Clemson advances to title game, beats OU 37-17

The Oklahoma Sooners were fooled by a fake punt and stuffed on fourth down when they tried some trickery of their own. Particularly the Oklahoma team we saw in the second half. Clemson (14-0) dominated the second half and shut down Oklahoma’s prolific offense that averaged 52 points over its previous seven games.

For the second year in a row, the Sooners (11-2) ended their season with a loss to Clemson. Last year, Clemson beat Oklahoma 40-6 at the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando.

And the national championship game?

“They ran the ball on us, and we couldn’t run it on them”, Sooners coach Bob Stoops said.

Lawson went from player to coach after halftime, saying he was trying to lead teammates with words and advice on the sideline.

As a result, the Sooners arrived in South Beach with plenty of swagger, derived from blunt-talking quarterback Baker Mayfield, whose unbridled confidence gradually had rubbed off on his teammates. Watson carried the running load early on, finishing with 145 yards on 24 carries and scoring the Tigers’ first touchdown on a five-yard run.

Gallman torched the Sooners for 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Wayne Gallman knocked off Oklahoma safety Steven Parker’s helmet fighting for yardage.

We like Clemson to pull off the upset in a close title game matchup. “It was an awesome second half”. They just won’t be No. 1 this season, while Clemson will continue to make its case for such in the Arizona desert.

OU was the hotter team, the team with more and longer momentum, even the team with the better resume after knocking off Baylor, TCU and OSU in a November to remember.

“[But] we weren’t good enough to finish it….”

With Clemson 60 minutes from a national title, it’s safe to say the Tigers have vanquished their demons and the “Clemsoning” term can officially be retired.

Clemson won its fourth straight bowl game and advances to the championship game on full merit.

“We’re not anxious about who we play”, said linebacker Ben Boulware, named the defensive MVP. “This year, we really wanted to make a statement and do something special”. “That’s what hurt the most”.

After scoring a touchdown against Michigan State, Alabama defensive back Cyrus Jones (5) celebrates with teammates during the second half of the Cotton Bowl NCAA college football semifinal playoff game, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.

Mayfield, who last month voiced his displeasure with not being invited to NY as a Heisman Trophy finalist, left without talking to reporters.

How does Clemson stop Derrick Henry? “At times he was scrambling around and waiting for something to come open”. I don’t know that they’ll win the Big 12, but I know Oklahoma’s a much better team than it looked like on Thursday.

“He tried to go back in”, Swinney said. We’re late getting to the guy down the boundary. Watson made the Sooners pay, this time hitting Hunter Renfrow on a 35-yard touchdown strike that put Clemson up by a 13-point margin. Perine took a direct snap, ran up the middle and was stuffed for no gain.

That’s going to present quite a challenge for a Clemson team that used its running game to fuel its win against Oklahoma on Thursday.

Any time Clemson lost a big game in recent years, it was supposedly referred to as “Clemonsing”. “Nobody believes in this team except these guys, and they just got a great heart, and it showed tonight”. They escorted the buses to Gainesville High, where a crowd of hundreds was preparing to launch a post-midnight celebration of the school’s first state football title. You can’t double-team anybody, because if you do, you’re leaving three other krakens in one-on-one battles that they’re going to win, and they’ll swallow your offense whole.