by Austin Silvey @SilveyESP
In Monday's teleconference, Trevor Lawrence was asked about the targeting play that left him laying on the ground for a few short moments in the semifinal game against Ohio State.
Late in the second quarter, Buckeye defensive back Shaun Wade came in quick up the middle and sacked the Tigers' quarterback. The play was reviewed and Wade ended up being disqualified for targeting.
After the hit, Lawrence laid on the ground with his eyes closed for a couple of seconds, much to the chagrin of the Clemson fanbase. Eventually the medical staff came out to check on him. Not long after, he got up and ran off the field under his own power.
The Tigers were down 16-0 at the time of the hit. After sitting out one play, Lawrence came back into the game and led the Tigers down the field to cut the score down to 16-7. The next offensive drive he ran in a 67-yard touchdown that included him juking an Ohio State safety and outrunning multiple defenders.
It was as if the hit 'woke him up.' He alluded to as much when asked about it.
"It was just, they hit me, and I was worried it was my collarbone for a second because I couldn't feel it up there around my shoulder and neck, and my arm just went numb. It was just a really bad stinger."
"And then I got kind of – I was kind of pissed off because I knew they were over there thinking like, all right, we knocked him out."
"They think they had all the momentum, so I was like, all right, I'm just going to pop up, I'm going to run it off, and I was pissed, too, because I thought we were punting, and then it turns out they called targeting and we got a chance to go back out there and we finished and scored on that drive. But I was just like, man, from then on, they thought they had knocked me out."
"I had a different kind of edge when I got up."
With 3:07 left in the game, Clemson trailed 23-21 and it was up to Lawrence and company to drive 94 yards and win the game. It only took four plays and 1:18 off the clock to do so. Lawrence went 3/3 for 83 yards and also rushed for 11 yards.
The Tigers would go on to win the game 29-23 in what was the best semifinal game in the playoff era. And it's probably safe to assume that the hit on Lawrence had a lot to do with that.
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