GLENDALE, Ariz. — It was bound to happen at some point. All year long Clemson has gotten away with one special teams blunder after another. On Monday night, on the biggest stage in College Football, it came back to bite them.

Alabama’s Kenyan Drake returned a Greg Huegel kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown with 7:31 to play in the game. It was the Crimson Tide’s 10th non-offensive touchdown of the season and the one that ultimately ended Clemson’s magical season in disappointment as Alabama beat the Tigers 45-40 to win its fourth national title in seven years.

“Championship football is really just a game of a few plays and that is really what this one came down to, just a few plays,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said afterwards.

Clemson (14-1) had just cut the Tide’s lead to 31-27 when Huegel angled his kickoff towards the left sideline. Drake took the ball, broke to his left and then found the sideline before diving into the end zone for a 37-27 lead with 7:31 to play.

“Obviously, the two special teams plays were huge momentum plays,” Swinney said.

The Tigers (14-1) responded with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Artavis Scott with 4:40 to play in the game. But Alabama, which used big plays all night, used a 63-yard pass to tight O.J. Howard to set up Derrick Henry’s one-yard touchdown with 1:07 to go to put the game out of reach.

Watson threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Leggett with 12 seconds to play, but Alabama recovered the onside kick to secure the victory.

“Obviously, we wanted to win the game and we came up a little short, but I think at least the nation saw tonight why we’ve been so successful,” Swinney said. “They saw the heart of our team. This team just has an incredible will to win and heart, and I think they gave us everything they had.”

Watson threw for 405 yards on 30 of 47 passing. He threw four touchdown passes, thought it was not enough. He also rushed for 73 yards on 20 carries.

“Going into the game, I was expecting to win. I thought we should have won,” Watson said. “But like Coach Swinney said, there were a few plays we did not capitalize on, and I missed some throws, we dropped some balls and just had some missed miscues.”

Clemson’s offense finished the game with 550 yards – the most given up by the Tide all year. The previous best was 433 in their loss to Ole Miss. Watson finished the game with 478 total yards. Alabama came into the game ranked second in the nation in total defense and scoring defense.

“At the end of the day, I wanted the W,” said Watson, who became the first player in the history of college football to throw for 4,000 yards in a season and run for 1,000. “All the stats don’t really matter to me. I just wanted to get the win and do something we have not done in 34 years.”

The call of the game came early in the fourth quarter, when Alabama surprised Clemson with on onside kick after tying the game at 24-24 with 10:34 to play.  Marlon Humphrey caught the ball out of the air to give the ball back to Bama.

But the officials missed the call. The ball did not touch the ground so it should have been called illegal touching by the defense. But instead the ball was given to Alabama, and a couple of plays later Jake Coker hit tight end O.J. Howard with a 51-yard touchdown pass to take the lead, 31-24, with 9:45 to go.

Swinney of course argued the ruling and he had good reason to. The year before against South Carolina, the Tigers did the same thing to the Gamecocks. However, the ball was taken away from Clemson because the ball did not hit the ground.

“They said we had to give them an opportunity to catch the ball not matter what,” Swinney said. “I was just arguing the call that went against us. That was really it.

“Hey, great play by them. It was a great kick. He put it in a good spot, and their kid did a great job of going and getting it. It was a huge play.”

Two plays later Coker hit Howard for the 51-yard touchdown and the Tigers played from behind the rest of the quarter.