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Clemson scores in closing seconds to win national title
Clemson's Hunter Renfrow breaks away for a touchdown catch during the second half of the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Alabama on Monday, Jan. 9, 2017, in Tampa, Fla.
Deshaun Watson's 2-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow with 1 second remaining gave Clemson a wild 35-31 win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday night.
Watson completed 36 of 56 passes for 420 yards and three scores in his last college game as the Tigers (14-1) got their first national title since 1981.
Renfrow caught two scoring passes for Clemson, which rallied from a 14-0 deficit and snapped Alabama's 26-game winning streak.
Bo Scarbrough ran for two touchdowns for Alabama (14-1), which failed in its quest to be the first 15-win major college team since Penn in 1897.
Scarbrough left the game with a leg injury in the second half.
Alabama beat Clemson, 45-40, last season in the title game.
This sequel was as thrilling as the original.
Clemson put up 511 yards on Alabama's defense, held the ball for nearly 35 minutes and scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Clemson then recovered an onside kick and fittingly that gave Watson a chance to kneel down for the game's final play — then streamed onto the field in celebration.
Jalen Hurts' 30-yard touchdown run with 2:07 left gave Alabama a 31-28 lead, and it came with the Tide's title hopes essentially down to one play moments earlier.
Damien Harris delivered a 5-yard run on fourth-and-2 with 3 minutes left to keep the drive going.
Then a backward pass — Hurts to ArDarius Stewart, who then threw it to O.J. Howard, got Alabama down to the 30.
Before that, with 4:38 remaining, Wayne Gallman's 1-yard plunge gave the Tigers a 28-24 lead, the first all night for Clemson, which trailed 14-0 early.
A 17-yard pass to Mike Williams got the ball down to the Alabama 31, and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Crimson Tide tacked on to the end of that play got the Tigers down to the 16.
Watson went around the right side and dove for the pylon on the next play, getting stopped inside the 1.
It was Alabama's first fourth-quarter deficit of the season.
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