Sophia Michaels
The College Football Playoff Championship Game on Monday night in New Orleans produced some spectacular football, as LSU and Clemson did battle to see who would remain undefeated take home the national championship trophy.
The national championship game is always a delight, not just because it’s a chance to watch the two best teams in the country square off, but because it marks the return of the best football broadcast of the year. ESPN’s Coaches Film Room broadcast on ESPNU is always a delight for football junkies, as they bring head coaches from around the country into the studio to break down the game live on air.
This year, Mike Gundy, Gary Patterson, Derek Mason, and Jeff Hafley were the four coaches that agreed to be on the broadcast and they nerded out over x’s and o’ and situational play — and even argued about whether they like to call heads or tails on the coin toss. However, the most impressive part of the film room is always the presnap reads and knowledge they are able to provide, and that showed up on what turned out to be a dagger touchdown from LSU. As they lined up, Gundy started hollering about the inside fade that was coming with how LSU was set up and how Clemson’s defense was aligned. Sure enough, that’s what happened as the Bayou Bengals took a 17-point lead late.
It’s some Romo-esque premonition from Gundy, and a reminder of just how good these guys are at remembering tendencies and alignments and recognizing coverages presnap. The glee from the entire room that Gundy called that was pretty great too as they shouted “there it is!”
While the game got a bit out of hand late, the film room, per usual, provided tremendous insight into the action and it’s something that I wish we had the chance to see more often during the season.
Written by: Uproxx
