By Will Vandervort.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The 17th-ranked Clemson Tigers will play No. 24 Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl. This will be the fourth meeting between the two schools and the first since the Tigers beat Oklahoma in the 1989 Citrus Bowl, which was played in the same stadium in Orlando, Fla.
About Oklahoma: The Sooners come into the Russell Athletic Bowl with an 8-4 record, but three of those losses were by a combined eight points. Oklahoma was expected to contend for the College Football Playoff this year when it entered the season as a preseason top 5, but injuries to key positions derailed its title hopes.
Oklahoma’s offense: The Sooners will get back the services of quarterback Trevor Knight as well as wide receiver Sterling Shepard. Knight, who has missed the last three games, threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns in last year’s Sugar Bowl win over Alabama. Before his injury at Baylor, Knight threw for 2,197 yards and 14 touchdowns, while completing 58.1 percent of his passes. He has also rushed for 340 yards on 66 carries for a 5.2-yard average. He has scored five touchdowns on the ground. Before his injury, which has slowed him down and forced him to miss one game, Shepard caught 50 passes for 957 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards per catch and scored five touchdowns. But the offense revolves around the running game and most importantly running back Samaje Perine. The freshman has rushed for 1,579 yards and 21 touchdowns this season. Against Kansas he ran for an NCAA record 427 yards, while scoring five times.
Oklahoma’s defense: The Sooner’s rank 10th in the country against the run as they use their 3-4 Okie front to hold opponents to 109.6 yards per game. Inside linebackers Dominique Alexander and Jordan Evans lead the team in tackles, while outside linebacker Eric Striker leads the squad with 7.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss. The weakness on defense in is the secondary where Oklahoma has allowed its opponents to throw for 272.7 yards per game, which ranks 117th in the country. The Sooners have allowed 20 touchdown passes and opponents are completing 55.2 percent of their passes.
Records: Clemson 9-3; Oklahoma 8-4
Series record: Oklahoma leads the series 2-1
First meeting: 1963: Oklahoma won 31-14 in Norman, Okla.
Last meeting: 1989 Citrus Bowl: Clemson won 13-6
Stat worth noting: Clemson closed the regular season by winning eight of its last nine games, the eighth time it has done that in its long history. In the previous seven times it has accomplished this feat, Clemson has gone on to win its bowl game. The last time it happened, the Tigers beat LSU 25-24 in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Second stat worth noting: Oklahoma outscored its opponents by 90 points in the first quarter in 2014, seventh best-scoring differential by an FBS squad in the opening quarter this season.
Third stat worth noting: Clemson’s defense has held eight of its 12 opponents under 88 rushing yards and 10 of 12 to 120 yards or less. Oklahoma is averaging 468 rushing yards per game in its last three wins and has won 12 of their last 13 games when rushing for 200 or more yards.
Memorable game: Clemson beat Oklahoma, 13-6, in the 1989 Citrus Bowl. Running back Terry Allen scored the winning touchdown with 10:28 to play on a four-yard run. He finished the afternoon with 53 yards on 17 carries. Fullback Wesley McFadden had nine carries for 55 yards.
The big story was the Tigers’ defense, however. Clemson held Oklahoma’s powerful wishbone offense to 116 rushing yards and no touchdowns, nearly 200 yards below its season average.
The Tigers kept Oklahoma out of the end zone all day with one big play after another on defense. In the first quarter linebackers Levon Kirkland and Jesse Hatcher forced a fumble and got a sack that forced a field goal. Doug Brewster intercepted a second-quarter pass that ended a Sooners’ scoring opportunity.
In the third quarter, Clemson again stopped Oklahoma and held it to a field goal. Then after Allen’s touchdown, Hatcher forced a fumble that ended another Sooners’ drive and on the last drive of the game, cornerback Dexter Davis batted down Jamelle Holieway’s pass to the end zone on the last play to the seal the Tigers’ victory.