35-31. A score that will probably haunt Alabama fans for a while. As a future student of The University of Alabama and a long time fan of the Crimson Tide, I will not lie, the loss to Clemson in the National Championship game definitely stung. The last five years of my life has been spent loving Alabama more than I ever have, and I can say that National Championship Monday, made me realize that I love not only Alabama, but everything that comes along with it.

Alabama is mainly known for their near perfect football team. Ranked number one in the country for a whole season, it's easy to see why people know them for that. It takes a really special person to see what Alabama truly is, a family. While Alabama was winning over Clemson (most of the game,) I was sitting back texting back in forth in our roommate group chat, and an Alabama iMessage. We were all cheering on the Tide. Once Clemson took over the lead, we were still cheering on the Tide hoping and praying for a miracle. Although we did not get that miracle we hoped for, we did get something else. We sent each other so much love after the loss. We all talked about how much we cannot wait to experience tailgating and game days together. Somehow, in the sadness of the first national championship loss under Nick Saban, we all made each other smile, and that truly is the most important thing.

I never realized how lucky I am to be heading to such an amazing school until now. I always said my reasoning for going to Alabama is "for their amazing communications department and their D1 football team of course" however, my answer is different now. Of course, the communications department being as great as it is, is nice, but having a family away from family is even better.

in the words of Bear Bryant "Losing doesn't make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder." I truly believe that under Nick Saban, Steve Sarkisian and Jalen Hurts, Alabama has many more National Championship runs under their belt. We got to experience 26 straight wins, twenty-six. Many teams don't even get to experience two straight wins. The way the tide held themselves together after the loss spoke volumes. I couldn't be more proud to root for them.

In the wake of Alabama's loss, I think we all realized how truly blessed we are to have won as many National Championships as we have. We are truly lucky to have the group of boys that do on the team, and there definitely is not another team, in the SEC or the nation for that matter that can even begin to compare. There's just over 200 days until the start of the 2017-2018 football season, and I for one cannot wait. On to the next!

Roll Tide and of course, beat Auburn.