Re: Hill Watch...6 days!!!

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6 years ago, 2016: The top news story of the year, by far,

Aug 30, 2022, 8:15 AM

was Donald Trump's victory in the Presidential election, defeating the first major party woman candidate for the job in Hillary Clinton. There was intrigue, as a Russian hack on the Democratic National Committee's computers before their July convention led to insinuations that Trump had somehow used the Russians to steal the election. Nothing was ever proven, but the Democrats in Congress tried their best for months on end.

A lone gunman took over a gay nightclub named Pulse in Orlando during Gay Pride celebrations, and gunned down 49 people while holding police at bay for several hours. 2016 seemed to be the year for well known celebrities to die, as well. Music artists Prince and David Bowie, actors Alan Rickman and Gene Wilder, “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and former First Lady Nancy Reagan, the list just went on and on.

The ACC Champion for 2016 would once again be the (7-1, 14-1) Clemson Tigers, their 2nd title in a row. The Tigers defeated No. 19 (6-2, 10-4) Virginia Tech 42-35 in the ACC Championship game. VT would go on to to defeat SEC foe Arkansas 35-24 in the Belk Bowl, to finish the year with a No. 16 ranking.

Clemson would once again make the College Football Playoffs. Let's see how that unfolded. The Tigers returned practically the entire offense, and a whole lot of new and returning talent on defense. This team had a goal in mind, and it was not just winning the ACC, or just getting TO a National Championship game. But, for any of that to happen, they had to first concentrate on winning the regular season.

The season began at Jordan Hare Stadium, a return engagement with the Auburn Tigers. With all the returning talent on offense, including a fully recovered Mike Williams, Clemson fans expected some high scoring fireworks. It most definitely did NOT happen. Clemson set the tone for the game with a false start penalty on the very first play from scrimmage. Clemson held the ball for 9 plays, but got no points, as, in a harbinger of things to come, the offense came up empty on a 4th and 5 at the Auburn 32.

The two defenses forced 4 straight punts, until Auburn somehow managed to only move the ball 44 yards in 12 plays, settling for a 53 yard Daniel Carlson field goal to lead 3-0 with 12:58 to go in the 2nd quarter. This seemed to awaken the Clemson offense, as Watson led us on a 13 play, 84 yard drive where he reacquainted himself with Mike Williams, who had three catches on the drive. It still took 4 tries from the Auburn 7 before Wayne Gallman finally punched it in on 4th and goal from the one. The Huegel PAT made the score 7-3 Clemson.

Neither team could dent the scoreboard again in the first half or early in the 2nd half, until Huegel hit a 40 yard field goal with 10:36 to go in the 3rd quarter, to push the lead to 13-3. The teams then traded interceptions, a fumble, and a punt, before Auburn got a 32 yard field goal from Carlson early in the 4th quarter, to cut the Clemson lead to 13-6. Then, Clemson finally mounted another successful drive, 10 plays, 75 yards, the last 16 of them on a strike to Hunter Renfrow. But, the Huegel PAT was missed, leaving the lead at 19-6.

Auburn came up with a 10 play drive of their own, but Ben Boulware temporarily saved the game for Clemson with a goal line interception, winding up on the 1 yard line. Clemson could only muster 6 yards after some very conservative play calling due to the field position, and Auburn got the ball back with 4:44 to go on the Clemson 41 yard line. They took advantage of the short field, scoring one play after a Ben Boulware roughing the passer penalty gave them a 1st and goal from the 9. PAT good, Auburn only trailed 19-13 with 3:22 still to go in the game.

Clemson went on a 10 play, 60 yard drive that used up 2:42 of that time, but failed on a 4th and 4 from the Auburn 17, with Gallman gaining only two yards. The decision not to take a chip shot field goal was puzzling, to say the least. Coach Swinney would say after the game that he did not want to chance a bad special teams play, and was relying on Brent Venables defense to keep Auburn out of the end zone that was 85 yards away with only 40 seconds left to get there. Auburn made it too interesting, getting to midfield and lobbing a couple of Hail Marys toward the end zone, but in the end, the Clemson variety of Tiger escaped with the 19-16 win.

Clemson survived another upset scare the next week at home, as a Troy team that would ultimately win ten games and a bowl, gave us all we wanted, before the Tigers prevailed 30-24. We had opened the season at No. 2 in the rankings, but two straight scares got us dropped down to No. 5 for a 59-0 idler against SC State. We were still No. 5 for a 26-7 win at Bobby Dodd over Georgia Tech. And, we were STILL at No. 5 when College Gameday, and No. 3 Louisville and their electric new quarterback Lamar Jackson came to Tigertown.

