From the time fall camp began in early August until the confetti fell on top of their heads on Jan. 11, the 2015 football season was a wild ride for the Clemson Tigers.
The Tigers accomplished a lot in head coach Dabo Swinney’s seventh year. They won the ACC’s Atlantic Division, they won the ACC, they beat rival South Carolina for a second straight year and they advanced to the College Football Playoffs. In the end, they won the 2016 Orange Bowl and advanced to the National Championship Game for the first time in 34 years.
But what did we really learn about the 2015 Clemson Tigers? Below is a list of things that made this year’s squad just one of eight teams in the history of college football to win 14 games.
Deshaun Watson is amazing. If people did not know who Deshaun Watson was or what he was capable of before last Monday’s National Championship Game against Alabama, they do now. I laughed in the week leading up to the game how some analyst thought Watson would not be able to do much against Alabama’s ferocious defense. I guess they figured Watson put up great numbers against lesser competition and he would not hold up against Alabama’s pressure. I guess they were surprised to see No. 4 set a career-high with 478 total yards against Bama (a National Championship Game record), including 405 passing yards and four touchdowns. Watson became the first player in College Football history to record 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in the same season. He finished the year with an ACC record 5,209 yards. He finished the 2015 season with 47 touchdown responsibilities.
Brent Venables is better that we thought. Clemson lost nine starters off a defense that finished No. 1 in the nation in 2014. Despite all those losses, the Tigers still finished 2015 ranked No. 10 nationally in total defense. The Tigers stayed in the top 10 all season long in terms of total yards allowed. They led the nation in tackles for loss, finished second in sacks, finished second in pass completion defense, finished fourth in third down defense and fifth in the number of first downs allowed. Clemson also finished in the top 25 in rushing defense, passing defense and scoring defense.
Kevin Dodd was a player. None of us were surprised to see Shaq Lawson become the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year and earn consensus All-American status along the way. Lawson led the nation with 25.5 tackles for loss and was fifth with 12.5 sacks. But how many of us thought Dodd would rank right behind him in both categories? Not me. Dodd finished his final year at Clemson with 23.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks. The tackles for loss ranked second behind Lawson’s, and his sack total was seventh nationally. Keep in mind, the defensive end recorded just 94 snaps in 2014. Dodd recorded career highs for both sacks (3) and tackles for loss (5) in the National Championship Game. His five tackles for loss set a Clemson postseason record. He also had two sacks in the Tigers’ win over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and had at least one sack in each of the last five games of the season.
The Wayne Train. We all knew running back Wayne Gallman was capable of giving the Tigers a 100-yard game here or there, but no one thought the redshirt sophomore would give the Tigers a record nine 100-yard games through the course of the season. Gallman finished the year with a school-record 1,527 yards and 13 touchdowns. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry and 109.1 yards per game. The reason he was called “The Wayne Train?” He lost just 38 yards all season on 283 attempts. Gallman’s production was also a testament to his offensive line. As a team, the Tigers averaged 223.0 yards per game on the ground – the highest per game average in 20 years.
Greg Hueg… Who? At this point last year, no one had ever heard of Greg Huegel. “The Grocery Store Kicker” as head coach Dabo Swinney commonly referred to him as, connected on 27 of 32 field goals this season. His 27 field goals set a school record. Huegel, as we all know, came on the scene in replace of Ammon Lakip, who was suspended for the first three games due to a violation of team rules stemming from a traffic stop arrest last June. Lakip never got his job back because Huegel turned out to be one of the best kickers in the country. He was 17-for-17 in eight ACC games this season. The good news for Clemson fans, he was only a freshman.
If you haven’t already order your copy today of Guts & Glory – Tales of Clemson’s Historic 2015 Football Season to help you celebrate and remember this special season.