Freshmen make impact, help Tigers hold off Trojans |
CLEMSON – Clemson’s heralded freshman class was brought in to make a difference, and that’s exactly what they did.
Sammy Watkins Fr. Wide Receiver #7 6-2, 200 Fort Myers, FL View Full Profile
,
Mike Bellamy Fr. Running Back #5 5-10, 187 Nocatee, FL View Full Profile
and
D.J. Howard RS Fr. Running Back #22 5-11, 190 Lincoln, AL View Full Profile
all scored touchdowns and the Clemson offense overcame a sluggish first half in leading the Tigers to a 43-19 win over visiting Troy in the season opener in Death Valley Saturday afternoon. Watkins scored on the second play of the game and Bellamy scored on the first carry of his career, highlighting a huge day for the freshmen, who had 334 all-purpose yards in the contest. “We played lots of guys,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We definitely didn’t have the first half we wanted. Tajh (Boyd) had a bad first half, but he settled down and had a good second half. Dwayne (Allen) really sparked us in the third quarter. I think Brad Scott deserves the game ball for recruiting Mike Bellamy,
Martavis Bryant Fr. Wide Receiver #1 6-4, 195 Anderson, SC View Full Profile
and Sammy Watkins. These freshmen are so fast. We want to use them to wear people down. They’re a fun bunch to watch.” It didn’t take long for those freshmen to make their presence felt, with Mike Bellamy returning the opening kickoff 39 yards. Two plays later Boyd hit Watkins on a 33-yard touchdown pass and Clemson led 7-0 just 26 seconds into the game. Troy committed two turnovers that led to two
Chandler Catanzaro RS So. Punter / Kicker #39 6-2, 205 Greenville, SC View Full Profile
field goals – 41 and 46 yards – but the opening series was definitely the highlight in the first half for the Tigers. Troy led 16-13 at the half, and had almost 200 yards of total offense while Clemson was 0-for-8 on third down. The Tigers had just 42 yards of total offense after the opening touchdown, and the offense looked out of synch. Boyd was having trouble picking up the blitzes off the edge, and he later said the Tigers were taking too many shots down the field. “I honestly couldn’t see the blitz, and we were having trouble picking it up,” Boyd said. “We were also calling a lot of deep plays, and they [Troy] were coming so fast we couldn’t let the plays develop. In the locker room, we changed things up and decided to take what the defense gave us, and that worked out.” Clemson’s initial series of the second half closely resembled several in the first half – a quick first down followed by three rough plays and punt - but hit pay dirt on the second series. Boyd, flushed out of the pocket, found
Dwayne Allen RS Jr. Tight End #83 6-3, 245 Fayetteville, NC View Full Profile
on the right sideline and Allen broke two tackles on his way to a 54-yard touchdown that put Clemson back up 20-16. Boyd showed his new rhythm on Clemson’s ensuing possession – a 13-play drive that covered 80 yards – when he went 9-for-9 for 70 yards, the drive culminating with a five-yard pass to
Jaron Brown RS Jr. Wide Receiver #18 6-2, 200 Cheraw, SC View Full Profile
for a touchdown. The extra point was missed [Catanzaro later said he just missed it], and the Tigers led 26-16 near the end of the third quarter. Troy used a long drive and a short field to cut the Clemson lead to 26-19, but Tiger fans got another glimpse of the future when Bellamy took the first carry of his Clemson career 75 yards for a touchdown. Bellamy took the handoff from Boyd and appeared to be stopped at the line, but bounced outside to his left and raced untouched into the end zone for a 33-19 lead. The Tigers added another field goal [45 yards by Catanzaro], and Howard scored on a one-yard run with 1:16 remaining to close out the scoring. Swinney said with a new offensive system and so many new players, it took the team the first half to find a rhythm. “We have to play games to really understand the offense,” Swinney said. “There were a lot of unknowns between Troy and our new system and we really just needed to play a game. The second half was a thing of beauty. Troy is a championship team; they have five Sun Belt Championships under their belt. I told the guys at halftime that the only way to beat them was to knock them out of our house, and we did a good job to knock them out in the second half. “This was a good win for us. We accomplished our first goal. We had a lot of adversity in the first half, but I’m so proud of our guys for coming out and finishing the game. There was no panic at halftime and we came out strong in the second half. That’s why it’s a four quarter game. We had adversity early, but we came out and executed. We have to improve as the season goes on, but our objective is to win. We’re looking at this as a good win.” Watkins said he had butterflies early. “I was shaking running down The Hill,” the Florida native said. “I put the butterflies behind me and just played after that. I thought it [scoring a touchdown on his first series] was a dream, but it came true. We never got down even though we weren’t moving the ball. After the half, we came out pumped up and ready to go. Everything just started clicking. We [the freshmen] have bought into the system. After I got on the field, I blocked everything out and played loose.” 