You might figure that a game that was advertised to have pinball scoring numbers would be scoreless after one quarter. But, Louisville got on the board 42 seconds into the 2nd quarter on a 1 yard run from Jeremy Smith to go up 7-0. But, just as in the Auburn game, when the opposition scored, Clemson's offense began to move. But this time after 7 plays and 65 yards, Watson was intercepted at the goal line to kill the drive. But, the Cards returned the favor, fumbling the ball away after 8 plays at their own 45.

This time, Watson to Scott for 12 yards, and Watson to Cain for a 33 yard TD tied the game at 7-7. But then, the game resolved into a comedy of errors for three possessions, a Louisville interception, a Clemson fumble, and then a Louisville fumble. Finally, with that possession, Clemson's offense scored on a 24 yard Wayne Gallman run after a pass interference call on the previous play set Clemson up on the Card 24. The Tigers now led 14-7, but nobody was comfortable.

Things got better for the Tigers after the defense forced a 3 and out, and Watson followed up a 7 yard Gallman run with a 12 yard pass to Ray Ray McCloud, and then a 37 yard TD toss to Deon Cain to up the Clemson lead to 21-7. The Cards got a field goal to make it 21-10, but Watson was heated up now, and 4 plays later, he hit Artavis Scott for a 5 yard TD to send the game to halftime at 28-10 Tigers.

Clemson got the ball to start the 2nd half, but two plays in, Watson was intercepted at the Clemson 36. seven plays later, Louiville cashed in, but the PAT was blocked, score now 28-16 Tigers. But, the next four Clemson possessions were punt, fumble, fumble, interception, and the Cards got points out of every one of them, as the Lamar Jackson show really got under way. That 28-16 deficit had suddenly turned into a 36-28 Louisville lead, with 7:52 to go in the game.

Finally, after a 77 yard kickoff return by Artavis Scott, Clemson found the end zone again, on a 20 yard TD pass to Mike Williams. But, Clemson's attempt for two points was intercepted, and we still trailed 36-34, now with 7:05 to play. The Tiger defense forced a 3 and out in only 54 seconds, and Watson led a beautiful 8 play drive culminating in a 31 yard pass to Jordan Leggett for the score. A two point try was good, and Clemson had regained the lead at 42-36. But, Lamar Jackson still had 3:14 to work with, and needed only a TD and PAT to win by one.

The Cards would hold the ball for 11 plays, and cover 72 yards. But, on 4th and 7 from the Clemson 9, Louisville was flagged for what turned out to be a crucial false start penalty, backing them up 5 yards. Jackson completed a pass to James Quick, but he was forced out of bounds after gaining 11 of the necessary 12 yards. Clemson took over on downs, and all of Death Valley finally exhaled. Clemson only had to kneel down once, as Louisville had no time outs, and only 33 seconds remained. 42-36 Tigers, in a flawed but entertaining Instant Classic.

Clemson rolled over BC 56-10 in Chestnut Hill, but then escaped what looked like a certain upset defeat at the hands of NC State in the Valley, as their kicker missed a chip shot field goal that would have won it as regulation expired. Clemson came through to win in overtime, but cracks were appearing, the team seemed to think they were on cruise control for some reason.

The No. 3 Tigers had to come up with 17 4th quarter points to stave off another upset attempt by No. 12 FSU in Doak Campbell Stadium, winning 37-34 after having trailed 28-20 after three quarters. No such problems with Syracuse in Death Valley the next week, as the Tigers mauled the visitors 54-0. There were no alarm bells ringing as a 5-4 Pitt team came to visit.

But, somehow, the Tigers got caught up in a high scoring shootout. Clemson scored 14 points in each of the first three quarters, but were shut out in the pivotal fourth quarter. The Tigers had scored at the end of the 3rd quarter to go up 42-34. But, a 20 yard James Conner TD run with 5:17 to go pulled Pitt to within two at 42-40 after a failed two point try. Then, they got the ball back, and drove into range for a Chris Blewitt 48 yard field goal, which he made with six seconds left, to stun the Tigers, 43-42.

In retrospect, you could say this loss helped Clemson, as it provided a much needed wakeup call. But, had it not been for the fact that several other highly rated teams also lost that same weekend, or the following weekend, Clemson's National Championship hopes may have died right there. As it was, amazingly, Clemson was only dropped two spots, down to No. 5, as we went on the road to handle Wake Forest 35-13. We were back up to No. 4 to face rival South Carolina, and escaped them with a 56-7 win, as South Carolina QB Jake Bentley declared we were barely better than them, if better at all. NEVER AGAIN! Clemson leads the series 72-42-4.

