Malzahn had his reasons to give up on Roc Thomas over injuries minor enough to let the Oxford High grad play 10 games but lose his starting job last season, but there’s no doubt that Thomas got exhausted of getting no benefit of the doubt.
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OK, so Saturday night’s – er, Sunday morning’s – 19-13 victory against Auburn didn’t exactly provide the type of offensive fireworks many Clemson fans expected. Two of the games were decided in overtime and the other two were tied in the third quarter. “And a game like this should help us out down the road”.
On the next Auburn drive, Boulware committed a roughing the passer penalty that a senior defensive leader simply should not make, and Auburn scored on the next play, making for a very tense last few minutes of the game.
Clemson saw its streak of 11 consecutive games with at least 500 yards of total offense end, as the Tigers finished with 399. The defense faces a lot of turnover, but Clemson has recruited well enough that there’s a lot of talent there to take over.
“We’ll all be one big happy family once again, no doubt”, Swinney said.
Swinney nearly had to do just that. All three of Auburn’s turnovers took place with possession in Clemson territory.
Auburn’s defense gave it a chance to upset No. 2 Clemson on Saturday night.
“Hats off to the defense”, said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn after the game. “That is one of the best teams in college football, and holding those guys to 19 points was really unbelievable”. But he fumbled to squander a prime scoring opportunity and Swinney said Williams left some plays “on the field”.
Clemson wide receiver Mike Williams carries the ball aast Auburn defensive back Tray Matthews pursues during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Auburn, Ala.
Clemson’s last drive of Saturday’s game at Auburn had a peculiar ending with Dabo Swinney opting to go for it on fourth-and-4 instead of attempting a field goal that would have put the game away, but Deshaun Watson and his star-studded offense made plays earlier in the drive to put Clemson in position to preserve the 19-13 win. Gallman ran behind a pair of big blockers – defensive linemen Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence – to score on the fourth-and-one play with 7:45 left in the half.
CLE: Renfrow 16 pass from Watson (kick failed), 10:06. Auburn opens picked to finish sixth in the Southeastern Conference Western Division after flopping last season amid much higher expectations. Sean White is a tough, competitive kid who threw for 140 yards and almost pulled out a win. On a night Watson threw for 248 yards, Williams accounted for more than 70 percent of the team’s receiving yards by himself. Malzahn praises Sean White’s performance last season and feels he’s improved now that he’s healthy. The first came when the person signaling in the play couldn’t hear the call, and the second happened when one player in the huddle didn’t know the play. We may continue to do that. Tray Matthews stopped Wayne Gallman short, and Auburn’s hopes still lived. Though Saban’s Tide defeated Watson’s Tigers last January, he was not able to stop Newton in 2010. Next series out, Clemson brought the pressure, and backward Johnson-led Auburn went.
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Zach Lentz is a Clemson University alumnus who got his start working with the Tigers basketball team from 1999-2004. He was targeted 14 times, 10 times more than anyone else on the team, and was a matchup nightmare for Auburn. Auburn FS Johnathan “Rudy” Ford is the only Auburn player to enter this season with more than 200 career tackles (216).
