By William Qualkinbush.

By William Qualkinbush.

“You think Clemson has a chance in the bowl game?”

If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it a million times over the past few weeks. It makes sense, until it doesn’t. Let me explain.

Often, we find ourselves as sports fans in an egocentric universe. We assume only one team takes the field, only one team determines the outcome, only one group of players and coaches has a role in competition. Meanwhile, the other team is merely along for the ride.

Given this view, the glass-half-empty approach might not be without merit. Sure, Clemson’s defense is stout. Sure, there are talented skill players all over the map. Sure, Dabo Swinney has proven he can motivate a team to play in a bowl game against a prestigious foe.

But the quarterback, though…

No Deshaun Watson—and by extension, lots of Cole Stoudt—means lower ticket sales. Conspiracy theorists might say that’s one of the reasons why the football program kept the decision to go ahead and fix Watson’s knee quiet for as long as it did.

It also means more middling quarterback play, more sideways passing, and more patting the ball instead of throwing it. We’ve seen it all before. We know how the story plays out.

There’s also the coordinator issue. Clemson needed two guys to replace Chad Morris, right? How can they possibly coordinate a competent plan, together, with a combined zero games of experience?

And that quarterback, though…

Even factoring in Oklahoma, you might be a little skeptical of Clemson’s chance to prevail. The Sooners have a big, powerful offensive front. They have a dynamic freshman tailback who has broken significant records this season. They have a defense with talent on all levels, and they have Bob Stoops.

I sympathize if you’re void of hope at this point of the thought process. I would be, too, if I stopped here.

But I didn’t.

Just as egocentric thinking pretends one team operates unimpeded in a vacuum, it also pretends a game is contested in two different vacuums by two different teams. But the matchup is where the inevitability of an Oklahoma win starts to break down a bit.

You see, Oklahoma runs the ball well, but nobody runs the ball on Clemson. Seriously, look it up. Nobody runs it. (We won’t talk about Georgia. Don’t throw out the rule in deference to the exception.)

Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott didn’t just realize they would be calling plays a couple of weeks ago. They’ve been preparing for this moment for years, not days. There will be some bumpy points in the playcalling, but hasn’t that been the complaint all along with the million-dollar man?

I won’t try to convince you Stoudt has been a good quarterback this year. The evidence to the contrary is too strong. But I can’t ignore the pockets of good play, including late touchdown drives he led against legit defensive teams Wake Forest and Boston College. I can’t say unequivocally he won’t play well late in the game, since he’s seemed to do that all year—even when the wheels have come off early.

Also, if you thought Watson’s injury was serious, Trevor Knight of Oklahoma broke his collarbone a few weeks back. He thought he might be paralyzed. He’s playing in this game. That’s scary, and I’m not sure we should expect a clean performance from the star of last season’s Sugar Bowl win over Alabama.

Nobody knows Stoops better than Brent Venables. Nobody knows Josh Heupel’s tendencies better than the defensive coordinator who has matched wits with him since his days as a championship quarterback in Norman. I wouldn’t expect much ball movement either way.

The matchup tells us this will be a tight game, a low-scoring game, a game where coaching acumen will be paramount. Think about Dabo Swinney’s masterful management of wins over LSU and Ohio State over the past two seasons, then google “Bob Stoops bowl games”. The upset win from a year ago is the exception.

Clemson’s kicker has conquered his demons. Oklahoma’s kicker has been a mess in big games all year.

I could go on, but you get the point. This game is much bigger than “that quarterback, though”. It’s bigger than the prestige of the programs.

It’s about the matchup, and the matchup says we’re in for a treat.

God Bless!

WQ