No. 19 Virginia Tech made the ACC Championship game far too interesting, but by now, close games had become a way of life for No. Clemson, and the Tigers prevailed 42-35 to win the ACC for the 2nd year in a row. We got into the CFP as the No. 2 seed, to face the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes of Coach Urban Meyer. There was considerable talk about Ohio State even being in this thing, as they sat home at 11-1 while Penn State and Wisconsin slugged it out for the Big 10 title, which was won by Penn State. Which had handed Ohio State that one loss, head to head, by a score of 24-21. But, Penn State had two losses of their own, and would have to settle for their Big 10 title, and a 52-49 loss to No. 9 USC in the Rose Bowl.

Urban Meyer had not forgotten three years prior, when Clemson had taken out his Buckeyes in the Orange Bowl. But, that was just a bowl, this was serious National Championship business, and he expected a better outcome this time around. He had reason to be confident, this Ohio State team had already beaten 4 Top 14 teams, including No. 3 Michigan in 3OT to end the regular season. Once again, as in past years, even though Clemson was the higher seed, Ohio State was the 3 point betting favorite.

For Ohio State's sake, I wish I could say this was an interesting game...NOT. It wasn't as, once OSU missed a couple of 47 yard field goal tries early, after that, the Clemson defense just completely shut them down. All of the rest of their possessions, in order: Punt, punt, punt, punt, 1 play, end of 1st half. In the 2nd half, fumble, punt, interception, interception, turnover on downs, 1 play, end of game. The final score of 31-0 felt even more dominating than that.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, Alabama was trying to do what Clemson had failed to do the previous year, become the first team to be a 15-0 National Champion. They had swept the regular season, dispatched of No. 15 Florida 54-16 in the SEC Championship game, and entered the Playoffs as a strong No. 1 seed. They easily handled Washington in the Peach Bowl Semifinal, to set up Clemson-Alabama Part II. Could this game possibly live up to the original? No one seemed to think so.
Bama went into the game as a near touchdown favorite, again.

Derrick Henry was gone to the NFL, but Bama always seemed to find a clone of a big back, and they had one again, in Bo Scarbrough. And, they still had OJ Howard at tight end, and a cool Sophomore QB in Jalen Hurts. There would always be several future NFL players running all over the field on any Alabama roster, and this one was no different. As time went on, their 2017 roster eventually produced 47 NFL players. This is what Clemson was contending with in this game. But, the Tigers were not about to pack up and go home. They knew how close they had been with this same team the previous year, and were itching for the rematch to get underway.

The Tide got the ball first, and the Clemson defense forced a 3 and out. Clemson then mounted a drive, but turned the ball over on downs when Wayne Gallman was stoned for no gain on 4th and 1 at the Bama 41. Five plays later, Bo Scarbrough broke loose on a 25 yard TD run, and Bama led 7-0. Then the teams traded a punt, a punt, a fumble, and two more punts, before Bama went on a 5 play, 75 yard TD drive, with Scarbrough again rumbling the last 37 yards. With the PAT, Bama led 14-0, and things were looking rough for the Clemson Tigers, especially when the offense immediately went 3 and out to follow the Bama touchdown.

But, the Clemson defense forced a Bama punt, and finally Watson got the Tiger offense in gear, 7 plays covering 87 yards, with Watson taking the last 8 on his own, to get Clemson on the board, now trailing 14-7. Neither offense could mount anything further in the first half, and the Tide led 14-7 at the break.

The 2nd half got off to a horrible start for Clemson, as on the 4th play from scrimmage, Wayne Gallman fumbled, and Bama returned it all the way to the Clemson 16 yard line. Bama had had a defensive touchdown in several games this year, and the only thing that prevented another one was Hunter Renfrow roll block tackling the Bama defender who was on the way to the end zone. And, this would turn out to be one of the most important sequences of the game, as the Clemson defense rose up and forced Bama to settle for a field goal, to lead 17-7. It could have been much worse.

The next Clemson possession stalled at the Bama 43 yard line. The Tigers appeared set up to go for it on 4th and 1, but instead, Deshaun Watson punted the ball perfectly, as Clemson downed it on the Alabama 5 yard line to finally flip the field. The Clemson defense got a 3 and out, and Clemson took over at the Bama 42. 4 plays later, Watson hit that man, Hunter Renfrow, for a 24 yard strike, and the Huegel PAT cut the Bama lead to 17-14. But, following an exchange of punts, Bama's offense would strike again, as inexplicably, OJ Howard got behind the Clemson defense AGAIN, for a 68 yard touchdown. The PAT pushed the lead back out to 24-14.