Sammy Watkins
Mike Bellamy
D.J. Howard
Martavis Bryant
Chandler Catanzaro
Dwayne Allen
Jaron Brown
Date: Sept 3, 2011 Site: Clemson, SC Stadium: Memorial Stadium
Attendance: 74135
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Troy................ 6 10 0 3 - 19
Clemson............. 13 0 13 17 - 43
Scoring Summary:
1st 14:34 CU - Sammy Watkins 33 yd pass from Tajh Boyd (Chandler Catanzaro kick)
2 plays, 59 yards, TOP 0:26, TROY 0 - CU 7
09:59 CU - Chandler Catanzaro 46 yd field goal
4 plays, -8 yards, TOP 1:17, TROY 0 - CU 10
04:25 TROY - Shawn Southward 1 yd run (Michael Taylor kick failed)
13 plays, 80 yards, TOP 5:34, TROY 6 - CU 10
00:20 CU - Chandler Catanzaro 46 yd field goal
4 plays, 8 yards, TOP 2:04, TROY 6 - CU 13
2nd 04:20 TROY - Michael Taylor 21 yd field goal
4 plays, 4 yards, TOP 1:27, TROY 9 - CU 13
00:51 TROY - Eric Thomas 16 yd pass from Corey Robinson (Michael Taylor kick)
5 plays, 61 yards, TOP 1:36, TROY 16 - CU 13
3rd 07:01 CU - Dwayne Allen 54 yd pass from Tajh Boyd (Chandler Catanzaro kick)
5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:51, TROY 16 - CU 20
00:30 CU - Jaron Brown 7 yd pass from Tajh Boyd (Chandler Catanzaro kick failed)
13 plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:31, TROY 16 - CU 26
4th 11:20 TROY - Michael Taylor 20 yd field goal
11 plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:06, TROY 19 - CU 26
11:02 CU - Mike Bellamy 75 yd run (Chandler Catanzaro kick)
1 play, 75 yards, TOP 0:12, TROY 19 - CU 33
04:44 CU - Chandler Catanzaro 45 yd field goal
4 plays, -1 yard, TOP 1:36, TROY 19 - CU 36
01:26 CU - D.J. Howard 1 yd run (Chandler Catanzaro kick)
7 plays, 42 yards, TOP 2:39, TROY 19 - CU 43
Kickoff time: 3:35 PM End of Game: 6:39 PM Total elapsed time: 3:04
Officials: Referee: Brad Allen; Umpire: Michael Webster; Linesman: Arthur Hardin;
Line judge: Colin Formulak; Back judge: Ron Boyd; Field judge: Kip Johnson;
Side judge: D. Harrison;
Temperature: 95 deg Wind: Calm Weather: Mostly Sunny
Team Statistics
TROY CU
FIRST DOWNS................... 19 16
Rushing..................... 5 6
Passing..................... 14 10
Penalty..................... 0 0
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 165 197
Rushing Attempts............ 36 38
Average Per Rush............ 4.6 5.2
Rushing Touchdowns.......... 1 2
Yards Gained Rushing........ 177 228
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 12 31
NET YARDS PASSING............. 258 271
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 24-42-1 21-31-1
Average Per Attempt......... 6.1 8.7
Average Per Completion...... 10.8 12.9
Passing Touchdowns.......... 1 3
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 423 468
Total offense plays......... 78 69
Average Gain Per Play....... 5.4 6.8
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 2-2 1-0
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 8-61 2-10
PUNTS-YARDS................... 8-338 6-255
Average Yards Per Punt...... 42.2 42.5
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 35.1 38.8
Inside 20................... 0 2
50+ Yards................... 2 1
Touchbacks.................. 2 0
Fair catch.................. 1 2
KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 5-334 9-612
Average Yards Per Kickoff... 66.8 68.0
Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 46.8 48.3
Touchbacks.................. 1 3
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 3-22-0 2-17-0
Average Per Return.......... 7.3 8.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 6-117-0 4-80-0
Average Per Return.......... 19.5 20.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 1-50-0 1-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 32:10 27:50
1st Quarter................. 7:50 7:10
2nd Quarter................. 8:27 6:33
3rd Quarter................. 7:27 7:33
