C'mon dude! After the Pitt loss we had no choice but to beat Clemson! Had we beat Pitt we could have lost to Clemson ( a close loss of course ) and we would have still made it in and Bama would have been out.We were not playing Pitt for a playoff berth. Our spot in the playoffs hinged 100% on beating Clemson. A win over Clemson and we were in, and a loss to Clemson meant we were out.
I agree with your assessment that coaches are responsible for having the players motivated to play, but out playoff hopes were not pinned to Pitt.