2015 Orange Bowl

College Football Playoff Semifinal bowl game August 2023 Orange Bowl College Football Playoff Semifinal82nd Orange Bowl Capital One 2015OrangeBowl.png 200px December 31 2015 2015 Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida University of Oklahoma Oklahoma Sooners 11−1 Big 12 4 3 4 Bob Stoops 7 10 0 0 Clemson University Clemson Tigers 13−0 ACC 1 1 1 Dabo Swinney 3 13 14 7 Deshaun Watson (QB, Clemson) Ben Boulware (LB, Clemson) Oklahoma by 4https://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/history/bowls/orange/ Vegasinsider Orange Bowl Odds: College football January 1, 2003 C10 October 24, 2020 October 26, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201026233541/https://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/history/bowls/orange// dead Mike Cannon (Big Ten) 67,615 ESPN Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe (15.6 million viewers) 2014 (Dec.) 2016 1 vs. 4 Seed CFP Semifinal Game 2015 Sugar 2016 Peach thumb|Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, hosted the Orange Bowl. The 2015 Orange Bowl (officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 2015 Capital One Orange Bowl for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2015, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The game was the 82nd playing of the Orange Bowl and the first semifinal of the 2015–16 College Football Playoff (CFP), part of the slate of bowl games which concluded the 2015 FBS football season. The game featured two of the four teams chosen by the CFP selection committee: the No. 1 Clemson Tigers from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners from the Big 12 Conference. The winner qualified for the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship against the winner of the other semifinal, hosted by the Cotton Bowl Classic. The game was televised by ESPN. Teams The two participants for the game were two of the semifinalists which were the Clemson Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners. Clemson 2015 Clemson Tigers football teamClemson began the season hoping to improve on their 10–3 record from last year. In the preseason poll, the Tigers ranked number 12, and to kick off the season, won their first 3 games. In their 4th game, they faced the undefeated and 6th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, with both teams having playoff aspirations. Despite leading for most of the game, the game came down to a key 2 point conversion stop by Clemson, essentially sealing the game for the Tigers. The Tigers then won 4 more games to finally reach the number 1 ranking in all of the polls, just in time for a huge matchup with the defending ACC Champions, the Florida State Seminoles. Despite losing for most of the first half, Clemson came back in the 2nd half to win the game, 23–13. The Tigers then won the rest of their games, including a matchup with North Carolina in the ACC Championship game. Clemson won the game 45–37, to give Clemson their first ACC Championship since 2011.Adelson Andrea No. 1 Clemson clinches ACC, likely top seed in College Football Playoff ESPN.com 2015-12-06 https://www.espn.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/89064/no-1-clemson-clinches-acc-likely-top-seed-in-college-football-playoff 2025-08-09 Oklahoma 2015 Oklahoma Sooners football teamOklahoma began their season hoping to improve from their 8–5 record from last year and also an annihilation in the Russel Athletic Bowl against Clemson. They were ranked number 19 in the preseason poll, but they won their first 4 games to rise to number 10 in the polls. In their 5th game, they were matched against Texas, a team that was at the time 1–4 and unranked. Oklahoma, despite being huge favorites, were stunned by the Longhorns 24–17, which dropped them to 4–1 and lowered their ranking to 19. Oklahoma responded strong to the loss, churning out 4 straight wins before looking at an extremely tough 3 game stretch which included the undefeated Baylor Bears, the 1 loss TCU Horned Frogs, and the undefeated Oklahoma State Cowboys. Oklahoma defeated undefeated Baylor 44–34, and rose to the number 7 spot in the polls. Later against TCU, Oklahoma dominated for most of the game, and even led 30–13 in the 4th Quarter. However, TCU mounted a furious comeback and had nearly tied the game up at 30, down 1, when TCU coach Gary Patterson decided to go for 2 at the end of the game. TCU was unable to convert the 2 point conversion, and Oklahoma survived. Their final challenge, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who also had playoff hopes. Oklahoma destroyed their in-state rivals 58–23, and clinched the Big 12 Title. Game summary 1st quarter The game started off with a long Oklahoma drive that ended with a Samaje Perine 1-yard touchdown that put the Sooners up 7–0. The teams then exchanged punts, and then Clemson had a long drive that ended with a field goal, which brought the score to 7–3. Oklahoma was once again forced to punt, and that ended the first quarter, with the score sitting at 7–3. 