USA TODAY Sports breaks down the College Football Playoff title game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. USA TODAY Sports
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Adam Griffith knew he’d done a perfect thing perfectly. He could tell the moment the ball left his foot.
It was a “pop kick,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said later. With the College Football Playoff championship game score tied midway through the fourth quarter Monday, Griffith lofted a short, surprise onside kick — its trajectory mirrored a golfer’s chip shot — to his right, between the numbers and the sideline.