College Football Week 20 – Clemson reigns
Who said it was the year of the Big Ten?
It was the year of the ACC!
Clemson 35, Alabama 31. Need I say more?
Trailing Alabama 14-7 at halftime, Clemson outscored the Tide 28-17 in the second half – 21-7 in the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t easy for the Tigers. As the fourth quarter began, Clemson trailed Alabama 24-14. One minute into the final quarter, the Tigers scored on a 4-yard pass from Deshaun Watson to Mike Williams. After the PAT, Alabama’s lead had been cut to three points – 24-21.
Almost 10 minutes later, Clemson took its first lead in the game at 28-24. The Tigers’ Wayne Gallman scored on a one-yard run with 4:38 on the clock. Alabama, however, wasn’t finished. The Crimson Tide only needed a little more than two minutes to retake the lead at 31-28. With 2:07 left in the game, Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts scored on a 30-yard touchdown run.
Clemson had two minutes and seven seconds to either tie the game and put it into overtime or, better yet, win the game. The Tigers drove down the field in the final two minutes. With only six seconds left in the game, Clemson had the ball on the 2-yard line of Alabama. On the next play, Watson hit Hunter Renfrow in the end zone. Touchdown Clemson with only 0:01 on the clock.
The Tigers recovered their on-side kick and won the national championship over the reigning national champion, 35-31.
By all rights, with 31 points, Alabama should have won the game. After all, the Tide’s defense held opponents to only 11 points a game during the season. Alabama’s defense was No. 1 in the country. But in the end, it was Alabama’s defense that failed. The Alabama defense finally met an offense it couldn’t stop.
Clemson’s offense racked up 512 total yards. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was responsible for 463 of those yards. Watson was 36-56-0 for 420 yards passing, and he rushed for 43 yards.
The Tigers had 31 first downs to 16 for Alabama. Clemson controlled the clock too, maintaining the ball for almost 35 minutes. Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts only completed 42% of his passes – 13-for-31. Alabama suffered a setback in the third quarter when running back Bo Scarbrough left the game with an injury. The Alabama back had rushed for 93 yards before departing the game.
But Clemson suffered its own setbacks with two turnovers – both fumbles. Alabama had no turnovers. The Tigers, however, managed to overcome their setbacks. Bama didn’t.
It’s ironic that Clemson scored 35 points. It was 35 years ago when the Tigers won their only other national championship. That one came under coach Danny Ford when undefeated Clemson beat Nebraska 22-15 in the Orange Bowl. And it’s ironic that only yesterday Danny Ford was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.
A crowd of 74,512 attended the Clemson-Alabama game in Tampa. The two teams both finished the season with identical 14-1 records. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is now 89-28 in 8 plus years coaching the Tigers. And it’s ironic too that Swinney is an Alabama graduate.
Deshaun Watson should have won the Heisman Trophy. But after all is said and done, I’m sure Watson is much happier winning the national championship. Well done, Clemson!
Yes, the 2016 season was called the year of the Big Ten, largely because Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin all finished among the top 8 teams in the final College Football Playoff Poll. Ohio State was 3rd, Penn State was 5th, Michigan was 6th and Wisconsin was 8th. None of the other Power 5 conferences placed more than one team among the top 8.
But placing four teams in the Top 8 was the Big Ten’s only hurrah in 2016. After Wisconsin at 8, none of the other Big Ten teams even placed in the Top 25 of the final College Football Playoff Poll. After Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin, the caliber of football dropped off considerably in the Big Ten.
The next best teams – Nebraska and Iowa – not only didn’t finish in the Top 25, but both were blown out in their bowl games – Nebraska by Tennessee and Iowa by Florida. And speaking of bowl games, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan all lost too. Granted, the Nittany Lions and the Wolverines had nothing to be ashamed of in their losses. Can’t say so much for the Buckeyes.
Among the Top 4 Big Ten teams, Wisconsin was the only winner in a bowl game. Overall, the Big Ten finished a shameful 3-7 in bowl appearances. The only two bright spots were Northwestern (over Pitt) and Minnesota (over Washington State). Other than that, the conference was pretty sad. And talking about pretty sad, there was nothing sadder during the season than the performances or lack thereof by Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue and Rutgers. Those four schools only won 11 games between them. They only won seven games against FBS (Division I-A) teams.
