By Will Vandervort.
ORLANDO, Fla. — When he started to game plan how 17th-ranked Clemson was going to attack Oklahoma, Tony Elliott knew he had to get his quarterback in rhythm early on. He needed to get him confident in his ability.
He needed to get him believing in himself.
Elliott wanted to lean towards the things Cole Stoudt does well. So on the first play of the game he called for a screen pass to wide receiver Artavis Scott to the field side and, thanks to a block from Charone Peake and a couple of jukes to avoid the Oklahoma defenders, Scott was in the end zone and Cole Stoudt was in the game.
“He found his magic tonight,” said Elliott, who was calling his first game as the co-offensive coordinator.
It was a magical night for Stoudt as he threw three touchdown passes and ran for one more while throwing for a career-high 319 yards on 26 of 36 passing in 40-6 rout of No. 24 Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Monday.
“There were a couple of things we brought back in to take advantage of some of the things he does well, but most of it was the base offense that we have had in place,” Elliott said. “It was just trying to simplify it so there were not too many checks and so many reads so that he could go out and know exactly what he was doing, where the ball was going to go and be confident in getting it there.”
Stoudt was extremely confident. He guided the Tigers to two field goals after the Scott touchdown and then midway through the second quarter he found wide receiver Mike Williams down the far sideline. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound sophomore dove for the pylon for a 26-yard touchdown that extended the Clemson lead to 27-0 at the time.
In the third quarter Stoudt ran the ball in from two yards out to up the lead to 34-0 and then, despite being leveled by Oklahoma linebacker Eric Striker who about took of his head, Stoudt delivered a perfectly thrown ball to wide receiver Germone Hopper for a 24-yard touchdown that made the score 40-0 with 1:42 left in the third quarter.
Stoudt’s 319 yards made him just the third quarterback in Clemson history to throw for more than 300 yards in a bowl game. Not bad for a guy who has been ridiculed and scoffed at by both the media and fans when he threw three interceptions and had two returned for touchdowns in a loss to Georgia Tech last month.
“I knew this was going to be my last game here and I knew I prepared to be my best and I wanted to do it for the guys around me because that is what really mattered to me,” he said. “I knew that in my mind I wanted to do the best I could for the team and go out there and have some fun.
“I just wanted to enjoy the last game we would play together and that is what we did.”
And nobody was enjoying it more than he was.
“Cole Stoudt was 6-2 as a starter for us this year and played his best game of his career in his last game,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We knew that our only chance to win this game, he was going to have to play his tail off and he was going to have to make plays outside. It was a very tough defense to run against. Cole Stoudt was awesome. He made plays with his legs. He made great decisions taking care of the football, made good checks, checked us into some plays, and checked the touchdown. Cole Stoudt was awesome and nobody deserves it more. He hung in there. He showed class, representing us the right way, even when things didn’t go his way and all that kind of stuff. He continued to believe in himself.”