Oklahoma marched down to the Clemson 30-yard line midway through the third quarter and gambled on a fourth-and-one play.
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37 (Orange Bowl semifinal): Things started out well for Oklahoma with an early touchdown by Samaje Perine, but the Tigers did the one thing they needed to in order to stop Oklahoma: They didn’t let anything else come from the running game, holding the Sooners to just 67 yards on 33 carries. The Sooners (11-2) actually came into the game as favourites, but the Tigers showed their unblemished mark was no fluke.
Until this season, the Tigers were known for such inexplicable disappointments that a term was coined for it – Clemsoning.
They are one step closer to another.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney simply can do no wrong this season. For the remainder of the half, Oklahoma collected five more plays of 15 or more yards including a 42 yard pass caught by Dede Westbrook taking the Sooners into the red zone.
Last year, the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained about the Clemson football program’s connection to Swinney’s religious conviction. “It won’t be much longer”.
Watson certainly lived up to the hype of being a Heisman finalist, accounting for 332 yards and earning the offensive MVP award.
Clemson finally got some momentum going in the 2nd quarter from an unexpected source.
Its impact: Clemson scored two plays later on a 5-yard Watson touchdown run to take a 10-7 lead.
The Spartans didn’t get a single first down in the entire game. It’s a great opportunity for them. After returning on the second drive and notching a sack of quarterback Baker Mayfield, Lawson did not play after the first quarter.
The other teams to make the playoffs were Oklahoma, dispatched by the Tigers 37-17, and Michigan State, booted by the Crimson Tide 38-0. One of the players was star freshman receiver Deon Cain.
On a balmy evening in south Florida, the orange-clad Clemson faithful gobbled up at least three-fourths of the seats at Sun Life Stadium, turning what was supposed to be a neutral-site game into Death Valley South.
Lawson suffered a knee injury on the opening drive of the game. “I hit him and didn’t really feel it. It was just a hard hit”. Quarterback Deshaun Watson is the third player in FBS history with 3,500 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in the same year, and he’s doing that even while running back Wayne Gallman set a school record for rushing as well.
Clemson piled up 550 yards in the game, sealing the victory on Gallman’s 4-yard touchdown run with 10:48 remaining.
The Tigers’ big question entering the season was their entirely rebuilt defensive and offensive lines. On 4th down punter Andy Teasdall, who made a mistake of trying to run for a 1st down during the ACC title game, threw a 31 yard pass to Christian Wilkins for a 1st down.
Lawson leads the nation in tackles for loss and would be a major defensive presence for Clemson’s defense against the Tide in the title game. Watson will have to play a near-perfect game against a defense that just humiliated Connor Cook and the Spartan offense. Boulware leaped to make an interception at the goal line, Mayfield dove into the linebacker to make the tackle, took a knee to the head and staggered off the field.
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But the biggest takeaway from this Tigers victory should be the way Clemson rag-dolled Oklahoma in the trenches, something that could portend it bringing home the school’s first national title since 1981.
