MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Clemson is headed to the National Championship Game.

For the first time since it won all in 1981, the Tigers will play for a national championship thanks to a second-half performance against No. 4 Oklahoma that will go down as one of the best in Clemson history.

After trailing by one-point at halftime, the Tigers used a strong running game and a relentless effort from its defense in the second half for a 37-17 victory in the Capital One Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium.

“It’s just awesome to be in the National Championship Game, to represent the ACC, and I think this is two out of the last three years our conference has been in the National Championship Game, and hopefully we can hold our own end of the deal up,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.

Trailing 17-16 at the break, Clemson handed the football to its train and he carried them to Arizona. Wayne Gallman rushed for 150 yards on 26 carries while scoring two touchdowns. He had 121 of those yards in the second half and scored both of his touchdowns in the final 30 minutes.

“I don’t think we really think we really did anything different other than really wanting to close out the game,” Gallman said. “I just wanted to make an impact, and to be able to finish the game is always something special.”

On the opening drive of the second half. Gallman carried the ball for 22 yards on the first three carries and then finished off the 75-yard drive with a one-yard plunge into end zone. That gave the Tigers a 23-17 lead with 10:51 to play in the third quarter.

Clemson (14-0) never trailed again. The Tigers outscored Oklahoma 21-0 in the second half.

“We didn’t play a bad first half, we just weren’t as clean as I would have liked for us to be,” Swinney said. “But in the second half we put it altogether, and we dominated the third quarter and we just put it away in the fourth quarter.”

The scored stayed, 23-17, until 4:07 to play in the third quarter when Hunter Renfrow high pointed a Deshaun Watson pass and took it 35 yards for a touchdown. That gave the Tigers a 30-17 lead at the time.

Clemson extended its lead to 37-17 with 10:48 to play in the game when Wayne Gallman ran the football in from four yards out to cap a nine-play, 50-yard drive.

Oklahoma (11-2) drove the ball down to the Tigers three-yard line, but linebacker Ben Boulware all but sealed the Tigers’ victory when he picked off Baker Mayfield’s pass at the Clemson two and returned it to the 11.

The defense forced two second-half interceptions and held the Sooners to 378 total yards, including just 67 on the ground. Oklahoma had averaged 300 yards a game on the ground during its seven-game winning streak and 52 points per game.

Clemson finished the game with 530 total yards, including 312 yards on the ground.

“Seven years ago when I got this job, I knew that we would be here. It was just a matter of when,” Swinney said. “This is year seven, and we were able to kind of the roof of it, win another ACC Championship, and when you win our league, you’ve got a chance to play for it all, and so here we are.”

The National Championship Game will be on Jan. 11 and is an 8 p.m. kickoff.