left in the half, Stanford QB Kevin Hogan faked a fumble and then found Michael Rector in the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown.  The Cardinal were cruising with a 19-0 halftime lead.

Unusual for a Mark Dantonio team, #3 Michigan State could not find a way to stick around score-wise to have a punchers chance at the end with their proclivity to scratch and claw out key wins.  In their third straight tournament, the Spartans had never been ousted in their first game, and losses like last season’s 1-point Sugar Bowl defeat to Alabama certainly demonstrated their grit.  But today, Stanford owned all the moxie.

In the third quarter, another Ukropina 31 yard field goal, followed by a 42 yard pass from Hogan to Rector finished the scoring.  Stanford finished up a 29-0 defeat of Michigan State to return to the Semi-Finals in San Antonio, and a match-up with Alabama.

Whether it is Jim Harbaugh or David Shaw at the helm, or Andrew Luck or Kevin Hogan under center, Stanford has been amazingly consistent.  Over the past six seasons, five Rose Bowl appearances, four Rose Bowl victories/Final Four berths, and one championship game appearance.  They hope to take the next step this season, and win another game in Pac-12 country, at the National Championship game in Arizona.

Peach Bowl: Alabama’s World of Coker cools Houston’s hopes; Tide rolls, 38-8

 

Ask Alabama about how they like the new tournament inclusion of Atlanta as a bowl site, and they will respond it is just peachy.  Alabama’s aura that they are the team to beat this year was solidified, as the Crimson Tide crushed a game Houston team.

 

Early Houston turnovers cost the Cougars, and contributed to Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry’s 1 yard TD score to give Bama an early lead, followed by Tide kicker Adam Griffith’s 47 yard field goal.  The first quarter ended with the Cougars down by 10.  And the Jake Coker was just beginning.  Coker hit Calvin Ridley with a 6 yard TD pass, and Alabama cruised to a 17-0 halftime lead. 

 

In the second half, Alabama special teams joined the domination act, scoring on a Cyrus Jones 57 yard punt return.  Believe it or not, Ridley caught a 50 yard TD pass from Coker.   Houston finally garnered some points as Chance Allen’s 17 yard TD pass from Greg Ward Jr, but Bama was ahead at the start of the 4^th quarter, 31-8.

 

Derrick Henry 11 yard TD run in the 4^th finished the scoring, in Alabama’s clear victory statement.  The Tide’s 38-8 victory earned them a trip to the San Antonio Semi-Finals to play the winner of the Rose Bowl.

Orange Bowl: Top seed Clemson’s strong second half downs TCU, 37-22

Though they are the top seed, Clemson’s road to a national title will not be an easy Sunday ride in the country.  The first stop on the journey was an Orange Bowl against the defending champions from Texas Christian.  The ninth seeded Horned Frogs proved they will be a tough out when they executed a comeback in the First Round to eliminate Notre Dame. 

Clemson seemed a bit tight early, and throughout the first half, concern that a “Clemsoning" was eminent seemed to occasionally wash over the faces of the Tiger faithful.  Clemson scored the only points of the first quarter on a Greg Huegel 26 yard field goal.  In the second quarter, Tiger QB Deshaun Watson’s 5 yard TD run increased the lead, but TCU quickly answered on Emanuel Porter 7 yard TD reception on a pass from Bram Kohlhausen to keep it close.  Huegel added two more field goals but TCU’s QB Kohlhausen ran in a TD from 8 yards out to narrow the score to 16-14, the halftime score.

But Clemson asserted their dominance and justified their seed in the second half.  Wayne Gallman’s 1 yard TD rush and Deshaun Watson’s 35 yard pass to Hunter Renfrow pushed the Tiger lead to 30-14 in the third.  Clemson’s defense continued to limit TCU, and Gallman added a 4 yard TD run to give a comfortable Clemson cushion of 37-14.  A late TCU TD narrowed the final score to 37-22, but the Horned Frogs title defense season ended, and Clemson moves on to the San Antonio Semi-Finals with hopes of being the new champions.

