we will be live from the desert to the carolinas. gabrielle: and the tigers on the brink of history. a win tonight will make clemson the first team in college history to go 15-0. michael: clemson is playing the alabama crimson tide, in case you haven't heard for the , national college championship. we can't show you highlights just yet until the trophy , presentation. gabrielle: alabama 21, clemson right now. michael: we have team coverage for you tonight. wyff news 4's john lyon and wyff news 4's mike mccormick have you covered on the watch parties. gabrielle: we begin with geoff hart live in arizona. jeff, what an incredible -- geoff, what an incredible game. geoff: fireworks early on with derrick henry scoring from 50 yards out. 7-0 alabama. deshaun watson connects with

14-7 at the end of the first. second quarter, watson threw an interception, then alabama goes down, then they score again behind henry. 14-14 at the half. he busted play in the third makes it 21-14. clemson gets a field goal. my reducer told me clemson has scored again. they take the lead. they are about to take the extra point. wayne gallman ran it in. if you add the extra point, it will be tigers up 24-21. there is an awful lot of orange inside this facility. certainly, 2-1, dwarfing the alabama crowd. it is clemson taking the lead. this is as good of a game as you could expect between number one and number two, clemson, of course, hasn't won the title in 34 years. alabama playing in their fourth

lots to play for here late in the third quarter, looking forward to the rest of this one. we will have full coverage after the game. michael: thanks, geoff. the party is well underway at home. the hendrix center is where we find mike mccormick. gabrielle: clemson just scored, john. john: the room just erected in shouting and applause as clemson took the lead. -- interrupted in shouting and applause. 400 students packed the hendrix center. they are hoping, just hoping, that in about an hour, they will have something to celebrate. four f's is not a good report card, but tonight, it stood for free food, football, and

>> my parents both went there. john: how is that going over? >> i was a little jealous. john: most students would like to be in arizona, but they made the best of it. >> it is still exciting. wherever tigers fans are, it is exciting. >> we love watching the game. john: just as much fun? >> yes. john: at the nearby club, it was football under the stars. even if the temperatures were in the mid 30's. >> it is chilly and i came wearing my jacket. i'm ready for the cold. and to watch the tigers. >> it is chilly, but no place i would never what's the game. john: the lucky ones found a table inside. this group state their claim 12 years -- 12 hours ago.

, the national championship it. john: they were glad they did. surrounded by a sea of orange. this is a nailbiter. these students are reacting on every play. live in clemson, john lyon, wyff news 4. gabrielle: gabrielle: right now, the game is at the big-screen at the bon secours wellness arena in greenville. michael: that's where we find wyff news 4's mike mccormick, who is live and local there with the latest. mike? mike: this place just went crazy. the entire area just shook. everyone jumped to their feet, cheering. i got the latest numbers, 2600 people here at this free official watch party at the well. people say they are excited. the energy is unbelievable. many fans going all-out for this special watch party.

since day one. we wore them to them to the norte dame game, florida state, georgia tech. >> it has been so rainy, we decided we would go full out. >> this is been a good luck charm for the clemson tigers. go deshaun, go dabo, go girls! woo! >> we are representing clemson. >> it's been awesome. there's so many people here, you can really feel the energy, and just the love for that clemson family. >> everybody is cheering pretty loud and getting everybody else into it. >> we need to talk about brentnt venables. mike: they have had prizes and giveaways and contests. the fans say the real prizes being here with the clemson family. lots of fans say the energy here made them realize this was the next best thing to being at the

mike mccormick, wyff news 4, live in greenville. michael: ever since the tigers won the orange bowl clemson , police say they've been planning how to keep everyone safe tonight for the championship. city police are working with university police, planning for several scenarios of what could happen tonight. chief jimmy dixon said a lot more people live in the city of clemson now, than in 1981 for -- when the first championship came to town. and for that game, classes had yet to start up. >> naturally, this is the largest gathering of any sporting event in clemson. so we went back in history, and looked at different things that have happened, and compared big games and things like that, and sort of try to anticipate anything beyond that, that could happen, and plan for that. michael: win or lose, police say remember to drive safely and patiently in the traffic, befofo and after the game. gabrielle: if clemson brings home a win, you can pick up some championship apparel tonight at a few stores.

