Though
they are the top seed, Clemson’s road to a national title will not be
an easy Sunday ride in the country. The first stop on the journey was an Orange Bowl against
the defending champions from Texas Christian. The ninth seeded Horned
Frogs proved they
will be a tough out when they executed a comeback in the First Round to
eliminate Notre Dame.
Clemson
seemed a bit tight early, and throughout the first half, concern that a
“Clemsoning" was eminent seemed to occasionally wash over the faces of
the Tiger faithful. Clemson scored the only points of the first quarter
on a Greg Huegel
26 yard field goal. In the second quarter, Tiger QB Deshaun Watson’s 5
yard TD run increased the lead, but TCU quickly answered on Emanuel
Porter 7 yard TD reception on a pass from Bram Kohlhausen to keep it
close. Huegel added two more field goals but TCU’s
QB Kohlhausen ran in a TD from 8 yards out to narrow the score to
16-14, the halftime score.
But
Clemson asserted their dominance and justified their seed in the second
half. Wayne Gallman’s 1 yard TD rush and Deshaun Watson’s 35 yard pass
to Hunter Renfrow pushed the Tiger lead to 30-14 in the third.
Clemson’s defense continued
to limit TCU, and Gallman added a 4 yard TD run to give a comfortable
Clemson cushion of 37-14. A late TCU TD narrowed the final score to
37-22, but the Horned Frogs title defense season ended, and Clemson
moves on to the San Antonio Semi-Finals with hopes
of being the new champions.
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