Clemson coach Dabo Swinney sent biggest message on fake punt

Dabo Swinney has owned college football this season with his dabbing, B.Y.O.G. and a crazy-fun Clemson team that is 14-0 and headed to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game to face Alabama on January 11 in Arizona.

Deshaun Watson turned in another stellar two-way performance, running for one touchdown, passing for another and accounting for 332 yards to lead top-ranked Clemson to a 37-17 victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Thursday.

They don’t come any looser than the colorful, quotable Swinney, who has championed locker room moves to the extent that he’s a candidate for “Dancing With the Stars”.

In the middle of last season, Clemson posted a delightful video of Swinney dancing to to “Happy” by Pharrell. Instead of rebuilding, Clemson reloaded and defied most all expectations.

“I don’t think it’s too serious”, Swinney said. The Sooners (11-2) matched their lowest-scoring game of the season as Baker Mayfield was sacked five times and intercepted twice, finally getting knocked out of the game when he took a blow to the head trying to make a tackle after his second pick. The Tigers came out of halftime wanting to make sure that the game wasn’t going to mimic the ACC Championship Game, and it never did.

No. 2 Alabama held the Spartans to a season-low 239 yards as linebacker Reggie Ragland and defensive end Jonathan Allen had their way Michigan State’s offensive line, combining for four sacks and six tackles for loss. The Tigers took the win by the score of 37-17.

Clemson took the lead with Gallman’s 1-yard run with 10:51 left in the third quarter.

Added Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops: “They’re not the No. 1 team in the country for no reason”.

Mayfield wasn’t the only Sooner undone by the Tigers’ muscle.

“When you do the common things in an uncommon way, you command the attention of the world”, Swinney said. The contracts with ESPN for the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff will pay the major college football conferences about $7.3 billion over the life of the deals. They won with better special teams. Lawson said Thursday, however, that the alleged altercation did not happen and that Oklahoma initiated the war of words between the two teams.

After the first drive, the Sooners became one dimensional and eventually no dimensional as they were shut out in the second half.

Alabama is playing for another title after being upset by Ohio State in the semifinals of the inaugural College Football Playoff. 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. It will be aiming for its fourth national title in seven seasons. Whether the semifinals were on or not, I’d still spend my New Year’s Eve at home with the lady and the dog watching bowl games, and waiting to count down to the new year. “This is it. This is truly the biggest game of the year, so, we’ll be ready”. Maybe that hurt us this most.