But, a very important happening earlier in that drive was that Bo Scarbrough had been injured, and was done for the night. It would later be determined he had broken a bone in his leg. He had been a key piece of Bama's rushing game all night, so this was a huge development. Clemson took the ball 72 yards to paydirt on the ensuing possession, with the payoff being a perfectly executed pick play which sprung Mike Williams wide open in the right flat of the end zone for the 4 yard TD. The PAT got Clemson back within three again, at 24-21. The fact that it was perfectly executed, and no pick penalty was called, would prove crucial to a decision made later in the game.

At this time in the game, both defenses asserted themselves, leading to five straight punts. Finally, on the sixth possession of the sequence, Clemson got a beautiful 6 play, 88 yard drive for a Wayne Gallman score from one yard out, to lead the game for the first time, 28-24, with 4:38 to go in the game. That was too much time, and Alabama would answer with a 6 play, 68 yard drive of their own, with most of the yards coming on the last play, a Jalen Hurts flushed from the pocket scramble for 30 yards and the score, to put Alabama right back on top, 31-28, with 2:07 remaining.

It turned out, that was almost exactly how much time Deshaun Watson needed. He had torched the Nick Saban defense for 405 yards the previous year. By the end of this drive, he would better that, ending the game with 420 passing yards. But, I have watched this drive literally a hundred times, I bet, and every single time, I find my self saying “Hurry UP, you're going to run out of TIME!”

Mike Williams did yeoman's work on this drive, high pointing a ball for a crucial 24 yard gain to keep the chains moving. Then, Jordan Leggett did his best Hunter Renfrow Spider Man impression to snag a ball out of the air for THE crucial reception of the drive, down at the Bama 9, as Clemson then called a critical timeout to preserve the 14 seconds that were left. Now the Tigers were in the driver's seat, needing only a chip shot field goal for overtime, but having time for a couple of shots to the end zone to win it in regulation.

It actually turned out to be three shots. An incompletion to Leggett in the right part of the end zone. A pass interference as Mike Williams was mugged in the end zone with only 6 seconds left. Coach Jeff Scott got in Coach Swinney's ear to suggest a play named “Orange Crush”. It was a nearly identical play to the earlier pick play that Mike Williams had caught for a touchdown. But this one was to be set up to go to the opposite side from where Mike Williams was, as everyone in the stadium, and a couple of Martian colonies figured we would go to him again and let him high point a ball to win the game.

That man again, Hunter Renfrow, was set to be the intended receiver this time around. Watson was already moving in that direction as the snap hit his hands, and the Bama defender pretty much tackled Artavis Scott, the “pick” man, creating such a traffic jam that Renfrow burst wide open in the flat. A Bama defender tried to take him out after the catch, but it was too late. No. 13 casually flipped the ball to the official, and then the top came off Raymond James Stadium. The PAT made it 35-31, and an onside kick meant that Clemson even got to kneel down at the end in victory formation to end the game. The sequel had surpassed the original, and as the Champs Sports Illustrated cover said, “How great was THAT! Clemson climbs the Mountain!” I have that magazine in a drawer right next to my recliner, so that I can look at it whenever I want. What a season. All 2016 results below:

At Auburn No. 2 W 19–13
Troy No. 2 W 30–24
South Carolina State No. 5 W 59–0
At Georgia Tech No. 5 W 26–7
No. 3 Louisville No. 5 (College GameDay) W 42–36
At Boston College No. 3 W 56–10
NC State No. 3 W 24–17 OT
At No. 12 Florida State No. 3 W 37–34
Syracuse No. 3 W 54–0
Pittsburgh No. 3 L 42–43
At Wake Forest No. 5 W 35–13
South Carolina No. 4 W 56–7 (Clemson leads the series 72-42-4.)

No. 3 Clemson vs. No. 19 Virginia Tech
ACC Championship Game
W 42–35

December 31
No. 3 Clemson vs. No. 2 Ohio State
Fiesta Bowl–CFP Semifinal
W 31–0

January 9, 2017
No. 3 Clemson vs. No. 1 Alabama
Raymond James Stadium
CFP National Championship
W 35–31

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Hill Watch...6 days!!!

Bob Pauling Justin Watts Charlie Whitehurst Jacoby Ford

Re: Bob Pauling Justin Watts Charlie Whitehurst Jacoby Ford

#6