PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — As Alabama's players walked off the field that night in September, after a loss that raised all sorts of questions about the trajectory of college football’s most powerful program, their emotions ran the gamut: Frustration. Anger. And mostly, Cyrus Jones says: “Hurt.”
But to hear the Alabama senior defensive back, there was also optimism. The home loss to Ole Miss stung badly. The Crimson Tide had no remaining margin for error. But it didn’t necessarily mean anything more.
“As long as we got things back on the right track and just didn’t lose a game from that point on, we could be in this position,” says Jones — and he means playing Clemson for the national championship.