The end of the 2016 college football season arrives on Monday evening, with the highly anticipated rematch between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. As usual, Alabama enters the game as the betting favorite in the game, by as many as seven points, and Nick Saban's team is seen as the measuring stick for other programs across the country.
To that end, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney revealed what it would take to beat Alabama. In short, the team that he coaches is the only one with a chance.
This may sound unrealistic or overconfident from Swinney, but he might just have a point. Clemson provided Alabama with a big-time test in last season's National Championship game, as Deshaun Watson and company put up 40 points against a vaunted defense. While the Tigers haven't always played to that level this year, their upside was on full display in a romp over Ohio State, and Clemson is on the short list of teams with athletes that can even approach that of Alabama.
Is Alabama the more talented team from top to bottom? Absolutely. With that said, the Tigers are loaded from a roster standpoint and this is a rare situation in that the Crimson Tide will be facing a quarterback with no fear of their dominant defense. In fact, Clemson has the advantage at quarterback with talented skill players all over the place.
Clemson might not beat Alabama on the field and there would be no shame in that. Still, you'd have a hard time arguing that any other program in the country would have a better chance and Dabo Swinney might not be wrong.
