Appreciate another edition of Alabama-Clemson, a rivalry for the ages

Nancy Armour, USA TODAY Sports Published 4:26 p.m. ET Dec. 31, 2017 | Updated 5:11 p.m. ET Dec. 31, 2017

SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports college football reporters Paul Myerberg and George Schroeder give their take on who will win the Sugar Bowl. USA TODAY Sports

NEW ORLEANS — Rashaan Evans has watched the last play of last year’s national title game “probably over 100 times,” hoping against hope he’ll eventually see something different.

The Alabama linebacker had Deshaun Watson in his sights as the quarterback rolled out. If Evans had blocked him, gotten a hand on him, even forced him to take an extra step, well, who knows what might have happened? But reality can be unflinchingly harsh, as Evans is reminded each time he watches that play.

Instead of being disrupted by Evans, Watson found Hunter Renfrow right in front of the goal line. Renfrow caught the ball and backed into the end zone with one second left, giving Clemson the national title.

“That’s the worst feeling ever,” Evans said this week.

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Now contrast that with Clelin Ferrell’s recollection of those final seconds.

The Clemson defensive end had just limped out of the locker room with a bad ankle and was leaning on walk-on linebacker Regan Upshaw for support as they watched the play unfold. When Renfrow caught the ball, Ferrell began hopping up and down, bum ankle be damned.

“That’s something I’ll never forget,” Ferrell said. “Obviously you can say it will be a great feeling to win a national championship, but when you see that ball go into the end zone and know that it’s over from there on out, there’s no other feeling like it.”

Agony for one team, jubilation for the other.

And for college football fans, the good fortune to witness it all.

You might have heard that Alabama and Clemson are playing in the Sugar Bowl on Monday night, the third time in as many years the teams have met in the College Football Playoff. It has become the sport’s latest great rivalry, and this year’s game is an indication it will not end anytime soon.

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This is not a great Alabama team in the traditional sense, hampered by injuries and an inconsistent offense. This was supposed to be a down year for Clemson after losing Watson and five other NFL draft picks.

Yet here they are again for a third go-around, two of the last teams standing.

“We haven't competed against each other a lot. But all of a sudden you've got this three-game series that has just happened at the highest level. And this is kind of a rubber match,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Sunday morning.

“But, to be honest with you, this is probably not going to be the last one. There will probably be more of these down the road, and I think that's great.”

He’s right. College football, perhaps more than any other sport, is at its best when there are high-level rivalries. We see it in the regular season, with the Iron Bowl, The Game, Army-Navy, Notre Dame-USC, Florida-Georgia, I could go on.

But the constant need to rebuild has too often prevented a rivalry at the very top. Oh, there have been teams that managed to stay at the top from one year to the next – Alabama, Florida and USC come to mind in recent years. Not so the team trying to knock them off their perch.

You almost have to go back to the days of Notre Dame-Miami, or Notre Dame-Florida State, to find a back-and-forth with as significant ramifications over several seasons as Alabama-Clemson.

“It’s going to be one of those things that’s always going to be talked about,” Alabama nose guard Da’Ron Payne said. “These are two great teams going head-to-head, always giving their all and trying to get the W no matter what.”

When a team is as dominant as Alabama has been this last decade, it should make everybody else up their game. But Clemson is the only one that’s come close.

It’s been good for the Tigers, obviously, national champions for only the second time in school history. But it’s been good for college football, too. The previous two games were highly entertaining, and last year’s finish was arguably one of the best in history.

Alabama-Clemson has become a rivalry for the ages, one we should all hope continues for several more years to come.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.

Wisconsin quarterback Alex Hornibrook scrambles during the Orange Bowl against Miami. Jasen Vinlove, USA TODAY Sports

Appreciate another edition of Alabama-Clemson, a rivalry for the ages

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