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Let's disregard, for a moment, the immediate emotional reaction that comes from Nick Saban and his players doing everything they can to avoid kissing the ring Clemson earned in dominating fashion six months ago.

Next week there will probably be some other controversy or quote that consumes everyone. People will move on to something else. So let's take a few steps back and try to draw some meaningful conclusions from last week's Alabama-Clemson dust-up.

We've already covered the fact that all this assures the chip is still very much on the shoulder pads of Clemson's players, the ROY Bus still revving its engines even after the decisive result in San Jose.

Here are two more important themes that haven't been talked about much: