Go ahead and warm up the presses.
Advertisement
Clemson wide receiver Hunter Renfrow (13) can’t take control of the ball as Oklahoma safety Steven Parker (10) defends, during the second half of the Orange Bowl NCAA college football semifinal playoff game, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Miami Gardens, Fla. And by the way, Clemson coach Dabo (DA’-boh) Swinney is an Alabama alumnus who played on Bama’s 1992 national championship team. But for one night, the Tigers will celebrate the Orange Bowl victory over the Sooners and ponder the 15th game.
With a laugh, Swinney said: “We shocked them didn’t we?” So I got off our bus and went and stood in front of their bus.
“It’s been 34 years since Clemson had a chance to win a national championship”, Swinney said. “It’s four more quarters”.
Clemson was able to get on the board with a field goal later in the quarter after a Shaq Lawson sack and a shanked Oklahoma punt presented a short field.
Coach Bob Stoops shook up his staff and guided the Sooners within two victories of their first national title since 2000.
The Tigers didn’t just beat the Sooners. Those dreams turned into nightmares, and many wondered if the program could recover from the 70-33 beating administered by the Mountaineers that night. The Sooners picked up two first downs and entered Tigers territory.
Travel update – The Tigers are ringing in the New Year in Miami and will return to the WEZ in Clemson approximately 5pm tomorrow!
It was and is a great day to be a Clemson Tiger.
Clemson is undefeated of course and having a historic season by any standard.
At the outset, the Orange Bowl match-up between the (4) Oklahoma Sooners and (1) Clemson Tigers looked like it was going to shape up to be a good game, and for the first half, it actually was.
It showed on the first drive of the third quarter. “We were outplayed badly in the second half”. Then he ran for five. Then on Saturday, there will be more games. That allowed Oklahoma to retain a 17-16 lead at halftime. The Sooners as a team averaged 2.0 yards per carry.
“How ’bout them Tigers, baby?”
It was just the kind of decision you never see Watson make. I told him, ‘Don’t be shocked if we call it.’ I felt that it was the right time because we had put enough rollout punting on tape, so I knew [the Sooners] had prepared for that. “It shouldn’t be real hard to get guys ready to play for the national championship”.
Clemson had to rely on Guillermo, a junior who had given up football last season because of personal issues, to snap the ball to quarterback Deshaun Watson and a talented, yet at that time, unproven true freshman Mitch Hyatt to protect Watson’s blindside. Clemson’s defense took the Sooners’ jabs, but it was that same group that delivered the knockout punch on Baker Mayfield and the Sooners.
They also have links for more information.
Defensive end Kevin Dodd said Mayfield began to tire of the abuse he was taking from Clemson’s defense.
Advertisement
“I think a year ago when we came to this game, we were happy just to take part in the game”, Alabama coach Nick Saban said following the game. Maybe that hurt us this most. “This year, we really wanted to make a statement and do something special”. The Tigers’ D, widely regarded in the preseason as the biggest impediment to a potential playoff run, is very good-maybe even elite. This is, after all, a team whose signature moment from 2015 was the defense stuffing Notre Dame’s two-point conversion at the end of a 24-22 win in October.
