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Nick Saban: I'll 'never get over' National Title game loss to Clemson

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Sports Illustrated, SI Wire/Sports Illustrated

Alabama head coach Nick Saban says he will never get over losses like the one the Crimson Tide suffered in the National Championship Game to Clemson.

Clemson scored with one second remaining to earn a 35–31 win in a rematch of the previous year's title game. Alabama twice blew 10-point leads and gave up 511 yards of total offense to the Tigers.

"I'll never get over it because you never do with those kind of losses," Saban told ESPN. "I never got over the returned field goal at Auburn. I never got over playing poorly against Ohio State and losing that game late. And then in this game, we didn't play very well, and Clemson did when they had to. That's what eats at you. We didn't play that great against Washington, either (in a 24-7 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win) in the semifinal.

Saban also said that something happened between the SEC Champiomship game and the playoffs

"You look at the Clemson game, and our really good players didn't play very well. But Clemson was a damn good team. They were the best team we played against with the best quarterback, and where we needed to play well, we didn't," he said.

He also didn't blame the switch of offensive coordinators before the game. Lane Kiffin accepted the job at Florida Atlantic and did not coach against Clemson. Offensive analyst Steve Sarkisian was promoted to the position and called offensive plays in the Clemson game.

Sarkisian is now the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.

The Crimson Tide open their season Sept. 2 against Florida State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

- Scooby Axson

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