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College Football Playoff Championship Game: Alabama vs. Clemson Preview
ESPN ^ | 1-6-2019 | Davbid Hale & Alex Scarborough

Posted on 01/06/2019 10:34:08 AM PST by blam

Clemson's Christian Wilkins will end his fourth and final season with the Tigers the same way he has ended each of the prior three: with a showdown against Alabama, and for the third time it comes in the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T (Monday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App).

"I guess the only comparison is the Rocky movies," he said. "I know after three it's a trilogy. But what's four?"

It's a good question, though it's doubtful Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney have spent much time researching it. The on-field questions, however, deserve plenty of attention.

Sure, this is a matchup between two teams that know each other pretty well by now. Alabama came back to beat Clemson for a national championship to cap the 2015 season. Clemson returned the favor in 2016. Last season, the Tide topped the Tigers in the Allstate Sugar Bowl before upending Georgia for another title. And there are plenty of holdovers from those three, from Wilkins to the coaches to the undeniable heavyweight fight comparisons. But a lot has changed, too, and so we're digging into the details -- and hopefully avoiding too many Rocky allusions -- to find out who has the advantage in Part IV of college football's biggest rivalry.

Alabama X factor: Safety Deionte Thompson will have his hands full with all of Clemson's receivers, but Hunter Renfrow is another animal. Thompson can ask his predecessor, Minkah Fitzpatrick, about that. Fitzpatrick, a first-round pick and perhaps the best defensive back ever to come through Tuscaloosa, was torched by Renfrow in the team's three previous playoff matchups, where he caught a combined 22 passes for 211 yards and four touchdowns, including the winner in 2016.

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: alabama; championship; clemson; football; southcarolina
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To: blam

In 1984, I stayed in a motel in Milpitas for $14 a night—and that was during a convention that attracted thousands to the area. I also stayed several times at the Palo Alto Inn, which became a Motel 6, for around $30 during that decade. Today, you can’t find anything in that area under three figures per night.


41 posted on 01/06/2019 10:12:18 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Although my team, USC hasn’t done all that well there recently, I like to go to the Sun Bowl so I can have steaks in El Paso and green chile in Mesilla, NM. And I like to go to the Las Vegas Bowl so I can have a soft taco at Tacos el Gordo on Charleston Blvd. and spaghetti and meatballs at Cugino’s Delicatessen on Maryland Parkway.


42 posted on 01/06/2019 10:19:34 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: nesnah

Very laugh worthy!


43 posted on 01/07/2019 5:54:19 AM PST by octex
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To: Fiji Hill
"Today, you can’t find anything in that area under three figures per night."

I bought a house in Campbell there in 1971 for $73,000. That's probably a million dollar house now.

44 posted on 01/07/2019 6:20:04 AM PST by blam
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To: nickedknack

Count me in on that preference.


45 posted on 01/07/2019 7:27:34 AM PST by tomkat
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To: nesnah
This will be a very fine competition between very gifted and athletic football teams comprised of truly committed student athletes endeavoring to complete their degrees with exceptional GPAs in highly difficult and challenging major courses of study.

You were drinking heavily when posting that, right ?   :-))

46 posted on 01/07/2019 7:29:51 AM PST by tomkat
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To: tomkat

The opposite of heavy drinking is the D T’s

Trevor Lawrence will be the winning factor

Clemson 31...........Alabama 28


47 posted on 01/07/2019 7:41:20 AM PST by advertising guy (The manliest man Obama knows is married to him.)
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To: tomkat

Total tongue in cheek.....and wishful thinking.


48 posted on 01/07/2019 7:49:32 AM PST by nesnah (Liberals - the petulant children of politics)
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To: nesnah

It’s very sad to contemplate that many of us grew up in a time when all that was mostly true.


49 posted on 01/07/2019 8:16:31 AM PST by tomkat
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To: advertising guy
Having a seeming psychological predilection for favoring the underdog is the primary reason I rarely make actual monetary bets !

Though admiring Bama's successes, if I had a $1k to burn I'd plunk it down on Clemson with fingers crossed   :-)

50 posted on 01/07/2019 8:21:10 AM PST by tomkat
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To: tomkat
"Though admiring Bama's successes, if I had a $1k to burn I'd plunk it down on Clemson with fingers crossed :-) "

You do remember that the last time Clemson beat Alabama was with 6 seconds on the clock and during an illegal 'pick' play.

51 posted on 01/07/2019 10:15:24 AM PST by blam
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To: tomkat

Ya had me at predilection


52 posted on 01/07/2019 10:27:31 AM PST by advertising guy (The manliest man Obama knows is married to him.)
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To: dfwgator
"Plus the field there is terrible. Expect a lot of players to be slipping and sliding."

They say the field is getting worse.

* We knew earlier in the week that the field is going to be a disaster; it’s only gotten worse.

* It’s the worst possible venue ever: Incredibly expensive, zero night life, disinterested techbros, zero casual fans, and a few thousand foreign peeps on an H1B Visa in the valley who have no idea what sport they’re even watching. But, hey, at least the stadium surface is infamous and conditions have been deteriorating by the hour!

53 posted on 01/07/2019 10:30:22 AM PST by blam
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To: blam
Roll Tide, Roll!!!


54 posted on 01/07/2019 11:02:58 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Boycott ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and NBC!)
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To: blam
Oh I undertand the improbability of it, and honestly have no feeling about Clemson one way or another aside from the above mentioned tendency to root for the underdog.

Blam, maybe it's better that the string ends tonight .. think of the suffering it might save you should it last another five or ten years .. just think what the letdown would be then !

In other news, hope you and the doggies are doin' well and that all of you enjoy the game tonight   :-)

55 posted on 01/07/2019 11:24:51 AM PST by tomkat
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To: blam; Alas Babylon!
.. but right there's a string that none of us want to see end, evah !  (re #54 ;-)
56 posted on 01/07/2019 11:26:49 AM PST by tomkat
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To: blam

I am from SC but I have to say: ROLL TIDE!!


57 posted on 01/07/2019 1:56:37 PM PST by MissEdie (I am South Carolina Strong.)
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To: Alas Babylon!

#themtoo!


58 posted on 01/07/2019 4:51:01 PM PST by Ken H (2019 => The House of Representin')
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To: blam

Showtime !


59 posted on 01/07/2019 5:17:05 PM PST by tomkat
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To: ps
.. as a PSU alum, I like Bama's uniforms in general but find the numbers on the helmets a tad garish   ;-)

Ruhroh > pick six !

60 posted on 01/07/2019 5:22:44 PM PST by tomkat
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