If the committee members didn’t see the second half, when Watson totally took control of the game, then maybe there will be some doubt as to whether the Tigers, who have been No. 1 since the first CFP rankings, deserve to be the No. 1 team in the playoff.
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It’s not like the Tigers were not moving the ball during the first half of Saturday night’s ACC Championship game against North Carolina.
The Tigers finished with 319 total rushing yards.
It didn’t take the Tigers long to answer, and they did it on the arm of Watson and the legs of Wayne Gallman.
Sure, Gallman had a 16-yard TD reception, his first of the season and the second of his career, but he knew he had to have a more productive second half.
The agreement, first reported by ESPN, comes shortly before the No. 8 Tar Heels were to face No. 1 Clemson in Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. “It didn’t lose us the game, but it didn’t help us win the game, either”. For the season, he’s registered 1,332 yards and 10 touchdowns.
163: The number of rushing yards Clemson running back Wayne Gallman gained in the second half. UNC (11-2) will close out its season in a bowl game that will be announced today.
The Tigers’ average starting field position was inside their own 25. That’s the way it looked anyway during a 97-yard scoring drive when Clemson restored some order in the third quarter.
The pressure from Clemson’s defensive line seemed to get to UNC quarterback Marquise Williams, who scrambled often and at times had trouble connecting with receivers who were open.
“We’ve got three top-10 teams in this league”, said Swinney, also referring to Florida State. He followed an 11-yard scurry on 3rd-and-8 with a 33-yard sprint that took the Tigers past mid-field-before finally running in the score from 9 yards out later in the drive.
“I’d be shocked (if it’s a low-scoring game)”, Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney said. “That was just Treasdall losing his mind, like he went insane on me”.
“I feel like I’m one of the best in the country because of the players I have (on the team) with me and the coaches on this staff”, Watson said. “He went Superman on me”.
After North Carolina got the game to one possession with 1:13 left, the Tar Heels had to onside kick. We fought. Nobody was down on the sideline. “It was just a young man making a really bad play”. The Tigers were tight and out of sorts and probably played a little too loose down the stretch while letting North Carolina climb back in the game. Ten minutes later, the Tigers had to recover an onside kick to survive a hard-charging North Carolina team.
Watson completed 26 of his 42 pass attempts for 289 yards with three touchdowns against one interception and added 131 yards and two more scores on the ground.
Clemson safety T.J. Green got plenty of face time on national television, but for the wrong reasons. Clemson didn’t play great in the first half.
For a good portion of the first two quarters UNC held the lead, but it simply could not hang on as the game progressed. After all, the game is not played in a vacuum and players don’t necessarily struggle of their own volition.
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He struck the Heisman pose after the game. Saturday night’s loss to Clemson can not erase how far this team has come nor take away from the increasing momentum the program has finally grabbed after years of standing still.
