Sorry Alabama, Clemson is an "elite program"

CHARLOTTE — The Alabama Crimson Tide seem to be living in a dream world where they didn't get beat by 28 points by the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

At the same time that Clemson was making their rounds at the ACC Kickoff Wednesday, the Crimson Tide were doing the same at the SEC Media Days, which is where the delusional behavior may have hit an all-time high.

Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses told the media that Clemson really wasn't necessarily the best team last season.

"It was more so just preparation,” Moses said of the Clemson loss. “I wouldn’t say they were a better team because we both have great athletes on both sides of the ball. It was like we didn’t prepare as much for Clemson. They obviously prepared more for us. They game-planned better than us.

"Georgia is definitely the hardest team I have played in college," he added.

All-American receiver Jerry Jeudy indicated that while the scoreboard may not lie, it didn’t tell the whole story, either.

“I’d say Georgia is the toughest team, too,” Jeudy said. “I don’t really think scoreboard defines the best of the teams, because some days the team could be at its best and win the games, and some days the team could be at its worst.

“For example, my freshman year we beat Clemson bad (24-6) last year, they beat us bad, so it depends on that moment who’s the best team. Every time we play Georgia, it has always been a great game, so that’s how I define who’s the best team.”

Moses' and Juedy's comments were not extinguished by head coach Nick Saban, who took a different approach, blaming the loss on a multitude of elements.

“We didn’t play with the discipline at the end of the season that we’d like to have as a team,” Saban said. “I don’t think that our preparation … was what it needed to be. Whether or not people we're worried about personal outcomes more than they were team outcomes, it’s always hard to judge that, but it seemed like we had a lot of distractions at the end of the year.”

One coach in the ACC begs to differ with the Crimson Tide — Boston College coach Steve Addazio, who believes the Tigers have not only separated from the ACC, but from Alabama.

"Yeah, they've separated from the ACC, but they've also separated from Alabama," Addazio said.

He continued his defense of the Tigers by listing their accolades, along with his pedigree.

"Listen, they're an elite program. Two national titles themselves," Addazio said. "We've had three national titles from the ACC in the last five years, which goes to show you that this is, in my opinion — and I think I'm qualified to make the statement because I've coached in most of these conferences — this is the elite conference in college football.

"You have three national titles in five years coming from this side of the division, one from Florida State and attitude from Clemson. Clemson is an elite program. I watched the playoff game, the national title game, all the games in between leading up to that.

"We can all agree that team was elite, head and shoulders above everybody else," he said. "Wasn't even close. So we play them every year. We played them last year. We've played them. I don't like to talk. It's not like darts, but we've played well against Clemson."

Addazio, like so many coaches in the country, is still searching for his first win over the Tigers, but having that close-up look at the Tigers year in and year out means there is only one word to describe the Tigers — "elite."

"When you play a team like a Clemson, you have to be playing your A-game. I would say that's not exactly earth-shattering commentary," Addazio said. "But that's an elite football team, and I'm glad they're in our conference."