Point/Counterpoint: Who will win the national championship?

Alabama

It’s just not all that fun when there’s a playoff and it’s practically impossible to see any scenario in which a certain team doesn’t win it.

Alabama is that team. In fact, Alabama might be the best team of all time.

Seriously, FiveThirtyEight has ranked the Crimson Tide as the best team ever to be assembled in college football, according to its Elo rating system. FiveThirtyEight is legit, trust me.

The Crimson Tide have an NFL defense, they’re all just one year too young to be playing in the league right now. Consider this — in Todd McShay’s first ESPN mock draft, there are six Alabama players going in the first round. That’s one out of every five players drafted, roughly. Five of those guys are on defense.

Alabama’s defense wants to swallow you, chew you for a while, spit you out, stomp on you for a little bit, kick you a couple times, and then finish you from the top rope.

Guys — actual, real college football analysts and coaches — have pondered whether Alabama could win games without an offense. Like whether it would win if the other team got to play offense the whole time and Alabama’s only chance to score would be on turnovers.

It has scored 14 non-offensive touchdowns this season, so who knows.

The offense is as good as any Alabama offense during the Nick Saban era as well. Jalen Hurts, a true freshman quarterback, has added a running element from that position the Crimson Tide hasn’t had in a long time.

The team as a whole has rushed for 3,185 yards, an absolutely absurd number. Hurts has also thrown for nearly 3,000 yards.

Do you get the point? Alabama is not going to lose.

— by Blake Dowson

Clemson

Contrary to popular belief, Alabama will not be crowned champion of the college football world. Clemson, which lost to the Crimson Tide last season, will redeem itself on the biggest stage.

Let’s be clear, the first playoff games won’t be close. Alabama will roll Washington, and Clemson will do the same to Ohio State.

Alabama’s defense has stifled opponents all season long, but when the Tide have faced a top-notch quarterback, that’s where they’ve struggled.

Insert Deshaun Watson.

Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He’s thrown for almost 4,000 yards and 37 touchdowns.

He’s red hot, too. The junior has thrown for 9 touchdowns in his last two games.

The Crimson Tide have the No. 25 passing defense in the country. To put things in perspective, Iowa sits at No. 24.

Offensively, Clemson is No. 7 in passing yards per game. The Tigers have the sixth best completion percentage, too (67 percent).

Here’s how Alabama fared against teams with good quarterbacks — 5-point win against Ole Miss (Chad Kelly), 19-point win against Texas A&M (Trevor Knight).

A 19-point win isn’t exactly close, but in Alabama’s standards, it’s a poor win.

Clemson has beaten some of the better programs in the NCAA (Auburn, Louisville, Florida State, Virginia Tech).

Clemson will win this game if it becomes a shootout, because Alabama’s best offense is its defense — if that’s nonexistent, then it can’t keep up with the Tigers.

Much of the hype comes from how badly Alabama has beaten opponents. That’s because the SEC is on a down year.

Clemson is hungry to show that last season’s run to the title game was no fluke. The only remedy is a championship trophy — which the Tigers will get in college football’s final game of the 2016-17 season.

— by Adam Hensley