Both teams will be a little disappointed with how their seasons went. Oklahoma was a pre-season top five team that faded badly down the stretch. Close losses to TCU and Kansas State were disappointing but they were followed by an embarrassing blowout defeat at home to Baylor and an overtime loss to rivals Oklahoma State. Three of these four losses came at home as well.
On the other side of the field, Clemson’s season was marred by injury to promising quarterback DeShaun Watson who flashed real potential for the Tigers when healthy. Watson will miss this game as he has opted to have surgery on his partially torn ACL. His replacement Cole Stoudt has had problems with costly interceptions in losses against Georgia and Georgia Tech. But the Tigers still battled their way to a 9-3 record with impressive wins over Louisville and rivals South Carolina.
The 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl is taking place in Orlando, Florida on Monday December 29th which certainly gives the Clemson fans the edge in terms of traveling distance to the game even though Sooner fans are renowned for traveling in large numbers for their bowl games.
Both teams scored impressive wins in last year’s bowls as Clemson won the Orange Bowl 40-35 over Ohio State while Oklahoma surprised many with a 45-31 win in the Sugar Bowl over Alabama. How ironic it is that the two losers of those contests have gone onto the inaugural college football playoff one year later and face off in the this year’s Sugar Bowl, a game both teams would love to be going to at this stage.
The overriding theme coming into this game is of two teams going in different directions as the regular season concludes. Clemson had won eight of its past nine games to finish the season while Oklahoma ended the year with three losses from their last six games with the wins coming against Iowa State, Texas Tech and Kansas (the only Big 12 teams that weren’t bowl eligible this year).
The time off between the end of the regular season and this game certainly helps Oklahoma as quarterback Trevor Knight has been cleared to play after suffering a neck injury against Baylor. He missed the final three games but will be back to play here and that is a big boost for the Sooners. In Knight’s absence, Samaje Perine has amassed 791 rushing yards in three games including 427 yards and five touchdowns against Iowa State which broke the FBS single-game record a week after Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon achieved the same feat.
If the Sooners can continue to dominate at the line of scrimmage and open holes for Perine then it will take the pressure off Trevor Knight to make big plays in his first game back. Although establishing the running game against Clemson is easier said than done, over the regular season the Tigers were ranked seventh nationally in rush defense averaging just 98 yards per game given up. Clemson will be hoping to make the Oklahoma offense one-dimensional so that their defensive line can get pressure on Trevor Knight and disrupt the pocket.
With DeShaun Watson out, it’s crucial that Clemson is able to run the ball itself because making Cole Stoudt throw the ball over 40 times in this game isn’t going to be a recipe for success. The Tigers need consistent production out of their running game to help control the clock and allow the defense to rest on the side line. This is a game that will definitely be decided in the trenches.
Prediction: The absence of DeShaun Watson will be too much to overcome for the Tigers as the Oklahoma offense just does enough to succeed.
Oklahoma 24-17 Clemson.
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Bowl logo photo courtesy of Russell Athletic Bowl and Sports-Odds.com
