Clemson’s impressive numbers against Alabama’s tight defense were mostly contributed by Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson, who passed for 405 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 73, tallying 478 total yards, the most ever recorded in a national title game. Swinney is the first Clemson coach to receive the award since Danny Ford in 1981.
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Including Greenville, six markets set new ESPN postseason football highs: Atlanta (30.1), Nashville (29.1), Charlotte (22.8), Raleigh-Durham (20.2) and Norfolk (18.4). Clemson won its only national title in 1981.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney argued with the officials that the kick was against the rules and the outburst may have distracted his team as it allowed a 51-yard touchdown pass two plays later.
Shirley was among the roaring, selfie-snapping crowd that welcomed the newly-crowned national champions back home to Tuscaloosa just after sunset Tuesday. Writing for Sports on Earth, Will Leitch said that while it’s Alabama’s opponents who usually are willing to try unconventional tactics to topple the mighty Crimson Tide, this time it was Saban who “pulled a huge David-thwarting-Goliath move with his most stunning, batsh!t-crazy, evil-genius call in recent memory”. “Sometimes he was open and we didn’t get him the ball, but I think the last two games have been breakout games for him in terms of what he’s capable of and what he can do”. “I think that sometimes success can put a distorted perspective on things for you to some degree”. We took it to the very end…. Watson, however, just didn’t get the result Young did 10 years ago in that legendary Rose Bowl win against USC.
He called an onside kick just after Adam Griffith’s tying field goal in a pivotal moment of the Crimson Tide’s 45-40 win over Clemson.
After a Tigers field goal made it 31-27, special teams showed up again, as Alabama’s Kenyan Drake returned the kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and Clemson couldn’t rally back from there. Our defense, it wasn’t as deep as this defense, so a lot of people like to hang on the notion that we were better because we just played the whole game. “But we gave it all we had and my boys up front, we did what we had to do”. J Howard with a 53-yard scoring strike to take a 21-14 lead with a little more than two minutes gone in the second half. It was executed perfectly, as Griffith dropped it into the arms of cornerback Marlon Humphrey in the empty right flat.
“All the stats doesn’t really matter to me”.
Alabama tight end O.J. Howard hadn’t caught a touchdown pass since 2013. In the two playoff games, Coker was a combined 41 of 55 for 621 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Henry plunged into the end zone for his third touchdown of the game to make it 45-33 with 1:07 left.
As gamblers know too well, that TD meant the Tigers, while not winning, beat the spread.
From the time the teams landed at the airport, I was part of the media following the teams’ every move – practice, Media Day, coaches conference, parties, and more.
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Well, so far, everybody except Alabama.