11:30, and stay open until 1:00. dick's sporting goods and academy sports and outdoors will also stay open after the game. michael: but wait, there's more. in spartanburg, you can stop by turner graphics there, and can get an officially licensed t-shirt and car magnets. that is, of course, if the clemson tigers clinch the title. the store owners say they plan to stay open all night long. gabrielle: south carolina senator tim scott has placed a friendly wager on this game with an alabama lawmaker. if clemson wins, sessions will , he is talking about another senator there, he will have to treat scott and his office to alabama barbecue. he'll also have to wear a clemson necktie at the u.s. capitol for a day. it's vice versa for senator scott, if the tide wins. michael: the excitement runs all the way to manhattan. the empire state building getting into the football spirit. they are not choosing sides. look closely. the lights on the iconic signature of new york city are split between clemson orange and crimson tide.

team you think will win tonight. take our now poll. you can vote on our website, or our facebook and twitter pages. here's a look at the results so far. wow. 45% saying they think clemson will win. 55% say alabama. the game is going and there is still time to vote. michael: we are measuring the momentum. it is not too late to check out our live wire. it's a collection of the latest tweets about the tigers, and fun posts from our staff we have had a lot of fun with it. you can also watch retro highlights from the 1982 orange bowl, when clemson claimed it's not -- it's last go to the wyff national title. go to the wyff 4 app, or wyff four.com, and look in the "right now" bar. michael: and what's the weather like over in arizona right now? gabrielle: chief meteorologist john cessarich is here, tracking it all. john: crystal clear skies in phoenix, and through the state of arizona. cool temperatures, upper 40's to low 50's for the game.

the stadium, so i'm sure it is probably closed. it is dry inside and outside. absolutely perfect. what about our weather? headed to the eastern half of the country, the live super doppler shows it is nice and quiet and will remain that way tonight. temperatures cooling down,n, 25 in asheville, 30 in spartanburg, 35 in greenville and anderson. your wake of weather looks like this. expect plenty of sunshine in the upstate, cold, light wind early that becoming breezy in late afternoon. breezy in the mountains, 22 degrees your overnight low at seven: 37, sunrise. then it gets windy and colder. more about that later on. michael: big first down for clemson just now. more news tonight, an upstate woman's rallying cry has led to an invitation from the white house. >> fired up. ready to go.

president obama says inspired him during his first run for the presidency. he credits edith childs and her rallying cry, for getting him fired up during his campaign. as a way to show his appreciation, childs was invited to sit with the first lady during president obama's final tomorrow night. for south carolina lawmakers, who will begin a brand new legislative session. while elected officials will of course tackle many issues, road repairs are at the top of the list. last year, lawmakers seemed close to a solution, but opposition to raising the state's gas tax, and demands for reform at the department of transportation, led to an impasse. this year, bruce bannister of greenville believes a road plan will come together. >> the one thing we know is, if you leave the roads like they are, it's going to be a negative effect on the economy. we know we have to do something, and figuring out what that is, is hopefully what we'll do this year. gabrielle: helping matters is a $1 billion surplus in state tax revenues, which lawmakers say could be allocated to roads.

where for the first time in four decades, the city has inaugurated a new mayor. john tecklenburg took the oath this afternoon, during a ceremony on the steps of city hall in charleston's historic district. tecklenburg won a six-way, nonpartisan election in november he succeeded joe riley, who served as mayor for 10 terms. mayor riley was the longest-serving mayor in charleston's 345-year history. gabrielle: an upstate community said goodbye to a longtime state lawmaker who died last week. a funeral took place this afternoon for senator billy o'dell. hundreds showed up for the service at the first presbyterian church in greenwood. o'dell died in his sleep last week. he served senate district 4, which includes abbeville, anderson, and greenwood counties. the 77-year-old leaves behind a wife and two children. michael: a 21-year-old man says excessive force e the police caused him to lose a tooth. and tonight, greenville police have released the dash cam video of what happened. it all happened on december 15.

