4 takeaways from Texas's Playoff victory over Clemson

No. 3 Texas football hosted the No. 16 Clemson Tigers for the first-ever home College Football Playoff game at DKR in Austin on Dec. 21. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian didn't take long to show early in this game why they were favorited by multiple scores against Clemson in the pregame spread.

Texas football's dominance at the line of scrimmage leads to a 14-point win over Clemson in the Playoff

While Clemson set the tone early with a solid first-quarter scoring drive, Texas quickly stole momentum back late in the first quarter and early in the second.

The Longhorns and Tigers traded blows early in the first half, with Clemson taking the lead on a long scoring drive that resulted in a touchdown pass from Cade Klubnik to wide receiver Antonio Williams to get them on the scoreboard first. Texas responded with two big touchdown runs by sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner and junior Jaydon Blue.

Texas continued to keep control of this game, taking a commanding 28-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

This game was a story of momentum swings all throughout the contest between Texas and Clemson for four quarters. Whenever it seemed like Texas would salt the game away, Clemson would take advantage of an opportunity to whittle the Longhorns' lead down to 10 points or a touchdown.

And Texas would come up with a big play any time it seemed like Clemson would come close to tying things up on the scoreboard.

This Clemson team had a lot of talent and perseverance, sticking around to push the Longhorns in this game late into the second half.

Here are four takeaways from the Longhorns' two-score win in the first round of the College Football Playoff at DKR over Clemson.

Texas leans on the ground game to set the tone for the offense

The running back duo of Wisner and Blue made a huge impact on the game for Texas's offense early in the first half, rushing for over 100 yards for the Longhorns within the game's first 25 minutes.

In the first half alone, Wisner went off for 80 rushing yards on just 10 carries (eight yards per carry) and two rushing scores. He played a critical role in scoring two of Texas's three straight touchdowns to steal away the momentum from Clemson late in the first quarter.

Blue showed off his agility and wheels for multiple explosive plays in the first half, including a big 38-yard touchdown run that extended Texas's lead to 21-7 in the second quarter.

But the biggest play for the Texas ground game with a season-long 77-yard rushing touchdown from Blue that gave the Longhorns a huge shot in the arm early in the fourth quarter.

The rushing-yard differential between Texas and Clemson was the most decisive stat in this game. Texas outgained the Tigers by a margin of over 200 yards.

Running off the guards and tackles, Texas had its way with the Clemson defensive front for multiple explosive run plays. Controlling the trenches really won this game for the Longhorns, along with the tough running from Blue and Wisner.

True freshman running back Jerrick Gibson also got involved for a key fourth-down pick up on a tough short-yardage run to eventually set up Texas's first touchdown of the game from Wisner on the ground.

Sarkisian and the Longhorns put a lot of trust in Gibson late to seal the victory late in the fourth quarter, including a huge 21-yard run from the freshman that pretty much salted Clemson away.