Title showdown with Alabama has special meaning for Clemson’s Dabo Swinney

Clemson’s undefeated season lives on.

As the dancing, fist-pumping head coach should have.

Yes, a good ole southern brawl in the desert will decide the 2015 national championship, but the ACC-SEC schism is as real and freighted with meaning as the bitter divide between the SEC and everyone else. Clemson saw to that, outscoring the Sooners 21-0 in the second half and cruising to a surprisingly easy 37-17 victory that punctuates the Tigers’ 14-0 season. “You can’t ask for a whole lot more than that”.

One young player in particular who stepped up was freshman defensive end Austin Bryant.

Deshaun Watson might not be the second coming of Johnny Manziel or Cam Newton, but he’s an accomplished passer and a risky runner.

His versatility keeps plays alive and defenses off-balance.

Clemson enters the game against Alabama as six point underdogs, but in the playoffs anything can happen. Still, he had a sack during OU’s first two series and energized his team before retiring to the sideline. He’ll likely undergo some testing on the knee that was wrapped in ice after his exit, but that didn’t stop Lawson from assessing his prognosis based on how he felt after the game.

They’re 32 passing yards away from becoming the ninth team to manage 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in the same season. A few plays later, Gallman made it look easy in scoring the go-ahead touchdown. If those two weapons aren’t enough, the Crimson Tide defense might be the best in college football in the past five years. Responding to the challenge early, Samaje Perine burst through the first line of defense on the third play from the line of scrimmage gaining 17 yards on the ground. The fake punt came when Clemson faced a fourth-and-4 from the Oklahoma 44.

Before we get to breaking down that game, though, let’s go over some things we learned, or were just reminded of, while watching both of the semifinals on Thursday. As a team, the Tigers recorded nine tackles for loss in Thursday’s game, including five sacks.

“The message at halftime was I didn’t think we’d played bad, but were not as clean as we needed to be”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. He’s totally uninhibited, and his team feeds off his free-spirit style. Ridley had eight receptions for 138 yards and two touchdowns, and it was his 50-yard reception in the second quarter that set up the first touchdown of the game that really cleared the plumbing for Alabama’s offense.

And, boy, they both look impressive.

“They were the team that we thought they were”, Oklahoma defensive end Charles Tapper said.

You got to love a coach like Swinney who coined the phrase BYOG. After Oklahoma scored easily on the opening drive, the Tigers spent much of the night keeping Mayfield, who over recent weeks had (rightfully) inspired Johnny Manziel comparisons, off balance and in check, something no team accomplished since Texas in early October. It won’t be intimidated by Alabama and plays a physical style not always associated with the ACC. That’s why Clemson has a fighter’s chance against Alabama as it tries to redefine Clemsoning.