CHAPTER 1 TYING THE BEAR When the College Football Playoff CFP began in 2014 fans could count on two things Alabama was going to be there And the Crimson Tide were going to be the favorite to win it all Winning was the norm under head coach Nick Saban But just before he took over the Tide were in rough shape They struggled on the field having not won a national title since 1992. Off the field sanctions in place from recruiting violations lingered as well That all changed under Saban He arrived in 2007 and in the 2009 season the Tide won the Bowl Championship Series BCS National Championship Game They won again in the 2011 and 2012 seasons Although Alabama fell just short in 2013 and 2014 the first year of the CFP it bounced back to win another national title in 2015 By the 2016 season Alabama was primed to win its second straight national title and fifth in eight years But the Clemson Tigers had other ideas The two Southern powers squared off in a Nick Saban resurrected the Alabama 4 football dynasty after he arrived in 2007
Minkah Fitzpatrick 29 was the leader of Alabama's hard hitting defense in 2017 tense national title game Alabama took the lead with 2:31 to play only to see Clemson storm back The Tigers scored a touchdown with one second to play to win it 35-31 So the Tide went into 2017 looking for revenge Sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts was coming off a great season Hurts had thrown 23 touchdown passes as a freshman On defense the Tide were led by future National Football League NFL first round draft 6 pick defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick
Alabama once again tore through DON'T WASTE the regular season Its only loss came A FAILURE on the road against No. 6 Auburn The loss to Clemson in the 2016 But that didn't prevent the Tide from national title game weighed getting a berth in the CFP It was not heavily on the Tide Shortly after going to be easy though Alabama the game Saban reminded his got the fourth and final seed That team Don't waste a failure He meant playing the No. 1 team in the was telling his players to take the country with a spot in the national opportunity to learn from the loss championship game on the line That If they didn't learn from it they could make the same mistakes team was Clemson It was the third again Don't waste a failure year in a row they had met in the CFP became the motto of Alabama's In the 2015 national championship 2017 championship team Alabama started slow but closed fast scoring 24 points in the fourth quarter The next year Alabama jumped to a 14-0 lead before eventually losing In 2017 Alabama started fast again Hurts threw a 12 yard touchdown pass in the first quarter But the Tide led just 10-3 at half Then to open the second half Hurts fumbled Alabama limited the damage to a Clemson field goal But the Tigers were threatening Then Alabama turned the tables First defensive tackle Da'Ron Payne intercepted a pass After Alabama drove to the Clemson 1 yard line Payne got to finish off the drive Alabama brought him in as a receiver and the 308 pound Payne caught a touchdown pass On the next play from scrimmage Alabama linebacker Mack Wilson 7
