The times the quarterbacks struggled outweighed the times when it was effectve in game one.
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Malzahn is widely considered an offensive genius – he was the offensive coordinator for the 2010 National Championship team and took a team led by converted cornerback Nick Marshall to the National Championship game – but Saturday night, that genius backfired. “We will see how each game goes and we will see how everything turns out”.
Led by Watson, the Tigers figured to be a point-a-minute powerhouse, unstoppable by all but the very elite college defenses.
“Hats off to them”, Ruffin said. The Tigers certainly didn’t put on the same type of display as No. 1 Alabama, their opponent from last year’s title game and the team they’re chasing in the polls this year.
Watson completed 19-of-34 passes for 248 yards and a touchdown with one interception. “Holding those guys to 19 points was really unbelievable as far as the effort”. 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. “It’s a good start but not what we expect”.
Auburn head football coach Gus Malzahn will answer fan questions during his weekly radio appearance on “Tiger Talk”, which will be recorded live from Bob’s Victory Grille in Auburn tonight at 6 p.m. Swinney went for it on fourth down and four instead of taking a field goal attempt, and Gallman was stuffed for only two yards. In 2015, Auburn football averaged 173.6 yards in rushing and 196.4 yards in passing.
Clemson then ended the half by driving 64 yards in eight plays to set up Huegel’s 30-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the half.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney looks at the scoreboard after Clemson’s 19-13 win over Auburn an NCAA … 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.
One of the biggest reasons for the Clemson defensive success was big freshman Dexter Lawrence.
So Swinney went conservative, handing the ball to running back Wayne Gallman, hoping at best Gallman would gain the 4 yards for a first down and, at worst, would have the good sense to fall down in-bounds to keep the clock running a few seconds before Auburn got its last chance to score.
“Good coverage, and he just makes good plays on the ball”. This will be the 50th meeting all-time between Clemson and Auburn, and while Auburn has traditionally enjoyed the better end of this game, Clemson can notch its third straight win in this series.
Auburn had just scored a touchdown to cut the lead to six and had momentum and two timeouts left when Clemson took over at its own 25 with 3:22 remaining.
Clemson’s electric offense – led by Heisman Trophy frontrunner DeShaun Watson – put up almost 400 yards of total office. Malzahn trotted Johnson back out to boos on a second down and long, and Johnson threw an interception on third and long.
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In the end, the result can’t be considered too surprising: Clemson beat Auburn, but not as convincingly as many would have thought, as it survived some Week 1 sloppiness and an improved Auburn defense in a tough road environment. In his first college game he had a sack, a pass break-up and tied up Auburn’s blockers whenever he was on the field. The Tigers played all three quarterbacks on Saturday night and even direct-snapped to running backs, so it was a bit hectic in Auburn’s backfield.
