Swinney says Tigers fouled on pick
Watson, Peppers ready to try out for the NFL
TAMPA, Fla. — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney says there should have been a foul called on the Tigers’ gamewinning touchdown against Alabama, and it should have been called on the Crimson Tide.
Swinney said Tuesday that there was defensive pass interference on Clemson receiver Artavis Scott, who made contact with his defender and created some traffic that another Alabama defensive back got caught in on Hunter Renfrow’s 2-yard TD catch with a second left Monday night.
Clemson beat Alabama 35-31 in the College Football Playoff championship game to win its first national title since 1981.
“Yes, it’s a rub play, it’s a pick play,” Swinney said Tuesday. “Artavis was actually trying to go pick the guy, but he couldn’t get there because he got tackled. I mean, literally, the guy tackles him.”
NCAA coordinator of football officials Rogers Redding, who was in the television booth for the game, said he has not studied the play but after watching it several times he called it a “sensible no call.”
“What the officials are looking for is who initiates the contact,” Redding said. “If the receiver comes out and clearly blocks on the defender and the other receiver cuts off that block, then it’s offensive pass interference.
“What we saw was the contact was either initiated by the defense or mutually initiated. It wasn’t a play where the offensive player clearly came out and blocked on them.”
Alabama players and fans did not quite see it that way, and thought Clemson should have been flagged for offensive pass interference.
“Usually, on a pick route, you’re not supposed to chop somebody,” Alabama linebacker Tim Williams said.
Scott never made contact with Tony Brown, the defender who was guarding Renfrow. Brown had to go around Scott and Marlon Humphrey, like a basketball player going over a screen, and could not get there in time. Renfrow was wide open.
The official rule is this: Offensive pass interference by a Team A player beyond the neutral zone during a legal forward pass play in which a forward pass crosses the neutral zone is contact that interferes with a Team B eligible player. It is the responsibility of the offensive player to avoid the opponents.
“I mean, if you really watch the play, we never even got a chance to really rub the guy (Brown),” Swinney said. “But he had to play over the top. That’s the way the play is designed.”
WATSON: Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson is going out on top.
The Georgia native announced following the national championship game he will enter the NFL draft.
“I think it’s my time to go, just kind of end it with a bang,” Watson said. “I’ve enjoyed the three years, and I just wanted to sign my name and end it with an exclamation point, and I think I did that. Moments like this I’ll never forget.” PEPPERS: Jabrill Peppers is leaving, officially.
Michigan’s do-everything redshirt sophomore announced Tuesday that he’s forgoing his final two seasons of college eligibility and declaring for the NFL draft.
“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Peppers told si.com. “I’m choosing between cementing my legacy as a college player and starting my pro legacy. It’s something you dream of when you were a kid. I was torn between the two.”
Peppers reportedly told Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on Monday. “He thanked me and told me it was a pleasure to coach me,” Peppers told the site. “I told him it was a pleasure to play for him. He molded me for the next level, that’s how he operates. He runs his program like an NFL team. He’s done more than enough to prepare me for this moment.”
VEGAS: Bookmakers were feeling so good about things with Alabama up 14-0 midway through the second quarter of the College Football Championship that they offered 19 points to get bettors to wager on Clemson.
They weren’t feeling so good later when Clemson’s comeback win made big losers out of sports books up and down the Las Vegas Strip.
Bettors scored a rare victory in a big game, jumping on Clemson when betting opened a week earlier and staying with the Tigers until finally bookmakers stopped taking bets in the second half of Monday night’s game.
TV RATINGS: The championship rematch drew 680,000 fewer viewers on TV and online than last year’s game, though combined viewership for all the New Year’s Six bowls and the title game was up 15 percent, ESPN said Tuesday.
WYOMING: Head coach Craig Bohl has hired Scottie Hazelton as his new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Hazelton comes to Wyoming from the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, where he was the assistant linebackers coach the past three seasons.