If you thought this rivalry would remain civil between these two powerhouses, then you don’t know how competitive these schools are. On Wednesday during Clemson’s ACC Kickoff, members of the defending national champions had the opportunity to respond to Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses’ comments about the team’s loss to the tigers back in January.
“It was more preparation,” Moses said. “I wouldn’t say Clemson was a better team… Georgia is definitely the hardest team I have played in college.”
This obviously did not sit well with Clemson players as senior safety K’Von Wallace took to Twitter to react to the comments made by Moses.
In my opinion Texas A&M by far the best team we played LAST YEAR
— #KMasterLock™$$ (@KVonWallace) July 18, 2019
Last season, Clemson narrowly escaped with a win when traveling to college station as they won a nail-biting 28-26 contest against the Aggies by getting a late stop on a two-point conversion. Besides Texas A&M, Syracuse was the only other team the tigers played who were able to stay within 20 points of them.
Other than Wallace, the members of Clemson who attended the media day were asked about the comments from the Alabama linebacker. Some sounding just as bothered as Wallace.
” Alabama was a really good team,” said senior guard John Simpson. “They played really hard. They got their opinions, that’s just how it’s going to be. We got our opinions, they got theirs. I personally feel like Notre Dame was the best team we played. Notre Dame was really good. I think Notre Dame was better than Alabama was.”
“Nobody wants to give us our credit. Nobody ever gives us our credit when it’s due. It’s obviously due, I mean what more can we do? We beat them twice, and we beat them pretty good the second time, so why is there an excuse? The first time, if there were excuses, the Ok. Alabama, they’re good, they’re great. They’ve been great for so long. So now that they’re losing, no one wants to see that.”
Fellow safety Tanner Muse was much more brief in his response as he pointed to what happened on the field as evidence of how good the Tigers were.
“He’s entitled to his own opinion so he can say what he wants to, but at the end of the day it’s about the wins and losses,” said Muse. You either win of you lose and then you say what you want afterwards. But the final result is the final result. There is no changing it, only what you do next.”
With the season quickly approaching, it’s safe to assume that this war of words may continue as the competition starts heating up. Over the last five seasons, both schools have dominated college football and will likely settle their feuds again when playoff time rolls around.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
