GOATS and Goats: Grading (Some of) the National Championship Players

Right, so the National Championship game had some heroes on both sides – and it had some G.O.A.T.S. and it had some goats. Don’t despair Alabama fans – not all your players were terrible, and don’t get too hot Clemson fans – some of your players were pretty ordinary.

So here we go:

EXCEPTIONAL

Trevor Lawrence (Clemson): As repeated ad nauseum on our Twitter page, Lawrence may look like a giraffe throwing a javelin, but boy, does he do it well. He wasn’t wonderful in the first quarter, but he warmed up and took Alabama apart. This was helped by some circus catches from his secondary, but heck, this was a Future Heisman Of 2019 performance.

Travis Etienne (Clemson): Etienne is one of those great Clemson running backs that can score a hat-trick but still look a little under-the-radar. His line? 86 yards, 3 TDs (2 running, 1 throwing). While Alabama kept him somewhat bottled up, they couldn’t cope with him in the last 20-30 yards in the field.

Justyn Ross (Clemson): Circus catch after circus catch, Ross was exceptional. 153 yards, 1 TDs off 6 catches, it was frightening what he did to Alabama’s secondary.

Jerry Jeudy (Alabama): Alabama’s danger man throughout the night, Jeudy had 139 yards and a 1 TD, and if Tua had thrown properly, he could probably have had more than one touchdown. He , we’ll be shocked if Jeudy doesn’t end up as one of the Tide’s all-time wide receivers.

Anfernee Jennings (Alabama): Despite the Crimson Tide’s woeful performance, Jennings caused a lot of trouble for Clemson’s offense, creating 3 solo tackles including a tackle for loss and a pass defended. His long arms will be used in the NFL for a long, long time.

Isaiah Simmons (Clemson): A destructive force wherever he went, Simmons ended the game as the game’s top tackler (9 tackles, 7 solo with 1 TFL).

Quinnen Williams (Alabama): Williams was doubled up almost all night long so we didn’t see the numbers from the Bar of Soap as we expected, but unlike his colleagues, Williams kept going until the end. If he goes to the Draft, he should be a Top 3 pick.

Brent Venables (DC, Clemson): This was an astonishing display by Venables’ defense, who was in Tagovailoa almost all night long. Every look seemed different and Alabama couldn’t seem to deal with it. They also bottled up Alabama’s running backs, too, limiting them to an average of 4.0 yards/carry. Everyone talks about how defense wins championships….and that held firm in this one. Venables is already the second-best DC in college football behind Dave Aranda (he earns $2.2 million), but make him the first, Dabo.

Dabo Swinney (Clemson): Venables may take a lot of the credit, but Swinney’s the CEO, and the CEO won a National Championship.

ORDINARY

Hunter Renfrow (Clemson): A guy who got the headlines as Clemson’s version of Rudy (and continues to do so), Renfrow did very little (2 receptions, 10 yards), apart from piss me off because Dabo didn’t go for 51 with a throw to him in the end-zone to give him my vaunted Jeudy/Renfrow TD double.

Jaylen Harris, Damien Harris, Josh Jacobs (Alabama): Alabama had 37 touches to Clemson’s 31, but the Tide couldn’t punch any of them into the end-zone. Maybe it was bad play-calling or may it was bad rushing, but this was very ordinary. Still, Josh Jacobs can grin this week – he’s become a new father.

The kickers (Clemson/Alabama): Both Greg Heugel (Clemson) and Joseph Bulovas (Alabama) missed extra points, but nailed field goals.

The refs: Missed a couple of pass interference calls (on either side) as well as most of the holding calls and a targeting call, but – especially in the case of the PIs – they seemed to let the game play.

QUITE MISERABLE

Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama): We expected more, honestly. The accuracy wasn’t there, and he missed some wide open attempts. Blame the ankle. Blame the hand. Blame anything you want, but head-wise, he just didn’t seem there.

ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE

Nick Saban (Alabama): This was a terrible game for Saban, and he admitted himself. The Tide didn’t execute anything very well, and he was outcoached by Dabo Swinney. He’ll replace Mike Locksley, and it’ll be interesting to see who he gets in. We hope it’s going to be Kliff Kingsbury, who has already had 3 jobs this offseason (fired from Texas Tech, hired by USC as OC, leaves USC to be hired by Arizona Cardinals as head coach)!!