Last Monday night, many across the nation watched as Clemson destroyed Alabama to become National Champions for the 2018 season 44-16. While it was the worst loss for the Tide under Nick Saban, I have to give Clemson and Dabo Swinney a lot of credit. Alabama showed up expecting Clemson to roll over and give us the National Championship. Clemson took the Tide to the woodshed and showed the nation who was boss.

What is really grinding my gears about this loss is that every time the Tide has lost since 2014, the media around the country jump on this idea that Alabama is losing its grip on college football, or Nick Saban is starting to age as Steve Spurrier did at the tail end of his time at South Carolina. Sometimes, I even hear some of the bandwagon fans, and even fans of other fanbases say "Fire Saban."

Yes, this loss was bad, but there have been plenty of worse games and seasons over the years. I grew up yelling "Roll Tide," even though the 4-9 season under Mike Shula. During that time, because of various NCAA violations and penalties that occurred, as a result, you did not hear me once say anything bad about Bama. They were still my team.

Even through the six-game losing streak, Bama encountered against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, I still rooted for the Tide. Most people seem to forget about the dark times between Stallings and Saban because of how much success Saban has had at Bama. I grew up during a time in the early 2000s when Bama winning a game was not always a given. It was a time when Bama was not favored in every game they played.

I say all that to say this. Just because Alabama got blown out in the National Championship, it doesn't necessarily mean that the dynasty is over. It just means that Alabama got outplayed and outcoached by a very good Clemson team. I believe that rather than bashing Alabama for how bad they played in the National Championship, the media should give Clemson a lot more credit.

Yes, this loss hurt. I've seen worse, and Bama fans born before me have seen many worse games and even seasons. What this loss means is that the Alabama football program is not invincible. They're not always going to win every game or even the National Championship every season. If that were the case, Bama would probably have been National Champions every season since 2009.

This loss was a bad loss, but for the Bama fans that have stuck with the Tide through the highs and the lows, we know that we can only go up from here. The Tide bring back a lot of talent in 2019 and bring in a lot of new faces that could play very important roles sooner rather than later. Alabama will be back; however, even if Alabama goes 0-12 next season, you will still see me wear my Bama gear.

Again, congratulations to Clemson on a historic 15-0 season, a feat that hasn't been done since 1897 when Penn did so, as well as a National Championship. As a Bama fan, I hope to see the Tide and Tigers play again soon in this budding rivalry.