2017 College Football Playoff National Championship: Alabama vs. Clemson

2017 College Football National Championship Alabama and Clemson

As far as college football goes, there is nothing bigger than the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship. On Monday, January 9, 2017, it will be between Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Head Coaches and Mild Alabama Offensive Coordinator Controversy

Nick Saban coaches the Alabama Crimson Tide, and Dabo Swinney coaches the Clemson Tigers. Some controversy may be said of the Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, who accepted a job as the head coach of Florida-Atlantic University, and will not be on the field for this National Championship game. His replacement is Steve Sarkisian, who will be coaching on the sidelines, and this is the first time he has called plays since 2014 and being clean from alcohol abuse. Sarkisian took a break from coaching to undergo rehab for substance/alcohol abuse. The Los Angeles times has reported many alcohol incidents during his head coaching at Washington. In comparison, when Kirby Smart was announced as Georgia's head coach, he finished out the post-season play as Alabama's defensive coordinator before assuming his new position at Georgia.

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship: Alabama vs. Clemson

Monday night's game is a rematch between two talented college football programs. As Dabo Swinney said after his win over Ohio State, Clemson has set itself up as an elite football program. And most fans of college football would agree that Alabama is already the best college football program in the nation, seeing post season play almost every year, thanks to the coaching from Nick Saban, and the great athletes that are recruited by his program.

As you can see below, Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney are both in the top three for coaches with the best win percentage for coaches at the same school since 2008 (ESPN).

Statistic: If Alabama wins on Monday night against Clemson, it will be the first team in college football history to finish a football season 15-0 (wins/losses). Source: SEC Country

Alabama Crimson Tide's Biggest Threat is Deshaun Watson

Alabama's biggest threat in Monday night's game is the Clemson quarterback, Deshaun Watson. Last year, he was able to score 40 in Clemson's loss to Alabama. Deshaun was able to throw for 405 yards, with only 1 interception, and he ran the ball for 73 yards.

Alabama's defensive play forces the opposing team's quarterback of playing a perfect game, and Deshaun Watson is capable of playing great under pressure.

Steve Sarkisian needs to run the ball more than Lane Kiffin

While Jalen Hurts has been playing exceptionally well for a true freshman quarterback, Alabama fans are voicing that they want to see Steve Sarkisian run more plays that involve Bo Scarbrough, Damien Harris, and Joshua Jacobs in running the ball down the field.

Review: Coup is a Fun Game App in the Google Play Store

Want to know a fun game app in the Google Play store?

Over the holidays, I discovered a game in the Google Play store: the game Coup.

Coup app icon

The app is available in the Google Play store is based on a board game of deception and manipulation. This app game is essentially a card game, and is all about bluffing, and learning how to bluff successfully.

The game is free to download. There are in-game purchases available, but not necessary to play.

The game consists of five character cards:

1. Duke card - the Duke draws a tax of 3 coins, and cannot be blocked or challenged.
2. Captain card - the Captain can steal 2 coins, and can be blocked by the the Captain or Ambassador card.
3. Contessa card - Contessa can block an Assassination
4. Assassin card - in exchange for 3 coins, the Assassin can attempt an assassination. The Assassin can be blocked by only Contessa character card.
5. Ambassador card - the Ambassador can exchange 1 or 2 cards from the player's hand, and allow the player to choose from the next 2 cards drawn

Coup Gameplay

Each player has a total of 15 cards in the deck. Each character appears 3 times in the deck The player is drawn 2 random cards to start with in their hand.

You then can bluff or truthfully choose how you want to play based on the character cards' abilities, or you can draw 1 coin if you choose. There is a motivation to get to 7 coins. Once you reach 7 coins, you can press the "Coup" button, and force the player to reveal 1 card. A Coup cannot be blocked.

If you have an Assassin, you must have 3 coins in order to use the Assassin card.

You have 1:30 to play your turn, unless you are in a challenge period.

If you choose to only tell the truth, then logic could reveal your cards to the other player.

After you successfully accomplish certain tasks, the game awards you with badges that you can display on your Coup profile picture.

Coup Tips

1. Plan on bluffing. The game requires you to bluff to be successful.
2. If you do not have the Duke, but want to collect tax, start bluffing in Round 1 (your first turn)
3. If you have a card, but want the other player to think your bluffing, play it at an odd time
4. If you are in a challenge period of 30 sec., you can hesitate to play, but it will look like you do not have the card if you do this. You can hesitate to make the other player think you don't have the card.
5. You can use chat features to communicate pre-selected phrases and taunts to the other player. Use these strategically while playing.

Screenshot of Coup app

Disclaimer: The author of this blog post was not paid in any way for this blog post, and wrote it out of pure interest.