Steve Sarkisian called a trick play in crunch time against Clemson, and it worked

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A trick play called by new coordinator Steve Sarkisian worked for Alabama.

Alabama’s passing game struggled for much of the National Championship. So down four, with less than two minutes left, the Tide dialed up some trickeration, under the new leadership of new coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who took over for coordinator Lane Kiffin earlier this week.

On the play, Alabama receiver Ardarius Stewart motioned from the field to the boundary, drifting back outside the numbers, to a depth of five yards. At the snap, freshman QB Jalen Hurts quickly fired the ball to him, behind the line of scrimmage. Stewart gathered, and then fired downfield, to an open tight end OJ Howard.

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Perhaps Clemson’s defenders should have been alerted due to the depth of Stewart, an abnormal positioning for receiver. If Clemson did something well on the play, it was not allowing the deeper man to come wide open.

Alabama has used tricks against Clemson before, like in 2015 as it employed an onside kick to change momentum and retain possession.

But ultimately, it didn’t matter, as Clemson drove down the field on their next possession to capture the title.