Roll Title! 'Bama Reverts to Rugby, Tops Tigers

The NFL should hire Nick Saban.

Not an NFL team. The league itself.

If The Shield wants to make actual headway in popularizing the American version of football elsewhere, perhaps it should adopt Saban's strategy.

Revert a segment of its game to resemble one that is embraced worldwide.

Prior to last night's CFP Championship game in Glendale, Arizona, most of that action would look vaguely familiar to a North American football fan. After all, the sport evolved from rugby.

Saban's ballsy decision to blunt Clemson's momentum then made all of that action look extremely familiar:

Saban called this after the Crimson Tide finally gained a 24-all tie with 10:34 left in regulation. Perhaps he and/or an assistant coach noticed the Tigers weren't covering the wings on kickoffs all game. Or, perhaps it was about time he called a play the team had been practicing since summer.

And he definitely wasn't thrilled about giving the ball to Clemson's offense if he had an alternative.

Especially when it ends this well:

This was a game worthy of being the championship clash. There were unlikely heroes such as a walk-on freshman and a rarely-used tight end, and there were big names playing big.

And when the rubber met the road, there was a tribute to the game's origins, no matter how unintentional.