Before Monday night's rematch against Alabama, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said he knows what it takes to defeat a Nick Saban team.
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Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 in last year's national title game, and Swinney said the Tigers lost because of "little things."
"It's all about the little things in games like this, Swinney told AL.com. "If you go back to last year's game, it came down to some very basic things. It really wasn't the big things. We had the lead in the fourth quarter, first down on the plus-40 and we fumbled the exchange. Basic, basic things."
Clemson players and coaches have been eager for a rematch since losing to the Tide last season, and they might need another 400-yard, four touchdown performance from Deshaun Watson to win this year.
Watson said he and his teammates were ready for the challenge of facing Alabama again.
"It's a whole new year and a whole new team so we wanted to focus on our team," Watson said. "At the same time, it was always in the back of our head that it's going to take a little extra... We did pretty good. We played hard. They played hard too. We both made plays. We both made mistakes. We feel like we should have won the game but at the end, they won the game and they made the most plays and deserved it."
Clemson will have another chance at Alabama on Monday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m.
