Sports: Clemson is National Champ

The underdog Tigers upset defending national champion Alabama 35-31 to win a rematch of last year's title game. Alabama beat Clemson 45-40 last season in the championship. Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson led the Tigers downfield, with his team trailing by three with seconds left. His final strike was a 2-yard score to Hunter Renfrow to cap a nerveless final drive with one second left. Watson passed for 420 yards and three TDs and also ran the ball 21 times for 43 yards and a touchdown. The lead changed hands four times in the fourth quarter of the seesaw affair. After falling behind 14-0 early, Clemson scored 21 points in the fourth quarter against an Alabama defense that had allowed just 32 points in the fourth quarter all season. That ended Alabama's 26-game winning streak and its dreams of back-to-back national titles. Instead, Clemson won its first national title since 1981. The Tigers have their junior quarterback Watson to thank for his gutsy performance in what probably was his final college game before heading to the NFL draft.

Final AP Rankings

Clemson finishes #1 in the AP College football poll, knocking Alabama from the spot it held all season. USC became the first team to finish as high as No. 3 with three losses. USC, which started the season 1-3 — including a 52-6 opening loss to Alabama — jumped from all the way from ninth in the final regular-season rankings to third.

Clemson
Alabama
Southern Cal
Washington
Oklahoma
Ohio St.
Penn St.
Florida St.
Wisconsin
Michigan
W. Michigan

Pistons

The Pistons go for three straight wins as they play in Sacramento on tonight.

Red Wings

The Red Wings play the first place Blackhawks in Chicago tonight.

College Basketball

Fort Wayne beat Olivet College 115-60.

Toledo is at WMU tonight.

MSU hosts Minnesota on Wednesday….6pm on WBCK.

Michigan hosts Illinois on Wednesday. Both teams are 1-2 so far in Big 10 play.

Boys Basketball

Battle Creek Academy 64, Factoryville Christian 25. Jake Essex had 20. Isaac Gillett added 16 for the Tigers.

Climax-Scotts 58, North Adams Jerome 39. Riley Boomershine had 19.

Litchfield 89, Colon 83.

Centerville 43, Union City 34.

Pittsford 59, Bellevue 49

St. Philip at Waldron was postponed.

Girls Basketball

Calhoun Christian 38, Howardsville Christian 20. Abby Parks with 13.

Tuesday’s games

Lakeview hosts Portage Central…..7pm on WBCK.

BCC at Benton Harbor

Harper at Lumen Cristi

Pennfield at Coldwater

Marshall at Parma Western

Comstock at Bronson

Constantine at Galesburg-Augusta

K-Christian at Delton

Gull Lake at St. Joseph

Maple Valley at Leslie

Olivet at Perry

NFL Playoffs

Next Saturday, Seattle is at Atlanta, and Houston is at New England.

Sunday, Green Bay is at Dallas and Pittsburgh is at Kansas City.

Receiver Jordy Nelson will sit out Green Bay Packers practice this week with a rib injury. Coach Mike McCarthy says Nelson could play Sunday if he can practice Saturday.

Olivet Names Football Coach

Olivet College has named Dan Musielewicz as the Comets' head football coach. Musielewicz was the program's offensive and recruiting coordinator. He replaces Dan Pifer, who accepted the head coaching position at Walsh University after posting a 30-21 record over five seasons, including back-to-back MIAA titles in 2015 and 2016.

NW Player found Dead

Northwestern women's basketball player Jordan Hankins has been found dead in her room at the university. The university said in a statement that the 19-year-old Hankins' body was found yesterday afternoon and that there's no indication of foul play.

Scherzer out of WBC

NL Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer has an injured finger on his pitching hand and will miss the World Baseball Classic. The Washington Nationals say that their star right-hander has a stress fracture in the knuckle of his right ring finger. Scherzer says he pitched with discomfort last season from late August on, but thought it was just a sprain. He says he’s disappointed that he won’t be able to reunite with former Tiger bosses Jim Leyland and Jeff Jones but says he’ll be ready to go in the spring.

Categories: Sports