Number one Clemson overcame an early injury to defensive end Shaq Lawson and a 7-0 deficit in rolling number four Oklahoma 37-17 in the Capital One Orange Bowl Thursday night, and the Tigers will meet the victor of Alabama and Michigan St. on January 11th in Arizona for the National Championship. Still, he became the first Clemson player invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, leading the Tigers (14-0) to the only undefeated record in the regular season and the College Football Playoff.
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That didn’t happen. Clemson matched OU’s big plays – including a stunning fake punt – and waltzed into the January 11 national championship game. Swinney said Lawson sustained a sprained MCL.
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“There’s no doubt that we’ve been the more physical team now for about seven weeks in a row”, said Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, “but we weren’t tonight”.
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Fans on both sides voiced their excitement and confidence in the pregame. “We call that play U-Conn because Christian is from CT. You just have to give it to them”.
The dual threat rushed for 145 yards on 24 carries to help offset a pedestrian passing performance.
Clemson’s defense pitched a second-half shutout while the offense rolled for 175 third-quarter yards.
“As a unit”, Watson said, “it’s tough to beat us when we’re all on the same page and have each other’s back”.
Oklahoma is still stinging from their 40-6 loss in last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl, according to Bleacher Report. No matter the bravado, the Sooners simply weren’t in Clemson’s class. And the reason was rather straightforward: Oklahoma couldn’t block the Tigers, and the Sooners couldn’t stop Clemson from blocking them.
Mixon had just three carries before he was taken off the field with an injury and didn’t return. His 332 yards of total offense saw him named the game’s most valuable player on offense.
Clemson sacked Baker Mayfield five times and held the Sooners to 121 yards over the final two quarters.
“You’ve got to compliment them giving him struggles at times”, said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops.
“We shocked them, didn’t we?”
The Clemson game plan was pretty simple: Contain Mayfield inside the pocket and make Oklahoma one-dimensional by shutting down the run.
“[But] we weren’t good enough to finish it…. I think our guys really showed up with the physical toughness and the physical mindset and knew this would easily be our biggest challenge of the year, defending the run game”.
Clemson tacks on another field goal on the following drive bringing the Tigers back to a six point lead over the Sooners with 2:17 left in the half. Zack Sanchez picked off Deshaun Watson in the end zone with an interception just before halftime.
Bottom line, the Tigers had been waiting to prove again they were the better team. “We could tell at that moment that they were done physically, maybe even a little bit mentally”.
But it didn’t start out that way.
The aftereffects from Watson’s interception didn’t last as Clemson open the second half with a methodical, 12-play drive that went 75 yards and ended with a 1-yard plunge by Gallman for a touchdown and a 23-17 Tigers lead.
Clemson piled up 530 yards, sealing the victory on Gallman’s 4-yard touchdown run with 10:48 remaining.
Clemson went on a nine-play, 49-yard drive over the next two minutes, and Huegel hit a 43-yard field goal to put Clemson up 16-10 with a 2:17 to play before the half.
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“Sooner or later people are going to realize that Wayne Gallman is pretty darn special”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “I came in with two buckets of chicken, and it went insane”. “We just had some plays we needed to make and we didn’t make those tackles”.
