Clemson Wins Orange Bowl, Tops Oklahoma 37-17

The job that Venables did in building last year’s Clemson defense, and then having to rebuild it entirely in 2015 after so many key players moved on to the National Football League, is nothing short of remarkable.

But Ducks defensive coordinator Don Pellum put together an impressive gameplan against Florida State with a month to prepare for their BCS Bowl a year ago. Gary Patterson, on the other hand, has to deal with the loss of a senior leader who snuck out after curfew and got into an ugly fight, without any sort of backup plan in place.

But the biggest takeaway from this Tigers victory should be the way Clemson rag-dolled Oklahoma in the trenches, something that could portend it bringing home the school’s first national title since 1981.

They had plenty to cheer about, even after Clemson lost one of its top players, defensive end Shaq Lawson. They played better against Oklahoma the following week, covering the spread in defeat, but four interceptions doomed their chances. When the hurry-up, tempo attack doesn’t work, it goes three-and-out in a hurry, the defense has to come back on the field, Clemson’s offense took advantage with long drives, the Clemson defense got to rest and was more rested and looked far fresher in the second half in a hot stadium, and there you go.

Oklahoma scored on its first drive. And beating Alabama is never going to be easy. That was a head-strong, veteran Spartan team that looked like it might as well have been Eastern Michigan.

“(MSU) played a hard physical game”, Coker said. Here are the five key storylines everyone will be talking about over the next several days. You can point to Alabama’s front seven and remark on how good it is, but calling it a “front seven” is a lie. And again, that’s it. Other than Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly – and that was a unusual game in a lot of ways – one else has come even remotely close to rolling on this D. Watson is fantastic, but Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott is pretty good, too, and while he threw for 300 yards against Alabama, it was an ineffective 300 yards in the blowout loss. They did it with overwhelming force, with unabashed confidence, with no care for bloodlines.

Dabo Swinney was in no mood to talk about Clemsoning. A member of Clemson’s punt team all year, he ran down the left sideline and caught a 31-yard pass from punter Andy Teasdall. Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs ranked among the best teams in the country with Trevone Boykin at quarterback and Josh Doctson at wide receiver. Load up to stop the Alabama ground game – and MSU did that relatively well – but Coker came through. We don’t play the best Christians.

The result was 312 rushing yards, a demoralized Oklahoma team, a second-half shutout and a 37-17 Clemson win to send the Tigers to the January 11 College Football Playoff national championship game in Arizona against Alabama. That doesn’t happen. 5.

The Tigers’ big question entering the season was their entirely rebuilt defensive and offensive lines.

Heisman Trophy finalist Deshaun Watson passed for 187 yards and rushed for 145.

Best record ever? That’s within Clemson’s reach. Surrounded by many unproven parts, there has been no doubt that Watson has been the focal point, the single player most responsible for Clemson’s history-altering run. Clemson has to crank up at least 200, and it’s going to have to be truly special to do that. The first semifinal last season, the Rose Bowl with OR and Florida State on New Year’s Day, earned a 15.5. Alabama is only giving up seven? Wow. Some pre-bowl assistant coaching changes are very meaningful, but this isn’t one of those situations.