2nd quarter Clemson's drive started off with a 46-yard run from their Heisman finalist quarterback Deshaun Watson. However, it looked like Clemson was going to have to punt when they ran a fake punt, which ended up with a 31-yard pass from Andy Teasdall to Christian Wilkins, a defensive lineman. This play set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Deshaun Watson, which gave Clemson their first lead of the night at 10–7. Oklahoma was then once again forced to punt, and Clemson took advantage, scoring another field goal to go up by 6. Both teams then exchanged field goals, which brought the score to 16–10 in favor of Clemson. With 2:17 remaining, Oklahoma drove down the length of the field to score a touchdown, which gave the Sooners a one-point lead. Clemson had an opportunity to reclaim the lead before halftime after a fake punt, however Watson's pass was later intercepted in the end zone, giving Oklahoma a 17–16 lead going into halftime. 3rd quarter Clemson received the opening kickoff and drove down the field during their opening possession of the second half down the field for a touchdown by running back Wayne Gallman, giving Clemson the lead again. Oklahoma on their ensuing possession was forced to punt, however Clemson couldn't capitalize, missing a 47-yard field goal. Oklahoma later got stuffed at Clemson's 30-yard line, turning the ball over on downs. This time, Clemson did capitalize, by running the ball to midfield and later passing the ball to Hunter Renfrow, his first touchdown of the night, increasing Clemson's lead. The remainder of the quarter was scoreless, giving Clemson a 13-point lead with 15 minutes left to play. 4th quarter The fourth quarter of the game for the most part was scoreless; but on Clemson's first possession of the quarter, Clemson ran the ball for another touchdown by Wayne Gallman, pushing the lead to 20 points. Oklahoma had several opportunities to score in the red zone, however the pass was intercepted, giving Clemson room to run out the clock. After close to 10 scoreless minutes in the 4th quarter, Clemson shut out Oklahoma in the second half, giving the Tigers a spot in the 2016 National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona, against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Scoring summary Orange Bowl black; text-align:center; autocollapse #fff College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 2015 Capital One Orange Bowl December 31, 2015 4:00 p.m. EST No. 4 Oklahoma 7 10 0 0 No. 1 Clemson 3 13 14 7 Sun Life Stadium • Miami Gardens, Florida 67,615 n/a (game played indoors) Mike Cannon (Big Ten) ESPN Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Todd Blackledge (analyst) and Holly Rowe (sideline) ESPN game summary Oklahoma Clemson 1 11:16 Oklahoma 10 75 3:44 RushTD Samaje Perine 1 Austin Seibert good 7 0 1 2:04 Clemson 9 19 2:47 FG 26 Greg Huegel 7 3 2 12:45 Clemson 7 96 2:09 RushTD Deshaun Watson 5 Greg Huegel good 7 10 2 7:05 Clemson 10 61 3:15 FG 36 Greg Huegel 7 13 2 4:41 Oklahoma 10 67 2:24 FG 22 Austin Seibert good 10 13 2 2:17 Clemson 9 49 2:24 FG 43 Greg Huegel 10 16 2 1:34 Oklahoma 4 76 0:43 RecTD Mark Andrews 11 Baker Mayfield Austin Seibert good 17 16 3 10:51 Clemson 12 75 4:09 RushTD Wayne Gallman 1 Greg Huegel good 17 23 3 4:07 Clemson 4 70 1:21 RecTD Deshaun Watson Hunter Renfrow 35 Greg Huegel good 17 30 4 10:48 Clemson 9 50 4:40 RushTD Wayne Gallman 4 Greg Huegel good 17 37 17 37 Source:http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=111999 2015 Orange Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Kansas Stats Stat Broadcast 2015-12-31 Statistics +Team statistical comparisonCollege Football Playoff at the 2015 Capital One Orange Bowl - Final Game Book https://collegefootballplayoff.com/documents/2025/7/24/151231gamebook_orange.pdf College Football Playoff July 26, 2026 December 31, 2015StatisticOklahomaClemsonFirst downs 24 30First downs rushing 6 17First downs passing 16 10First downs penalty 2 3Third down efficiency 5–13 9–19Fourth down efficiency 0–1 1–2Total plays–net yards 76–378 90–530Rushing attempts–net yards 33–67 58–312Yards per rush 2.0 5.4Yards passing 311 218Pass completions–attempts 26–43 17–32Interceptions thrown 2 1Punt returns–total yards 0–0 1–5Kickoff returns–total yards 4–97 2–35Punts–average yardage 6–38.8 3–40.3Fumbles–lost 0–0 1–0Penalties–yards 5–65 5–40Time of possession 24:45 35:15 +Oklahoma statisticsSooners passingC–A Completions–AttemptsYds Passing yardsTD–INT Passing touchdowns–Interceptions thrown Baker Mayfield 26–41 311 1–2 Cody Thomas 0–2 0 0–0Sooners rushingCar CarriesYds Rushing yardsTD Rushing touchdowns Samaje Perine 15 58 1 Dede Westbrook 1 18 0 Sterling Shepard 1 5 0 Joe Mixon 3 4 0 Alex Ross 2 −1 0 TEAM 1 −2 0 Baker Mayfield 10 −15 0Sooners receivingRec ReceptionsYds Receiving yardsTD Receiving touchdowns Sterling Shepard 7 87 0 Dede Westbrook 4 69 0 Jarvis Baxter 3 36 0 Mark Andrews 2 32 1 Durron Neal 2 32 0 Samaje Perine 2 23 0 Jeffery Mead 2 19 0 Joe Mixon 3 11 0 Michiah Quick 1 2 0 +Clemson statisticsTigers passingC–A Completions–AttemptsYds Passing yardsTD–INT Passing touchdowns–Interceptions thrown Deshaun Watson 16–31 187 1–1 Andy Teasdall 1–1 31 0–0Tigers rushingCar CarriesYds Rushing yardsTD Rushing touchdowns Wayne Gallman 26 150 2 Deshaun Watson 24 145 1 Zac Brooks 3 19 0 Ray-Ray McCloud 1 8 0 TEAM 3 −3 0 Artavis Scott 1 −7 0Tigers receivingRec ReceptionsYds Receiving yardsTD Receiving touchdowns Artavis Scott 5 63 0 Hunter Renfrow 4 59 1 Charone Peake 4 54 0 Christian Wilkins 1 31 0 Ray-Ray McCloud 2 6 0 Jordan Leggett 1 5 0 References Orange Bowl Orange Bowl Category:Orange Bowl Category:Clemson Tigers football bowl games Category:Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games Orange Bowl Orange Bowl Category:American football competitions in Miami Gardens, Florida