Daniel Wilco | NCAA.com | December 30, 2018

Alabama-Clemson preview: How the two national championship teams match up statistically

Alabama heads to the national title game for the fourth straight year

After decisive semifinal wins, Alabama and Clemson are both back in the College Football Playoff national championship, matched up in the title game for the third time in four years.

MORE: National Championship Game date, time, TV channel

Ahead of the game, let's take a look at the tale of the tape for the main skill positions, defense, and special teams:

MORE: Alabama-Clemson series history

Starting quarterback

Trevor Lawrence is having a phenomenal true freshman season for Clemson, but it’s hard for anyone to compare to Tua Tagovailoa, who has put together one of the best seasons at quarterback in Alabama history.

	Clemson's Trevor Lawrence	Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa
CMP	239	223
ATT	366	321
PCT	65.3	69.5
YDS	2933	3671
Y/A	8	11.4
TD	27	41
INT	4	4
RATE	154.8	205.2
RUSH ATT	54	53
RUSH YDS	157	199
RUSH AVG	2.9	3.8
RUSH TD	1	5

Backup quarterback

Both teams had a tough decision to make this season about who would start under center. For Alabama, last year’s starting quarterback Jalen Hurts was replaced by Tagovailoa, but Hurts has been an amazing backup for the Crimson Tide, leading a comeback win against Georgia in the SEC championship. Last year’s starter for Clemson, Kelly Bryant, lost the job to Lawrence and decided to transfer, leaving Chase Brice as the Tigers’ lone backup with any significant experience.

	Clemson's Chase Brice	Alabama's Jalen Hurts
CMP	32	51
ATT	51	68
PCT	62.7	75
YDS	442	765
Y/A	8.7	11.3
TD	5	8
INT	3	2
RATE	156.1	202.4
RUSH ATT	15	35
RUSH YDS	94	171
RUSH AVG	6.3	4.9
RUSH TD	0	2

MORE: College football national championship history

Top running back

This one is a bit misleading, since Alabama has three separate players with more than 100 rush attempts on the season. Joshua Jacobs has 593 yards and 11 touchdowns on 109 attempts, while Najee Harris has 724 yards and four touchdowns on 108 attempts, but Damien Harris leads the way for the Crimson Tide. Clemson has approached the run game much differently, giving Travis Etienne more touches than his top two backups combined, a choice that is easier to make when your top back racked up 1,500 yards on the season.

	Clemson's Travis Etienne	Alabama's Damien Harris
RUSH ATT	190	139
RUSH YDS	1573	819
RUSH AVG	8.3	5.9
RUSH TD	22	9
REC	11	20
REC YDS	73	201
REC AVG	6.6	10.1
REC TD	1	0

Top receiver

Sitting behind Calvin Ridley in a more run-heavy offense last year, Jerry Jeudy didn’t get too many opportunities to shine. But with Tagovailoa slinging the ball this year, Jeudy has exploded in his sophomore campaign. And he’s not alone. The Crimson Tide actually have five players with more than 600 receiving yards this year, the first time they’ve had more than three in the Saban era.

	Clemson's Tee Higgins	Alabama's Jerry Jeudy
REC	56	63
YDS	855	1176
AVG	15.3	18.7
TD	11	13

Defense

Only Mississippi State has held its opponents to fewer points per game than Clemson this year, though that was in two fewer games. And even without Dexter Lawrence against Notre Dame, the Tigers were a force, recording two turnovers, six sacks, and holding Notre Dame to 248 total yards and a conversion rate of 5-for-17 on third downs. Alabama isn’t anything to sneeze at either, as the Crimson Tide held Oklahoma to 14 points under its season average.

	Clemson	Alabama
YDS/G	280.7	308.7
PTS/G	12.9	16.2
FR	10	7
INT	12	14

Kickers

Clemson’s Greg Huegel was perfect on extra points heading into the College Football Playoff, but had his first attempt blocked at the line, making him an unreal 71 for 72 on the year. Neither kicker has made a field goal longer than 49 yards in their careers.

	Clemson's Greg Huegel	Alabama's Joseph Bulovas
XPM	71	74
XPA	72	79
XP%	98.6	93.7
FGM	10	13
FGA	15	17
FG%	66.7	76.5
LONG	49	49

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