Alabama played Clemson in the Georgia Dome. It almost made Nick Saban pull his lips over his teeth in a non-threatening matter known as a smile--almost. Spencer Hall was there.

â†µ

â†µ

â†µâ†µAnswer: yes. Watching games at the Georgia Dome can, for a college fan used to being bombarded with the unique sights, sounds, and smells of the college game can be a bit antiseptic. (Examples: Baton Rouge: the odor of frying oil; West Virginia, whiskey) Fortunately, the Clemson and Alabama fan bases both skipped taking their medication today. The combo of the two fan bases were enough to rattle the ears; the combo of the two fan bases’ color schemes—apricot orange and deep crimson—make it look as if a huge pumpkin bled to death in the Georgia Dome.The Georgia Dome being a grown-up type facility, Tide and Tiger fans are free not just to drink beer outside the stadium, but to purchase and consume inside, as well. Alabama and Clemson fans both exercised this right responsibly by pouring only one plastic cup of beer into their mouths at a time.So the Alabama plan was this: Run the daylights out of the ball, keep John Parker Wilson safe and prevent him from becoming the steak to the pit bulls of Clemson’s defensive line. The game plan became clear when you looked at the first quarter stats: 14 called rushes, 7 called passes. Going into this game I though Wilson would do well no matter what happened because nothing could happen to him that had not already been done to him: benching, near total collapse, a streak of brilliance followed by an implosion ... he’s been there before. So the Alabama offensive staff buffered Wilson with every luxury. They called on him to handoff, throw soft-toss play-action passes, and manage the game without overtaxing him.â†µâ†µIt was the Stuart Smalley game plan: hugs, protection, and lots of support. It would work brilliantly.By brute force. Clemson’s vaunted defensive line pinwheeled helplessly against Alabama’s offensive front, crumpling backwards on inside runs from Mark Ingram and Glen Coffee. Bama’s backs didn’t rip off sporadic long runs, but rather chipped away brutally and economically throughout the game.â†µâ†µAlabama had the ball for 41:13; Clemson for 18:47. This was not a knockout; this was a chokehold applied with precision.complete domination “a B on the midterm” and chewed the scalp off a reporter in the postgame press conference despite winning by 24 points over the number No. 9 team in the country. This is the Dark Lord Saban we know and wake up screaming thinking about yelling at us in practice.Clemson’s “Thunder and Lightning” duo of James Davis and C.J. Spiller tallied 21 yards total. Much of this had to do with the D-line, an active, malevolent crew featuring Terrence Cody, Alabama’s 370-pound lineman who is really a buffalo. He is listed as a “junior,” but don’t believe it. I believe in reality he is Ralphie, the Colorado Buffalo mascot, in pads and a helmet. I demand DNA testing.Then you might have gotten an uncomfortable laugh out of the evening when Alabama’s band played an all-Queen halftime show complete with electric guitar and bass. It was a magnificent idea but for the technical execution: The amp kept cutting out, making it sound like your 13-year-old neighbor had seized the P.A., hooked up the $50 Wal-Mart Epiphone he got two months ago, and started ploinking away with the Million Dollar Band. It was uncomfortable, Ricky Gervais farce-funny.Atlanta may be hell for Clemson—they haven’t won here since 2003—but nothing excuses the abandonment of Clemson fans bailing for the exits at the start of the fourth quarter. Fanhood is a marriage. Sometimes, your spouse makes you dinner, compliments that nice shirt you’re wearing and tells you how beautiful you look. Sometimes, they come home stinking drunk, knock over the aquarium and pass out on the floor.â†µâ†µThat’s precisely what Clemson did, but there’s no excuse for desertion. You endure the losses to enjoy the victories. Doing anything else is being a negligent fan-spouse. Those empty seats in the fourth quarter were the dirty gym shorts you left on the floor to let you know you don’t really love your team.At time of filing, there were three fans screaming “NICE PICK, CORSO” and “ROLL TIDE, ROLL” at the top of their lungs in the Georgia Dome. They show no signs of leaving. We may have a problem here that tasers can’t start to fix (see earlier note on beer consumption.) I recommend telling them Dennis Franchione is hogtied outside and defenseless, which should get them running quickly enough.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.