Now, he’s going against the greatest coach of this generation. The Tigers are a very, very good team and in a year where there aren’t many of those, they’ve long since proven their worth. “If he can make a good throw on the run, hats off to him, but we didn’t want him sitting in the pocket delivering throws”.
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Quarterback Deshaun Watson turned in another stellar all-around performance, beating the Sooners with his arm and his legs.
Earlier in the day Thursday, Lawson made headlines for a different reason, when Dusty Dvoracek and Carey Murdock of WWLS-FM reported that Lawson went onto Oklahoma’s team bus after an event Wednesday and talked trash to the Sooners’ entire team. Ridley had eight receptions for 138 yards and two touchdowns, and it was his 50-yard reception in the second quarter that set up the first touchdown of the game that really cleared the plumbing for Alabama’s offense. But after that play, sophomore fullback Dimitri Flowers got into a shoving match with a Clemson player, then clapped in his face and drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Its final one – and perhaps biggest – will come in the national championship game against Alabama’s dominating defense. “We’ve had a lot of talented skill guys at Clemson the last six or seven years”.
For the second year in a row, the Sooners (11-2) ended their season with a loss to Clemson.
Viewers apparently weren’t sold on the idea of sharing their New Year’s Eve with the College Football Playoff as television ratings for both semifinals games were down significantly from last season.
Of course, Alabama’s utter demolition of Michigan State – the Spartans rushed for 29 yards – suggests a team that is playing on another level.
“They played a more physical way than we did”, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. He was diagnosed with a sprained medial collateral ligament.
While the game was ultimately a blowout in favor of Clemson, things initially seemed to be going in Oklahoma’s direction.
Coker completed 25 of his 30 passes with two touchdowns, and was just magnificent overall.
Alabama looked like a team with no weaknesses against Michigan State. The freshman Ridley was brilliant, streaking by defenders on deep throws and outfighting them on jump balls. Instead of pounding away at a Michigan State defense that was stacked to stop Heisman Trophy victor Derrick Henry from running wild, Alabama aired it out. He caught eight passes for 138 yards. It translated into a thrashing of OU with nine tackles for losses, five of them sacks of the hard-to-sack Baker Mayfield. On defense the Sooners will lose a couple of key players in Eric Striker and Charles Tapper – and possibly Dominique Alexander if he decides to leave – but all in all, this team will enter 2016 as the favorite in the Big 12. Gallman added to the advantage with a 4-yard run early in the fourth quarter. “I said, ’15 for ’15, ‘ with the message being let’s make them print 15 tickets this year, somehow, someway”.
What happened: The Sooners got back into Clemson territory with Mayfield’s 18-yard scramble, but on second-and-10 at the Tigers’ 40, he faked a handoff, dropped back to pass and immediately looked over the middle for Quick.
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Bosa has been the dominant figure on the Buckeyes defensive line and follows his father, John Bosa, who also played at Ohio State and was a first round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins in 1987.