4th Quarter................. 8:26 6:34
Third-Down Conversions........ 7 of 18 5 of 16
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 1 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 4-4 2-3
Touchdowns.................. 2-4 2-3
Field goals................. 2-4 0-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 3-9 1-8
PAT Kicks..................... 1-2 4-5
Field Goals................... 2-2 3-3
Individual Statistics
Troy
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
-------------------------------------------------
D.J. Taylor 5 63 0 63 0 56 12.6
Shawn Southward 13 47 4 43 1 12 3.3
Chris Anderson 10 40 0 40 0 8 4.0
Brian Exley 3 14 0 14 0 7 4.7
Chandler Worthy 1 5 0 5 0 5 5.0
Justin Albert 1 3 0 3 0 3 3.0
B.J. Chitty 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Corey Robinson 2 5 8 -3 0 5 -1.5
Totals... 36 177 12 165 1 56 4.6
Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack
-------------------------------------------------
Corey Robinson 24-42-1 258 1 44 1
Totals... 24-42-1 258 1 44 1
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
----------------------------------------
Justin Albert 6 45 0 11
Shawn Southward 4 35 0 16
Eric Thomas 3 63 1 39
Corey Johnson 3 8 0 6
B.J. Chitty 2 49 0 44
Jaquon Robinson 1 21 0 21
Felton Payton 1 12 0 12
Gavin Ellis 1 8 0 8
Chris Anderson 1 7 0 7
Stanley Arukwe 1 6 0 6
D.J. Taylor 1 4 0 4
Totals... 24 258 1 44
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
---------------------------------------------------
Will Goggans 8 338 42.2 51 0 2
Totals... 8 338 42.2 51 0 2
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
--------------------------------------------------
Justin Albert 3 22 14 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shawn Southward 0 0 0 1 12 12 0 0 0
Corey Johnson 0 0 0 5 105 27 0 0 0
Barry Valcin 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 50 50
Totals... 3 22 14 6 117 27 1 50 50
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Michael Taylor 2nd 04:20 21 yds - Good
Michael Taylor 4th 11:20 20 yds - Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
Michael Taylor 5 334 1 0 66.8
Clemson
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
-------------------------------------------------
Andre Ellington 18 93 4 89 0 26 4.9
Mike Bellamy 3 81 0 81 1 75 27.0
D.J. Howard 4 29 0 29 1 21 7.2
Sammy Watkins 2 14 9 5 0 14 2.5
Tajh Boyd 11 11 18 -7 0 5 -0.6
Totals... 38 228 31 197 2 75 5.2
Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack
-------------------------------------------------
Tajh Boyd 20-30-1 264 3 54 3
Cole Stoudt 1-1-0 7 0 7 0
Totals... 21-31-1 271 3 54 3
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
----------------------------------------
Sammy Watkins 7 81 1 33
DeAndre Hopkins 4 35 0 13
Jaron Brown 3 26 1 19
Andre Ellington 3 7 0 4
Dwayne Allen 1 54 1 54
Martavis Bryant 1 54 0 54
Brandon Ford 1 7 0 7
Adam Humphries 1 7 0 7
Totals... 21 271 3 54
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
---------------------------------------------------
Dawson Zimmerman 6 255 42.5 51 2 0
Totals... 6 255 42.5 51 2 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
--------------------------------------------------
Sammy Watkins 1 12 12 0 0 0 0 0 0
DeAndre Hopkins 1 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andre Ellington 0 0 0 1 22 22 0 0 0
Robert Smith 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Mike Bellamy 0 0 0 3 58 39 0 0 0
Totals... 2 17 12 4 80 39 1 0 0
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Chandler Catanzaro 1st 09:59 46 yds - Good
Chandler Catanzaro 1st 00:20 46 yds - Good
Chandler Catanzaro 4th 04:44 45 yds - Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
BENTON 9 612 3 0 68.0
FUMBLES: Troy-Shawn Southward 1-1; Justin Albert 1-1.
Clemson-Tajh Boyd 1-0.
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