being handcuffed and arrested here. williams had claimed he had been slammed to the ground while in handcuffs. he was under arrest on a charge of possesion of marijuana. gabrielle: the woman accused of robbing several jewelry stores across the southeast made her first court appearance. federal investigators say abigial kemp robbed stores in these five states. she cried as she was let out of court following her arrangement. the fbi arrested kemp in an atlanta suburb this weekend. investigators say they tracked her down through social media. authorities say lewis jones was also involved in the robberies. michael: brace yourself, a burglar stole ace make -- a snake from a pet store by putting it in his pants. this is surveillance video from the a to z pet store in portland. it shows a man take the black pastel ball python out of its cage, and he is going to stick it down his pants here. this happened on friday. the store owner says the snake is about two feet long, and was

they are working to track down the serpent suspect. gabrielle: as we had to the break, a look at the latest score from phoenix. clemson has the lead, 24. alabama 21. john: a race going on this saturday, the greenville news run downtown 5k road race. showers may be ending just before the race begins at 9:00

get this. i was at my shop tied up with a customer when i realized the time. i had to get to the bank before it closed, so i made a break for it. when i got out it was almost closing time. traffic was bad. i knew i was cutting it close. but it was ok. i use td bank. it's got longer hours and stays open an extra ten minutes every day. i'm sid.

gabrielle: one of the most unique and iconic musicians has passed away. tonight, david bowie fans around the world are mourning the loss of a transformative figure in pop culture. he lost a battle with cancer. he was 69 years old. >> i was shocked this morning. >> i can watch them on youtube all the time. i can watch "drive-in saturday" performed live in the 70s. it's so good to be able to go back to him so easily. gabrielle: people around the globe are paying their respects to bowie, who died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. in london, fans placed flowers and written tributes at a mural near the singer's birthplace.

londoner in his ziggy stardust phase. michael: tens of millions of americans went back to work today because they did not win the powerball. now, it is really big. if you had not guessed, no one won on saturday. the pot is now $1.4 billion, yes, with a be -- with a b. there is still time to buy another ticket. keeping you up to date on the score, status quo entering the fourth. the tigers are up 24-21 to the crimson tide. >> now, your live super doppler 4 hd weather forecast. john: alabama just punted, right at midfield. clemson at midfield. looking good. watching the game out of the corner of my eye in the studio.

coming in from the west, a cold front will pass us by tomorrow afternoon. ahead of the front, it will be windy. behind it, it will be much stronger winds. i will show you how strong in a second. at the greenville airport, we started off at 24 degrees, below average. we warmed up to 47 degrees this afternoon, five degrees below average. 17 degrees the low this morning at the asheville airport. 10 degrees below average, far from the record low of negative six set in 1982. i was working in atlanta that year. i remember that. it was so cold. 38 was the high this afternoon in asheville. we below the average of 47. a live shot over laurens, it is cold outside. current temperature, 33 degrees in laurens. already six in clemson, doesn't matter how cold it is, it is warm inside because the tigers are ahead, right now. in north carolina, temperatures like this.

21 in franklin, 21 in waynesville, 20 in sylva, mid 20's in asheville, and rutherfordton. 29 in spruce pine. cold across the area. at least we do not have to deal with much of the wind. humidity pretty low, 39% in greenville, higher in asheville at 63%. temperatures will not drop as quickly in the mountains. 30 in florence, freezing an atlanta. chilly through for -- through florida, 62 in miami. everybody else in the southeast is chilly. 46 in new orleans, 39 in st. louis. nationally, storm system coming through chicago reduced 1-3 inches of -- produced 1-3 inches of snow. there could be a few flurries or snow showers along the north carolina-tennessee line tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night. the arctic air in place.

