The National Championship Game Was So Good It Was Damn Near Cinematic

As bad as NFL Wildcard weekend was, it served as quite the reminder. It may have given us nothing more than four lopsided games that undoubtedly tested the will of even the most loyal football fan, but it brought much needed attention to the fact that a vast majority of sporting events fail to live up to their hype. For that reason, it's easy to glorify the ones that don't just sell us a bill of goods. I guess you could say that's what I am doing by talking about the National Championship as if it followed some overdone Hollywood script, but I'll be damned if the film doesn't support the claim that Clemson and Alabama were participants in a game that's been played dozens of times on the big screen.

For starters, each and every one of these hits looks like it's straight out of a over-dramatized montage that's meant to drive home the point that the supposed "superior" team is bigger, faster, stronger, and - well - a little less concerned with playing within the rules...

No call #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/aObH12KTAA

— Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) January 10, 2017

If those didn't feel plucked straight from the lopsided first half of every one of your favorite football movies then surely the contrast of characters manning the sidelines should have. The overbearing curmudgeon who has no reason to believe he's not going to win versus the happy-go-lucky coach that just "has a feeling" that a victory is in the cards? One protecting a lead that felt insurmountable while the other spearheads a triumphant comeback that seemed to come to fruition out of sheer fate. The underdog finally taking an all-too-fleeting grasp of the lead just to see the tension built by a quick rolling of the tide that left just enough time on the clock for a final act of brilliance. Seriously, there were so many game breaking, awe-inspiring catches that took place in the closing minutes that they would have been of detriment to the plausibility of the plot if they took place in a movie. The touchdown that sealed the outcome may have been pretty underwhelming for a game winning pitch-and-catch, but these plays that led up to it were nothing short of surreal...

Mike Williams, my WR #1 who I have mocked to the #Titans 5th overall. pic.twitter.com/1zuB9hlTnl

— NFL Draft Insider (@NFLDraftInsider) January 10, 2017

Mike Williams are you kidding?! pic.twitter.com/nyuZoDrjzB

— LJ Chaney (@pacificscouting) January 10, 2017

All you have to do is flashback to the semifinals to remember that matchups that have limitless potential often fall far short of fulfilling it. This year's rematch of last year's championship game, however, checked all the boxes needed to produce a hell of a motion picture and it didn't even need to fabricate any storylines to do so. Deshaun Watson, Mike Williams, and Dabo Swinney gave us such a picturesque finish to the college football season that we would have easily paid $12 bucks to watch it in a theatre knowing how it ended, and that's literally the most you could ask for out a game of that magnitude.