After Clemson’s win over Alabama last night, I’m convinced the ACC was the best conference in 2016 – hands down. The national championship team was from the ACC. The winner of the Heisman Trophy was from the ACC – Louisville’s Lamar Jackson. In fact the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy was from the ACC – Clemson’s Deshaun Watson. The ACC at 8-3 had the best bowl record among the Power 5 conferences.
The ACC placed 5 teams in the final College Football Playoff Poll. No other Power 5 conference placed more than 5 teams in the poll. In the annual end of the season battle with the SEC, the ACC won three of the four games – Clemson beat South Carolina, Florida State beat Florida and Georgia Tech beat Georgia. Only Louisville was a loser. The Cardinals lost to Kentucky. But Georgia Tech made up for that. The Yellow Jackets beat Kentucky in their bowl game.
In fact the ACC was 3-1 against the SEC in bowl games. In addition to Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech beat Arkansas and NC State beat Vanderbilt. Only Louisville was a loser. The Cardinals lost to LSU.
Looking back on the bowl games, among the Power 5 conferences, after the ACC at 8-3, the Big 12 came in second with a 4-2 record. The SEC and Pac-12 finished 6-6 and 3-3 respectively. And of course, as previously mentioned, the Big Ten was 3-8.
Among the Group of 5 conferences, the Sun Belt at 4-2 finished with the best record in the bowl games. C-USA and the MWC each finished above .500 with 4-3 records. The MAC was downright awful at 0-6 and the AAC wasn’t much better at 2-5.
In addition to Clemson (5-straight wins), the hottest teams at the end of the season among the Power 5 conferences were Oklahoma (10-straight wins), USC (9-straight wins), Stanford (6-straight wins), Florida State (5-straight wins), Miami (Florida) (5-straight wins), Georgia Tech (4-straight wins), Kansas State (4-straight wins), and Penn State (9-straight wins, before its 3-point loss to USC). And until the final game, Alabama was simply hot all season.
The hottest teams among the Group of 5 at the end of the season were Western Kentucky (8-straight wins), Old Dominion (6-straight wins), Air Force (6-straight wins), South Florida (5-straight wins), BYU (5-straight wins), Idaho (5-straight wins), Tulsa (3-straight wins) and Army (3-straight wins).
The preseason pollsters were almost right on target this season. They just had the two teams reversed. The consensus of all the preseason polls had Alabama first and Clemson second. You can't predict it much better than that.
But while they were nearly spot on with Alabama and Clemson, they were way off on some of the other predictions, noticeably Notre Dame (4-8), Ole Miss (5-7), Michigan State (3-9), TCU (6-7), Baylor (7-6), UCLA (4-8) and Oregon (4-8). All but Oregon were in the Top 20 at preseason. The Ducks were in the Top 25. Notre Dame was 10th.
And the preseason forecasters were way off on some other teams too who finished much better than predicted. In the consensus of the preseason polls back in August, Wisconsin was 30th, Auburn was 31st, Penn State was 39th, Virginia Tech was 40th, West Virginia was 42nd, Western Michigan was 54th and Colorado was 68th.
Surprise, surprise, two more coaches got fired during the past week. Minnesota became the 19th school to make a coaching change. The Gophers fired head coach Tracy Claeys. Claeys went 11-18 after taking over from Jerry Kill in October 2015. Kill, by the way, blasted Minnesota for firing Claeys, saying he would never again have any involvement with Minnesota.
No more than two days after Minnesota fired Claeys, the school named Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck to be the Gophers new coach. Fleck was reported to be Minnesota’s first choice. Had the Gophers failed to lure Fleck, Minnesota’s next choices supposedly were North Dakota State coach Chris Klieman and Boise State coach Bryan Harsin. Les Miles was reported to be interested in the job. But obviously, Minnesota wasn’t interested in him. Poor Les.
