Clemson And Alabama Pummel Opposition, Will Face Off For Football Title

Clemson has yet to lose a game he has started and finished.

The nation’s only unbeaten team, the Tigers are riding a 17-game winning streak and could become FBS football’s first team to finish 15-0.

A team once known for such inexplicable stumbles that a derisive term was coined for it — Clemsoning — blew out the No. 4 Sooners over the final two quarters after trailing 17-16 at halftime.

Swinney said he called for the trick play because he thought his team was tight at the time.

The Tigers’ big question entering the season was their entirely rebuilt defensive and offensive lines. No matter the bravado, the Sooners simply weren’t in Clemson’s class. And the reason was rather straightforward: Oklahoma couldn’t block the Tigers, and the Sooners couldn’t stop Clemson from blocking them.

“You can’t take away the Big 12 championship and the fact that this group of seniors has led us back to one game from being in the national championship”, Stoops said.

Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield hands the ball to Oklahoma running back Samaje Perine (32) during the first half of the Orange Bowl NCAA college football semifinal playoff game against Clemson, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Miami Gardens, Fla.

But Clemson is undefeated because of the surprising amount of depth that has been developed around Watson. Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban will get a shot at his fifth national title, which would tie him with Bryant as the only coach in major college history to win five.

Scoring two plays later, the Sooners appeared to be in control of the game while the defense took the field forcing the Tigers to punt the ball away after six plays. Taking the game as a whole, it was the first time OU was out-rushed by more than 250 yards since the Sooners edged West Virginia and Tavon Austin on November 18, 2012.

Throughout the season, Perine averaged about 6 yards per carry. The program is now 75-0-1 when achieving at least 200 yards in both categories in the same game.

It’s also notable that Swinney was raised in Pelham, Alabama, and is a former receiver and assistant coach at Alabama. Then, Swinney, Clemson’s high-energy, uber-positive coach, had given Teasdall a brutal tongue-lashing after his screw up against UNC.

The Tide is the only team to be playing in the College Football Playoff each of its first two seasons. Later in the quarter, defensive tackle D.J. Reader crashed into Perine for a 3-yard loss.

Deshaun Watson improved to 18-1 as Clemson’s starting quarterback. Deshaun Watson scored a touchdown, giving the Tigers a 10-7 lead. He passed Tajh Boyd, who had 4,410 yards in 2012.

Watson’s 145 rushing yards set a Clemson bowl record.

The play that changed the Orange Bowl has a name: “UConn”. Watson scrambled for 46 yards on the first play from scrimmage to get out to midfield.

Clemson running back Wayne Gallman also had a big day, running 26 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Parker was beaten on a short route by Hunter Renfrow and slipped to the turf, and the result was a 35-yard touchdown to put the Tigers up 30-17. With three field goals and four extra points Thursday, the freshman walk-on now has 128 points.

After that touchdown, the teams traded field goals – 36 yards by Huegel and 22 yards by Seibert. Wilkins deftly caught the pass and rumbled for a 31-yard gain to the Oklahoma 13-yard line. It was Andy Teasdall’s second career completion.

They were upset about the tombstone with OU’s name engraved on it that Clemson planted in its stadium graveyard of victims from last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl. The loss to Texas seemed like it might cripple the Sooners’ season.

What Lawson wasn’t sure of was the severity of the injury.