For the third straight year, Clemson will face a different offensive coordinator when the top-ranked Tigers play No. 4 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff Semifinals on New Year’s Day in New Orleans.

In the 2016 CFP National Championship Game, Lane Kiffin was calling the plays for the Crimson Tide. Last year, head coach Nick Saban let Kiffin go early to Florida Atlantic the week before the national title game, so Brent Venables’ defense faced Steve Sarkisian, who has since moved on to the NFL.

In the off-season, Saban brought in former New England Patriots coach Brian Daboll to replace Sarkisian.

“Everybody has their own flavor,” Venables said.

Daboll’s approach seems to be a more run oriented approach. Though he was brought in to help develop Jalen Hurts as a quarterback, he has actually taken the air out of the ball this season. Hurts has thrown 100 less passes than he did last season and his passing yards are down as well.

“The players are all very talented and they have very good schemes that put them in competitive positions,” Venables said. “They do a good job in protection. They do a great job in the run game. The quarterback has designed runs, a little bit more designed runs for them.

“They do a great job dividing the defense and make you really play disciplined football.”

Hurt’s has thrown for 1,940 yards (161.7 per game) while completing 60.5 percent of his passes. However, Hurts makes very little mistakes, throwing 15 touchdown passes to just one interception.

“Again, the quarterback is a year older and was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year a year ago. Not freshman of the year, but player of the year,” Venables said. “He just has another year of maturity and he has them right back in the playoff again.”

Where Alabama (13-1) gets teams this year is in the running game. It is averaging 265.3 yards per game on the ground, led by Damien Harris’ 906 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is averaging 8.2 yards per carry. Hurts is second on the team with 768 yards and 8 scores. He is averaging 5.6 yards per attempt.

“They have a bunch of great players, which starts with their running backs,” Venables said. “They are a nightmare – Harris, (Bo Scarbrough) and (Josh Jacobs). Then the quarterback is a runner too. But they are getting the ball to the backs with both the run game and the passing game, they are doing a great job with that.”

The Crimson Tide also has talented receivers, led by All-SEC receiver Calvin Ridley, who has 55 receptions for 896 yards and three scores. He is averaging 16.3 yards per catch.

“They have some great young receivers that are incredibly dangerous, fast, athletic, long and have great ball skills,” Venables said. “They are deep there. They have recruited a number of guys that are top three or top four in the country at wide receiver over the last four years. They are all over their roster.

“They have guys that can run and catch it, and know what to do when they get the ball.”