yesterday, third coldest nfl playoff game in record on minneapolis, the game started at negative six with the windchill of negative 25. right now, negative six in international falls. the front passes by in the afternoon tomorrow. maybe a flurry for asheville, maybe. that's about it. yes chance of snow showers northwest of asheville tomorrow afternoon. clear to partly cloudy in the upstate, 22 in the mountains. tomorrow in the upstate, bright sunshine becoming very breezy in the afternoon. high 49. 34 at 9:00 a.m., mid 40's by lunchtime. tomorrow in the mountains, partly sunny becoming windy, very strong winds late in the day. high 42. 31 to start with at 9:00 a.m., 42 maybe at lunchtime. the four-they plus, we are talking still about a cold day on wednesday. mild on thursday. rain on friday afternoon and

>> now, wyff news 4 sports. >> you are playing the defending champions. obviously, you want to beat them to continue on, to give yourself , the opportunity. that's the truth of it, more so than anything else. this is a good football team, very well coached.

very well. and they've got some good football players. ricardo: the carolina panthers draw the 2-time defending nfc champion seattle seahawks in the divisional round sunday. the seahawks survived minnesota, on a missed field goal in the final minute, to earn a trip to charlotte. the panthers won in seattle in week 6, 27-23. 34 years after winning the national championship, clemson has a chance tonight to experience the euphoria once again. but the tigers will have to beat one of the premier programs in the country for the past decade, in alabama. crimson tide head coach nick saban, seeking his fourth national title in the past 7 seasons, his fifth overall. meanwhile, dabo swinney seeking his first national title as a head coach. right now, in the fourth quarter, clemson clinging to a three point lead. crimson tide opened the scoring with a 50 yard touchdown run by heisman winner derrick henry. deshaun watson threw two td's in the first half, both to hunter renfrow. tide reclaimed the lead in the third. jacob coker and oj

tigers take the lead in the third. this game, coming down the stretch, should be a good the one. south carolina men's hoops squad is one of two undefeated teams left in the country. the gamecocks, improving to 15-0 after beating vanderbilt on saturday. usc moved up three spots to number 19 in the latest ap poll. usc will try to stay unbeaten at alabama wednesday. the wind -- the win streak venting use or and's, but the coach will enjoy the ride. x >> 13-0 didn't help us in the middle of the vanderbilt game. who we have become more the last 3.5 years helped us in the middle of the game. when i say the ride, that is what i am talking about. those kids, their growth, their commitment to one another, the belief in what we do, makes it fun to be around.

the paladins coming off a win against chattanooga saturday. first half, fowler on the spot. fowler finished with 12. later, the cleanup, and the. he had a game-high 16. furman continues to roll as they win again over the bulldogs, 77-67. while -- wofford and chattanooga , terriers trying to stay undefeated. collins with the drive to the rack. he led wofford with 21 and eight assists. but a 10-0 run by chattanooga, esther with the jam. wofford's first conference loss of the season, 77-68. over to the diamond, clemson catcher chris okey was named a first-team preseason all-american by perfect game. okey earned first team all-america honors last season, becoming the first tiger all-america catcher since matthew lecroy in 1997.

at home february 19th, against maine. of course, baseball is a couple months away. we are still in football season in the middle of january. we are all peeking over there. michael: spinning our heads. we will need a chiropractor. ricardo: clemson trying to capture the first national title in 1981, in a dog fight with alabama. gabrielle: another look at the

ricardo: tiger tom holding their breath. alabama tied the game with a field goal. tied at 24. it is coming down to the stretch. michael: anybody surprised at how good this game is? ricardo: i am not surprised it is this close. john: such a great game.

weather, as well. john: the weather is great everywhere. tomorrow will be chilly. when the wind picks up tomorrow afternoon, it will feel colder than the high of 49 in the upstate and 42 in the mountains. maybe flurries and snow showers along the tennessee line in the mountains and in north carolina. with sunshine on wednesday, it will still be cold. high 45 in the mountains. the next threat of rain will be friday afternoon and friday night into saturday. gabrielle: enjoy than -- the rest of the game. michael: if the tigers win, we will be back. good night, for now. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.