New Year's Bowls and the National Championship Matchup

Happy New Year everyone, welcome to 2017, however it may not look like a new year in college football, the same matchup as last year in the National Championship, Alabama and Clemson, round 2. Alabama beats Washington in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, 24-7, in the past two years in semi-final games only allowing 7 points. The offense had a rough time all game, but that seemed to be because of Lane Kiffin's play calling, maybe he should go ahead and leave Alabama early so they don't waste so much time on offense. What really led the Tide to the end zone this game was their defense setting up drives, and the good old-fashioned, Alabama ground-n-pound football, wit Bo Scarbrough in the backfield. This was a much lower scoring game than a lot of people thought, and of course the defense was heavily involved on both teams. No doubt though Washington looked like they deserved the playoff spot they received, and was the most well-put-together offense Alabama has faced all year. Onto the next game, the matchup experts thought would be the closest semi-final we've ever had, really wasn't that exciting. A 31-0 Clemson blowout over the Buckeyes sent a message to the College Football Committee, "You made the right choice with Clemson, not so much with OSU." This game actually reminded a lot of people about, wait for it, last year's playoff picture. It's actually funny how this almost worked out exactly the same- in the 2015-16 season, Clemson was ranked #1, 14-0, and won over a battle-tested Sooners team 37-17. Alabama, ranked #2 with one loss, took on Michigan State, and shut them out 38-0 in the semi-final, then went to beat Clemson in a shootout, 45-40. This year looks very similar, just flip 'Bama and Clemson; Alabama is the #1 team in the country, on a big 26-game win streak and are 14-0, winning their playoff game against a fairly matched up Washington team 24-7-- Clemson at #2, 13-1, have shut out Ohio State 31-0. Could this be the year for Clemson to beat Alabama, or will the Tide Roll Clemson once again in the National Championship Game? This will make for one great matchup, and a great possible trilogy between the teams.