Given everything the Sooners went through to get to this point, it looked like OU was the team of destiny.
Advertisement
No Man Is Gonna Touch Draymond Green’s Head
The home game was the Warriors’ first since November 27, an 18-day span that was the club’s longest since moving west in 1962…. The Milwaukee Bucks are averaging 95.3 points on 44.7 percent shooting and allowing 101.7 points on 45 percent shooting.
“We shocked them, didn’t we?” a beaming Swinney said. “If we can dominate on both sides of the ball up front, it’s going to be a very easy game for us”. Watson ran for 145 yards and passed for 187 more to win the game’s offensive MVP award.
Alabama starter during 38-0 win: “I can’t believe we’re doing this”
The turning point of the game came at the end of the second half, after Alabama made a field goal to put the Tide up 10. Speaking of zip, Alabama simply smothered overmatched Michigan State 38-0, outgaining the Spartans 440 yards to 239.
It’s over – Clemson is going to play for the national title. They were calling it like a sprained MCL, but he just couldn’t quite push off on it like he needed to. The Tigers went 75 yards in 12 plays, needing to convert only one third down on an 11-yard pass to Hunter Renfrow to the Sooners’ 4-yard line. “It just made us more hungry to play”. And they were pitted in a semifinal against Oklahoma-an opponent they had pummeled 40-6 in a bowl game just 12 months ago.
Israel Denies West Bank Settlement Construction Plans
The ministry said that it “acts only according to approved plans and based on the decisions of the government and prime minister”. At least 129 Palestinians have died in the same period, of whom 89 Israel says were attacking or attempting to attack Israelis.
Leading 30-17, two Clemson players combined to make a big defensive play. It’s allowed just one individual to rush for 100 yards (Georgia’s Nick Chubb) and just two teams to rush for 100 yards (Georgia and Tennessee) this season.
The second half was a major display of championship mettle by the Tigers, however, who dominated the final 30 minutes in stunning fashion. Perine went out for a while with a leg injury.
Instead, he stood tall and threw a pass as high and as far as he could into the stands, sending it up there like a flare announcing the Tigers’ return to the national championship game for the first time since they won it all in 1981.
When Oklahoma tried deception of its own – a fourth-and-1 direct snap to running back Samaje Perine – the play was stuffed for no gain by Clemson linebacker Kendall Joseph.
Granted, the Sun Life Stadium folks got a little ahead of themselves when they blared “We Are the Champions” over the loudspeakers after the game. “They had us on our heels a few times”.
Dabo Swinney’s club blew out Oklahoma, again, this time in 37-17 and on a much bigger stage than it did last season.
Then the second half happened.
“We were still firing around, we were still having fun, we still had the energy, we never got exhausted”, he said. “It makes it challenging when you don’t have that part of the game that’s threatening”.
No. 1 overall seed Clemson Tigers face off against No. 4 seed Oklahoma Sooners at 4:00 p.m. EST on New Year’s Eve in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Orange Bowl recap, score and key stats for the Tigers and Sooners.
Led by Semaje Perine, OU marched right down the field and punched the Tigers right in the mouth.
Clemson did it with a heavy dose of the run game, racking up 312 yards on the ground on 58 attempts. “Outside of the injuries, I don’t think they had anything to do with it”. But still, I was surprised/impressed at just how tough they were running the ball.
But it didn’t start out that way. Mayfield, who has been an additional rushing threat for the Sooners at times this season, finished with 10 carries for minus-15 yards. The first trick worked, the second didn’t, and from that point on Clemson embraced a back-to-basics approach in which it imposed its will on the Sooners behind the strength and depth of the Tigers’ two lines and the running of quarterback Deshaun Watson and tailback Wayne Gallman.
Advertisement
“I knew that we would be here”, Swinney said. It was the highlight, but the real story was the unflappable foundation that Swinney and his staff have built over the last seven years, filling in the gaps around the talented skill position players to build something sustainable.
