If the Clemson star struggles, takes a step back or falls in the draft, perhaps this is the first step toward the Giants considering taking him to groom as the long-term quarterback solution in NY.
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Remember the coach who got it done with passing quarterbacks, running quarterbacks and quarterbacks named Schmoe?
Auburn, on the other hand, has a quarterback conundrum.
On the other-side of the of the ball, National Football League scouts will likely be paying close attention to Auburn defensive lineman Carl Lawson, who is looking to prove himself after being limited to just seven games last season due to injury. However, two passes by White into the end zone were incomplete and then time ran out for the home team. “If they (Auburn) march down the field with 40 seconds and no timeouts and score, I’m going to go down and shake their hand and say, ‘Great job'”.
“My expectation is we’ve still got a long ways to go”. At times, it worked well.
The times the quarterbacks struggled outweighed the times when it was effectve in game one. “We will see how each game goes and we will see how everything turns out”.
Venables’ defense was strong Saturday and that was partly because of the remarkable maturity and talent of freshman tackle Dexter Lawrence, who grew up in suburban Raleigh.
“We understand what we have and we understand what we can do”, Watson said. Said the coach after the game, “We came into this game knowing we would play all three quarterbacks”.
Watson opened his Heisman Trophy candidacy completing 19 of 34 passes for 248 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“I am very proud of our defense”, Malzahn said. “Holding those guys to 19 points I thought was really unbelievable”.
“Offensively, obviously in the first half it was a big struggle,”?he said.
Star of the game: Clemson WR Mike Williams.
Cam Newton, the defending National Football League Most Valuable Player and 2010 Heisman Trophy victor, was in attendance Saturday night along with former Heisman Trophy victor Bo Jackson. It was Carlson’s sixth career field goal of 50 yards or more, breaking the Auburn record held by Neil O’Donoghue since the ’75-’76 season.
Greg Huegel would later sink a 30-yard field goal to make 10-3 Clemson at the half. It failed, and Auburn nearly came away with a hail mary touchdown to win it. Clemson rushed for 85 yards on 24 carries and hit 11-19 passes for 148 yards while AU hit 5-7 passes for 37 yards. Defensive end Christian Wilkins recovered a fumble and linebacker Ben Boulware snared an interception.
Clemson fans will notice a familiar face on the opposite sideline, as former defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who was sacked following the 2011 Orange Bowl, has made his way to Auburn after stops with Alabama and LSU.
Clemson scored a touchdown with 9:59 to go in the game to make it 19-6 and it looked over, then.
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In a first half where Clemson held an 18-to-12 minute time possession difference, it was Steele’s defensive blitzes especially on third down (where Clemson was 2-for-8 in the first half) that allowed drives to stall with little damage. But the way Gus Malzahn handled his quarterback rotation is something that just makes no sense in the mind of a competent person. Auburn advanced to Clemson’s 40-yard-line in the closing seconds against Clemson’s prevent defense, setting up its last two attempts that were batted away by Johnson. They have a proven head coach with a top Heisman contender at quarterback and a defensive coordinator that knows how to put the pieces together. However, that drive ended after Malzahn made a decision to replace Franklin III for Johnson and he threw an interception into double coverage as the boos rained down at Jordan-Hare Stadium. He is the key to stopping Auburn’s multi-faceted running game.
