Stidham, who has reportedly transferred to McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, is on another unofficial recruiting visit to Auburn this weekend. Another Prayer at Jordan-Hare? There’s also little reason to believe Auburn can put up the points to even stay near Clemson. Auburn responded by driving to Clemson’s 40-yard line in the waning seconds before two passes into the end zone came up empty. Alabama won that game 29-13.
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“I played the odds, and I wanted to put it in the hands of our defense”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “We didn’t play as intelligently as we need to play”.
“No, because we didn’t win”. And Williams provides Clemson’s offense with yet another threat.
If that’s true, then Clemson’s game at Auburn Saturday night is a toss-up, which may not be all that surprising given recent history in the series.
Clemson’s offense, led by Heisman-contending quarterback Deshaun Watson and featuring one of the most talented lineups for any unit in college football, managed just 19 points and 399 total yards at Auburn on Saturday night.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton smiles as he watches Auburn and Clemson players warm up for an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Auburn, Ala.
Then, Clemson committed some gaffes.
Oldroyd kicked a 33-yard field goal with four seconds left and Jamaal Williams ran for 162 yards, helping BYU rally to beat Arizona, 18-16, Saturday night in Glendale, Ariz. Instead, Dabo opted to go for it, and called a freakish off-tackle run out of the I-formation that went nowhere.
“We just didn’t want to take a shot at the field goal right there”, he said.
Instead, Swinney called for a running play.
Watson, Williams, Wayne Gallman and Jordan Leggett are just too much for Auburn to defend.
“We’ve still got a lot to prove and I’m as hungry as I’ve ever been”, Swinney said. “All three had packages and that was our plan, that’s what we went with – at times, it worked well; at times, we struggled”.
For all the reputation-changing victories Clemson accumulated over the past few years, there was one particular item missing from the checklist.
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn attempted to get super creative with his play-calling and personnel early and often in the first half of its season-opening loss to No. 2 Clemson. Clemson is going to have it way with Auburn, and it won’t be pretty.
Clemson traveled 92 players to Auburn. He missed all but one game in 2015 after injuring his neck in the season opener.
Why use all three quarterbacks in the first place?
Auburn would push for on offense more than it had up to that point all game, but Brent Venables’ Clemson defense wouldn’t budge on a fourth and goal line stand. That included two drops by Mike Williams that should have been easy scores.
“It looked like his first game in a while to us”. He made a ton of plays, but there were some he didn’t make that he usually makes. “That was big for him”. Watson didn’t throw a passing touchdown until the fourth quarter.
Watson said he played “OK” in completing 19 of 34 passes for 248 yards and a touchdown. Auburn limited him to 21 rushing yards on 11 carries.
“There’s a lot he can improve on”.
“We may continue to do that, we will see how each game goes”, Malzahn said. “Nobody works harder and is more meticulous in preparation than Deshaun”. Clemson had advanced the ball inside the red zone and faced a 4th-and-4 with less than 30 seconds to go.
Linebacker Ben Boulware and safety Jadar Johnson recorded interceptions for Clemson, while Boulware also forced a fumble, which was recovered by Wilkins.
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– Malzahn says new staff members Kodi Burns and Travis Williams, both former Auburn players, have “everything it takes” to be head coaches one day.
