NOTES: Personal fouls fly late in win; Anderson joins TD club
Aaron Suttles | Beat Writer
Alabama defensive back Tony Brown (2) celebrates with is defensive teammates after making a tackle for a loss against Washington during the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta Saturday December 31, 2016.
Gary Cosby Jr. | The Tuscaloosa News
ATLANTA | Emotions ran high with a spot in the national championship game on the line, but the chippiness all the jawing and shoving throughout the game almost spilled over into a bad scene near the end of the game.
Alabamaâs
Jonathan Allen,
Tony Brown and walk-on punter
Brannon Satterfield (who wasnât on the field at the time of the play) all received personal fouls on two separate plays. Allen was flagged on one play on a penalty clearly meant for Ronnie Harrison and Satterfield didnât play the entire game.
Confusion aside, what is clear is that Alabama players took issue with what they said was disrespectful and extracurricular activities.
âThey was grumpy,â senior linebacker
Reuben Foster said. âThey wanted payback, I guess. I donât know whatâs going on in their head. I was like, âShow good sportsmanship.â Donât come out at the end of the game and all of a sudden do that.
âI canât say what they were saying. Just know they were saying a lot of disrespectful stuff. Itâs my fault I let it get to me and Iâm sorry for that. I should have realized what their mindset was on and that was to try and get us ejected out of the game.â
On the last play in which two personal fouls were assessed, Alabama players felt one of their guys was chop blocked.
âSome teams you get the best of them,â
Ryan Anderson said. âThey had a long season. They had high hopes. They lost this game and they didnât know how to react to it. Weâve been there before, so I canât blame them. Theyâre not trained like us.â
Turnovers
Washington entered the game with the nationâs top ranking in turnover margin at plus-22. The Huskies had forced 33 turnovers while turning it over 12 times.
But Alabama came out on the positive side of the turnover margin.
Jalen Hurts was nearly intercepted early in the game but Washington Budda Baker dropped the pass. Hurts also fumbled but Jonah Williams recovered.
On the other side, Alabama intercepted Jake Browning twice and stripped and recovered a fumble.
âWe said all week that we'd win this game no matter what if we don't turn the ball over,â UA offensive coordinator
Lane Kiffin said. âWe didn't turn it over â we put it on the ground but we got it back â but this team thrives on turnovers, they don't give up big plays, they play really good defense.â
Dome sweet home
Alabama improved its winning streak to nine games in the Georgia Dome.
The last game the Crimson Tide lost inside the building was in 2008 in the SEC Championship Game against Florida.
It was the last game Alabama will play in the Georgia Dome. The Dome is set for demolition in March. Alabama is set to play Florida State in the new Mercedes Benz Dome next season.
Damien Harris
Running back Damien Harris moved past the 1,000-yard mark on the season on his third carry of the game. He finished with 30 rushing yards on the day and now has 1,016 on the season.
Anderson joins TD club
When Anderson returned an interception for a touchdown, he became the eighth Alabama defensive player to score a touchdown this season.
He joined
Marlon Humphrey, Minkah Fitzpatrick, DaâRon Payne, Tim Williams, Eddie Jackson,
Ronnie Harrison and
Jonathan Allen.
âI got big Payne off my back,â Anderson said of Payneâs friendly smack talk.
It was the teamâs 15th non-offensive touchdown of the season.
14 wins
With the win, the Crimson Tide won its 14th game for the third time in program history, joining the 2009 and 2015 clubs.
Alabama has now won 13 or more games in a season five times, the most by any school in college football history. The three 14-win seasons is also the most in the history of the college game.
Captains
Senior defensive lineman
Jonathan Allen, starting left tackle
Cam Robinson and senior linebacker
Reuben Foster served as captains. Former All-American linebacker
Reggie Ragland was the honorary captain and was joined by
Eddie Jackson.
Tidebits
Alabama won the toss and elected to defer until the second halfâŚAnnounced attendance was 75,996, the largest crowd to ever see a football game at the Georgia Dome.
TideSports.com - NOTES: Personal fouls fly late in win; Anderson joins TD club