On January 7th, 2019, the Clemson Bulldogs battled the Alabama Crimson Tide in the college football BCS National Championship Game. In what started off as a neck and neck race, ended up being what was the biggest blowout in a Championship game in 7 years. Going into the game, much of the media and college football analysts were very undecided on who would win. ESPN gave Alabama, the defending Champions, a 51.9% chance of winning the game.

The game started off just as expected, with both teams scoring right out of the gate. Less than 2 minutes had gone by before Clemson struck first, by intercepting a pass and returning it 44 yards to put Clemson up 7-0. Alabama then responded with a 65-yard touchdown pass just 75 seconds later to tie up the game. Another minute and a half later Clemson scored ANOTHER touchdown. All and all, there were already four touchdowns, in less than 10 minutes, which is unprecedented in football.

At the beginning of the 2nd quarter, there was the first lead change of the game, where Alabama finally pulled ahead with a field goal and was up 16-13. Little did anyone know at the time that those were the last points scored by the Crimson Tide because after the Bulldogs scored with 11:38 left in the 2nd quarter, they never looked back. Led by Freshman Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the Bulldogs scored three more times before halftime to take the lead 31-16 going into the half.

Coming into the 2nd half, Alabama knew they needed to start strong right out of the gate in order to keep the game close. They drove the ball downfield and decided to make a risky move and go for it on 4th and 6. Unfortunately, this risk did not pay off and they turned the ball over on downs. To make matters worse, Clemson scored another touchdown to extend their lead to 31. Alabama would get many more chances to try and turn the game around, but they had no avail and were shutout the entire second half. Not holding back, Clemson added on two field goals along with another touchdown ended the game with a final score on 44-18. Their win marks their 2nd CFB Championship in three years. This was a huge embarrassment for Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban, as this was the largest loss the Crimson Tide have faced under his leadership.

Overall, the future of the Clemson Bulldogs seems to be very bright. With their star Freshman Quarterback Trevor Lawrence and highly experienced head coach Dabo Swinney coming back next year, it seems very unlikely that there will be an opponent competitive enough to take them down.