Saban admits he'll 'never get over' title-game loss to Clemson

It's been four months since Clemson beat Alabama with a last-second touchdown to win the national championship, but that doesn't mean head coach Nick Saban has forgotten about it.

"I'll never get over it because you never do with those kind of losses," Saban told Chris Low of ESPN. "I never got over the returned field goal at Auburn. I never got over playing poorly against Ohio State and losing that game late. And then in this game, we didn't play very well, and Clemson did when they had to."

Alabama looked invincible throughout most of the season, winning every game by double digits outside of a five-point victory over Ole Miss. When it came to the final game against Clemson, however, Saban admits his top players didn't do enough to stop Deshaun Watson.

"You look at the Clemson game, and our really good players didn't play very well," he said. "But Clemson was a damn good team. They were the best team we played against with the best quarterback, and where we needed to play well, we didn't."

Most programs would be ecstatic with a 14-1 season and a place in the national championship game, but Saban's outfit isn't most programs. It's national title or bust in Tuscaloosa, and the Crimson Tide will look to put last season's failure behind them when they face Florida State on Sept. 2 to open the 2017 campaign.