Clemson Tigers clinch US college football title

LOS ANGELES: Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes as the Clemson Tigers captured their second US college football championship in three years with a 44-16 blowout win over top-ranked Alabama on Monday.

Running back Travis Etienne caught one touchdown pass from Lawrence and ran for two others for Clemson, who finished a perfect season with a 15-0 record.The teams traded TDs in the first quarter before Clemson busted the game open in the second quarter en route to scoring 30 unanswered points.

Freshman Lawrence, who took over as a starter four games into the season, completed 20-of-30 passes for 347 yards in the first college playoff championship game to feature two unbeaten teams. The 19-year-old from Tennessee also rushed the 27 yards.

Lawrence is the first freshman quarterback since Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985 to lead his team to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) title. The Crimson Tide are known for their trick plays, but it was Etienne providing the early magic at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, hooking up with Lawrence on a short shovel pass for a touchdown to give Clemson a 12-point lead, 28-16, late in the first half.