This was a moment to cherish, but it didn’t take long for a reporter to burst the bubble.
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The Alabama Crimson Tide dismantled the Michigan State Spartans 38-0 in the semifinals for their 11th straight victory which was impressive but also made me wonder how did they ever lose a game.
This is where Kearse took exception. “As money came in on Alabama, we quickly went to -6.5 and then to -7”.
The difference? As electrifying as Manziel was, Watson’s a much better quarterback.
“You build your team from the inside out”, Swinney said.
“He’ll do an absolutely fabulous job as head coach”. And when presented with all the arguments for why Alabama poses the ultimate stumbling block, Kearse points to Watson as the equalizer. Its final – and perhaps biggest – will come in the national championship game against Alabama’s dominating defense. When you are a defensive team and can run the ball, it allows your skill guys and your quarterback to develop as the season progresses. He had 150 yards of considerable help from running back Wayne Gallman, of whom coach Dabo Swinney said, “He’s got (almost) 1,500 yards this year, and he’s just a sophomore, you know?”
This isn’t Watson’s first run at a championship. They’ll face Alabama in Phoenix, AZ on January 11 to see if this is the year the team goes “All In”. This week it’s for the National Championshipâand it is against Alabama. Watson and Gallman played well, and Clemson’s secondary was up to the challenge against OU’s solid receiving corps. That type of clutter doesn’t permeate the locker room this season as it may have in the past.
The kid is unflappable, Miller said. He was actually bigger than God to me at the time, being that I knew more about Paul “Bear” Bryant than I did that unknown deity looming somewhere in the great beyond.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of people say things, make sure I do the smart thing”, he said.
As Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney walked into the mass of media that had converge upon Clemson, South Carolina Tuesday for his normal weekly press conference something was clearly evidentâthis was not your normal weekly press conference. But it’s what he has done off the field – that ability to prepare enough to know the outcome before it happens – that has infected the entire Clemson locker room.
As expected, Stallings had nothing but praise for Swinney after he got the full-time gig at Clemson.
Part of that was because that same season, 326 miles away in Tuscaloosa, Saban was winning his third national championship, just a season before winning his fourth. Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips gave him a chance the next season and by 2011 Swinney had quietly fixed all the problems with the Tigers program, but even at 10-4 he was far under the radar.
“To be 14-0, it’s just special”, Clemson said of the 2015 team. I’ve had to do it before, and in the interest of what’s probably good for college football I’ll happily do it again.
In the days leading up to the Orange Bowl, tight end Jordan Leggett was happy to tout his quarterback’s inevitable success. May I remind you that Michigan State took down the defending national champs in Ohio State. If Henry carries the ball 30 times, Clemson is in trouble.
It should always be mentioned that in that 43-37 loss the Tide lost two fumbles and had three interceptions, two thrown by Jake Coker.
But it is Swinney who sums up Watson’s magic the best. Don’t be surprised if Clemson’s lines hold up. Area Facebook feeds, coffee shops and store aisles are full of ‘Bama fans who say they’d be rooting for Clemson if only Swinney’s team wasn’t playing the Tide. The leaders of the team won’t let them.
As for Wednesday and Thursday, he does not believe that it will hurt Clemson’s preparations. It’s not magic. It is belief and preparation and consistency, and all those little clichés Swinney has drilled into his team’s conscious, but that Watson lives from moment to moment.
Alabama has been good, though. There’s no doubting that.
This sets up what promises to be a spectacular championship game. It’s nothing to be anxious about.
The plan was for a Clemson coming out party. Swinney said this should send a message to Cain: that the Tigers can win without him if he doesn’t get his act together.
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“We’ve got a lonely trophy in our case. Now we’re here. And we’re having fun with it”.
