I doubt Bama can call a worse game than they did against Washington. They showed an incredible lack of confidence in Hurts imo. They made very little attempt at making Washington adjust in the game. They were gashing Washington with the above pictured #9 but would not continue with it in the first half. Then in the second half, Washington adjusted and crowded the middle of the defensive front seven. This is why the first play of the first half was so effective for Alabama and why they couldn't run it at all (Save the four or so broken tackle beast mode run by #9) in the second half. Basically, Alabama was passing when the Washington defense was giving them the run and running when the Washington defense was giving them the pass. It was mind boggling bad play calling in my estimation for Alabama in that game. I have no respect for Kiffin as a human being but I do generally respect his play calling. 17 offensive points is not going to get it done against Clemson, I don't think and I also doubt that Alabama benefits from the same field position advantages for a games entirety the way they did against Washington. I think Watson has the confidence to make mistakes and Dabo has the confidence to coach to win (Peterson and his staff flat out quit on their players), so I do think Watson is involved in big plays, whether that is interceptions or big pass gains. That throws a wrench in what looks like a good under bet. Alabama did an amazing job of defending the WR screen stuff that was so good for Washington all year. They were blowing up the blocks out there. Conversely, I thought the Clemson WR's blocked Ohio State exceptionally well on their WR screen game. So I think that could end up being a key in the game as well, because Clemson uses that as an extension of the running game pretty effectively and sometimes for chunks.
Right now, the thing hurting alabama is either their QB himself, or their lack of confidence in him. They had so many opportunities to put Washington away with good field position and they were shockingly opposed to letting him attempt passes. I realize at a certain point, that Bama realized they had Washington figured out and they weren't likely to score, so they weren't going to let Freshman mistakes beat them but he kept dropping the football on the running plays too, Bama just recovered both times. Washington had zero fear of Hurts. None. They allowed two big plays to Bama in the second half... the Hurts edge run to start it after making the adjustment at halftime and the #9 run which they actually defended pretty well ... he just ran through their tackles like the incredible hulk.
I dunno ... gonna be a good game I think. Ironically, I think both teams are lesser versions of last years teams.