Tua Tagovailoa said Alabama’s loss to Clemson in last season’s national championship game actually started in the second half of their season.

The Crimson Tide’s quarterback was on the Paul Finebaum Show Friday afternoon on ESPN. Towards the end of the interview, Finebaum asked Tagovailoa what happened in the game that allowed Clemson to beat them 44-16.

“I would not say it was the national championship, but it was the cumulative of things that we weren’t doing right that we were just getting away with, you know,” he said on the show. “It ended up catching up to us in the national championship.”

In the second half of the season, Alabama won its six regular season games by at least 24 points and scored no fewer than 24 points in any game.

Alabama did struggle in the SEC Championship game against Georgia and the defense gave up some yards and points to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff. However, as the score indicated, they never struggled like they did against Clemson in the national championship game.

Tagovailoa threw two interceptions, which one was returned for a score, and he fumbled once as well against the Tigers. The Tide was shut out in the second half, going 0-for-3 with their red zone opportunities.

“An example I could use is that guys were not doing things the right way,” he said. “Our team was not doing things the right way as far as the little things. Not being able to fix the little things. Not being able to be accountable for one another. Everything was good because we were winning.

“I think for me it would have been best if we had at least lost one game. Maybe towards the second half of the season so we all come to the realization that the little things do matter.”

Tagovailoa feels that Crimson Tide just took winning for granted and felt as if they were entitled to it.

“Coach (Nick) Saban always talks about the Alabama factor around here,” he said. “We feel as if we are entitled to things that we did not have to work as hard for, but that is not true. We just took that for granted because we were winning so much.

“You know, we just did not do things the right way after (the second half of the season) and it ended up catching up with us. It was just a cumulative of everything that we were not able to fix as a team.”