First Round Shreveport: Become a Houston nut! Ten-seed Cougars upend Iowa, 34-16

Over the past three seasons, when the tournament withdrew the automatic bid to the Big East/AAC and gave it to the highest ranked champion among the "Group of Five" conferences, that champion has come in as the tenth seed, but not easy pickin's for their Power Five opponents.  Two seasons ago, Missouri needed two touchdowns in the last three minutes to defeat #10 seed Central Florida by 1.  And last season, #10 seed Boise State defeated Mississippi State and #2 Florida State on their way to Football's Final Four.

As 61 degrees and clear skies enveloped Shreveport, throngs of excited Hawkeye fans joined the Cougar faithful at Independence Stadium.   But of the teams on the field, Houston seemed to be the joyous, carefree side of the gridiron.  Though Iowa’s team included noticeably larger physical specimens, the quick Cougars, such as QB Greg Ward Jr seemed to have all the right moves to get between and around Hawkeye defenders in the open field.  So when Ward scooted into the end zone from 7 yards out, one could sense that this game may not be won by strength, but stealth.  Houston fans cheered, and the Cougars danced on the sidelines like kids at Chuck E Cheese. 

 

The Cougar fun continued as wide receiver Demarcus Ayers lofted a 20 yard pass to a wide open Chance Allen in the end zone, followed by another Ward TD run, and Houston took a 21-0 lead to the halftime locker room.

 

Houston’s offense sputtered in the third, and one wondered if their magic was dissipating, but Iowa could only muster a field goal in the third.  But despite a 21-3 lead, a sense of nervousness emanated from the Cougar fan sections.  And early in the fourth, Matt VandeBerg’s 36 yard TD reception pass from C.J. Beathard brought Iowa within 21-9.

But throughout the fourth, Houston’s offense resumed having an answer for every Hawkeye advance.  Two Houston field goals and a touchdown run were able to answer another Hawkeye TD, and Houston eased to a 34-16 victory.

 

Houston moves on to the Peach Bowl to take on second seeded SEC champ Alabama.

First Round Chicago: No Boykin, no problem; TCU comeback shocks Notre Dame, 30-28

The story line of the defending national champion #9 Texas Christian team travelling to Chicago to play a strong #8 Notre Dame team that lost heartbreaking games to Clemson and Stanford should have been that the winner would be a dark horse candidate to stir things up in the college football tournament.  Instead, the suspension of TCU star QB Trevone Boykin days before the game stole the headlines.  Certainly, taking Boykin away from the Horned Frogs and having to play in December-y Chicago would provide an immense hurdle for TCU.

And it certainly was typical December Saturday in Chicago, but at 30 degrees and no precipitation, it was neither a frozen tundra nor pelting rain (that Louisville and Northern Illinois experienced during a First Round game in recent years).  But Notre Dame seemed on their game early while TCU played to the script of being out of sorts.  The first quarter saw the Irish take the lead on a Josh Adams 3 yard TD run, followed in the second quarter by a DeShone Kizer 1 yard TD run, and Notre Dame was in 100% control with a 14-0 lead at the half.

TCU finally hit a field goal in the third quarter, but when Kizer hit Chris Brown on a 4 yard TD pass, the Notre Dame 21-3 lead seemed as safe as a pot of gold at the rainbow’s end.  Even when TCU QB Bram Kohlhausen tossed a 26 yard TD pass to Jaelan Austin, it seemed like a temporary blip on a dominant ND defensive performance.  However in the waning moments of the third quarter, Kohlhausen’s 2 yard TD run brought TCU within 21-17, and nervousness  began to bubble up among the Irish faithful. 

But when the fourth quarter scoring started with a Will Fuller 81 yard TD reception pass from Kizer, the ND fans certainly had to think luck was on their side, with a 28-17 lead.  But TCU answered with a Jaden Oberkrom 34 yard field goal, and later when the Horned Frogs’ Aaron Green scored from two yards out to narrow the lead to 28-27, the Soldier Field crowd knew nails would be bitten in the final minutes.  With 3:08 to play, Oberkrom hit a 22 yard field goal, and TCU took their first lead, 30-28.  An ineffective Irish offense never came close to putting ND in a position to score, and Texas Christian’s hope to repeat as champions were alive, as the Irish’s hopes of a spoiler role were dashed.

Texas Christian moves on the Orange Bowl to face the top seeded, undefeated Clemson Tigers.