The college football playoff  entered its third year this season,  featuring the four  powerhouses from across the country, and this year it was the Clemson Tigers who brought the title home!

   This year’s National championship game held in Tampa, Florida, was a rematch of the 2016 game. It was again featuring Alabama and Clemson the best two teams in the country. In part two of this rivalry, Clemson looked to beat Alabama and return the favor from last years game. Prior to the game junior Juliana Ortega-Mackenzie said,  “I am hoping that Clemson wins. I know that Alabama won last year, and they always seem to be on top so that’s why. I am not really a huge Clemson fan, but I would rather see them win then Alabama, again.”  

 Coming into the game Alabama was a touchdown favorite and in the first quarter they cashed in and got that 7 point lead on a 25 yard Bo Scarbrough rushing TD. Besides that the first quarter was tough defensive battle between the teams.

 The second quarter began with another big rush TD by Bo Scarbrough, this time going for 37 yards making it 14-0. After that touchdown, the Clemson offense responded big when Deshaun Watson capped the Tiger drive with an 8 yard TD run making the game 14-7 heading into halftime.

 The third quarter started on a 27 yard field goal by Alabama kicker Adam Griffith set up by a Clemson fumble, forced by Ryan Anderson. The field goal pushed the game to 17-7. Clemson responded though two drives later when Deshaun Watson connected with Hunter Renfrow for a 24 yard TD pass making the game 17-14. Out of a timeout with two minutes left in the third Alabama scored big when O.J. Howard caught a 68 yard TD pass from Jalen Hurts that blew the game back open and seemingly gave Alabama all the momentum and the 24-14 lead.

Clemson’s next drive and the first of the fourth quarter, they once again responded on a 72 yard drive that ended with a 9 yard pass to Artavis Scott from Deshaun Watson making the score 24-21. The teams then went back and forth playing strong defense and making stops on 5 straight drives before Clemson broke through again, and gained their first lead of  the game 28-24, on a Wayne Gallman 1 yard TD run. Just as soon as they gained the lead, Alabama took it right back going down the field in 2:30 minutes scoring on quarterback Jalen Hurts’ 30 yard rush TD. The score put Alabama on top 31-28 with only 2:07 minutes left in the game. With the game on the line. Deshaun Watson marched the ball down the field with big catches from his wide receivers and they found themselves on the Alabama 2 yard line with 6 seconds left. Then Deshaun Watson connected with Hunter Renfrow one more time and gave the Clemson Tigers the 2017 National Championship!

  There was a road they  had to take to get to the National Championship game, and this is what it looked like. The Crimson Tide played the Washington  in the Peach Bowl. Washington jumped out in front scoring the first touchdown of the game, but Alabama came back and scored 24 unanswered points and won by a final score of  24-7. The other semifinal game, the Fiesta Bowl, the Clemson Tigers came out ready against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Tigers scored  31 points in the game and  their defense shut down the high flying Buckeye offense and left them scoreless on the night and won 31-0. Both wins sent the teams to the National Championship game!