Then just two days ago, on January 8, California fired head coach Sonny Dykes. Dykes was 19-30 in four seasons at Cal – 5-7 this past season. Supposedly, Cal was pissed at Dykes because he had been seeking other head coach openings for the past three years. Dykes applied for the Baylor job last month.
So the door is open again for Les Miles. Stay tuned.
There are five openings in the NFL. It is not impossible that one or more other head coach jobs could open up should someone decide to leave the college ranks for the pros.
Ohio State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tim Beck has left the Buckeyes to join Tom Herman at Texas as the Longhorns new OC. Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike DeBord has left Tennessee to take same position at Indiana. Florida promoted Randy Shannon to defensive coordinator. The last two seasons he was co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Gators.
Former Florida quarterback Treon Harris will play quarterback for FCS (Division I-AA) Tennessee State next season. Harris, who was suspended from the Florida team on three separate occasions in less than a year, left the Gators’ program last summer.
Named to the 2017 College Football Hall of Fame class, announced yesterday, were former Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning, former Clemson and Arkansas coach Danny Ford, former San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk, former Michigan State receiver Kirk Gibson, former New Mexico defensive back Brian Urlacher, former Notre Dame linebacker Bob Crable, former USC quarterback Matt Leinart, former Texas offensive tackle Bob McKay, former Texas A&M linebacker Dat Nguyen, former Georgia Southern running back Adrian Peterson, former Boston College nose guard Mike Ruth and former Mount Union coach Larry Kehres. The induction ceremony will be December 5, 2107, in Atlanta, Georgia. Spurrier is already a member of the College Football Hall of Fame as a former quarterback from Florida.
Whenever a week goes by that I don’t hear from Tim Muth, I get concerned. Tim, an avid Florida State fan (and Wake Forest fan) rarely fails to respond to my weekly blog. Well, it was good, as always, hearing from Tim last week. I’m not sure what Tim was on, but after the bowl wins by both Florida State and Wake Forest, he was pretty high. And, by the way, Tim predicted Clemson would beat Alabama in the national championship game, 31-21. Not bad, Tim.
And did I tell you? Swamp Mama has dropped Kliff Kingsbury for Chris Petersen. She’s going for a little older man these days. Swamp Mama’s not the cougar she used to be.
Enjoy your week! I know Clemson fans will.
Touchdown Tom
January 10, 2017
Note: The final CFW of the season – College Football Week 21 – will be posted next Monday, January 16.
Weekend Review
FCS (Division I-AA) Championship Game
James Madison 28, Youngstown State 14
……..Attendance in Frisco, Texas: 14,423
Quotes of the Week
“We will become a good passing team. We will. Next year,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.
“We’ve done it all year to mess with players. No one has done it as aggressive as Christian did. We try to be more discreet about it. He grabbed a handful,” Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware, on his fellow teammate defensive lineman Christian Wilkins grabbing the groin of Ohio State’s Curtis Samuel during the Fiesta Bowl.
“I was just being silly. It’s stuff you do when you’re competing,” Clemson’s Christian Wilkins, on why he grabbed Curtis Samuels in the groin during the Fiesta Bowl.
“My sole focus is UCLA and UCLA football. I love it here. I hope I can stay here the rest of my career. I hope I can win enough games to be worthy of staying here the rest of my career. I love it here,” UCLA coach Jim Mora, on speculation he might leave UCLA for one of the NFL openings.
“I’m not here to change the tradition. I’m here to change the culture,” new Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck.
Quote from the Past
“The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb,” Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne.
Touchdown Tom
P.S.
Not exactly college football related, but sadly there was one passing of note last week – Milt Schmidt.
Milt Schmidt, a Hockey Hall of Fame center who propelled the Boston Bruins to two Stanley Cup championships, died last week in Needham, Massachusetts. He was 98. Schmidt, who was the National Hockey League’s oldest living player, spent 16 seasons with the Bruins before serving as the team’s coach and general manager. Milton Conrad Schmidt was born on March 3, 1918, in Kitchener, Ontario. During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Schmidt retired as a player in December 1954 when he was named the Bruins’ coach. He coached the Bruins until 1966 when he moved into the front office. In 1974, Schmidt became general manager of the Washington Capitals.
No comments:
Post a Comment