Clemson football will face a familiar opponent in the National Championship game. Here are the weaknesses of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Hint: There aren’t many.
Clemson football will take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the National Championship for a third time. This is fourth year in a row that the two teams have played.
And just like the last three, it’s going to take the Tigers’ best effort to beat the Tide.
When we look at Alabama, there just aren’t many weaknesses. You don’t get to the level that Nick Saban has built his program with weaknesses. Even the things we find in film study aren’t really weaknesses compared to the rest of the nation, they’re just picking hairs.
But, here’s a look at a couple of areas where the Crimson Tide may struggle against Clemson.
- Defensive Backfield Depth, Experience
The first area that I look and say that there might be an area that Clemson can exploit is the Alabama secondary.
That Crimson Tide defensive backfield is not on the same level as the last couple of teams. There’s no Minkah Fitzpatrick, Anthony Averett or Ronnie Harrison.
There’s still talent there with guys like Deionte Thompson and Patrick Surtain II, but it’s not the same caliber unit that we’ve seen the past three years.
- Defensive line, not really?
The Alabama defensive line is not a weakness. The Crimson Tide have more talent in their second-string than most of the nation has at starters.
What I learned from watching the Oklahoma game, though, is the fact that the Sooner offensive line held their own for the most part against Alabama. Of course, part of that probably had to do with the fact that Bama wasn’t trying to bring a lot of pressure.
But, perhaps Clemson’s offensive line will benefit from that as well. Bama may have to drop an extra man in coverage to deal with the wide receivers. That may take away some of that pass rush and make the job a little easier on the offensive line.
The Crimson Tide have been susceptible to giving up big plays at times, as well.
The only other area has been place-kicking. Alabama hasn’t had the most consistent kicking game this season, but I’m not so confident in Clemson’s kicking game either at this point.
It’s certainly picking hairs. There just aren’t many weaknesses or glaring problems with Alabama. The Tigers are going to have play a well-executed game to have a chance.