attle coming down the stretch on the final day. Competition like that always

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Deshaun Watsons mission is not over.The Heisman Trophy hopeful and third-ranked Clemson Tigers are ready to return to the College Football Playoff and try to resolve some unfinished business from last season.Watson bolstered his candidacy for the sports biggest individual award by passing for three touchdowns and running for two more to lead the Tigers (12-1, No. 3 CFP) a 42-35 victory over No. 19 Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night.Winning consecutive league titles for the first time in 28 years likely will send coach Dabo Swinney and his players back to the four-team College Football Playoff for the second straight year, providing Watson with an opportunity to resolve unfinished business from last January , when the Tigers lost to Alabama in the national championship game.What a blessing to be a part of this journey, Swinney said, flanked by Watson. This guy is the best player in the country, and it isnt close.The Clemson star completed 23 of 34 passes for 288 yards, including TDs of 21 and 10 yards to Jordan Leggett and 15 yards to Hunter Renfrow for a 42-28 lead midway through the fourth quarter. He also rushed for 85 yards on 17 attempts for the Tigers. Theyve won back-to-back ACC titles for the first time since winning three straight from 1986-88.Watsons Virginia Tech counterpart, Jerod Evans, was just as impressive. The 6-foot-3, 238-pound ran for two touchdowns and rallied the Hokies from a 21-point deficit to make it close at the end.The Hokies (9-4, No. 23 CFP) scored on three straight possessions, trimming what was once a 35-14 deficit to seven points on Evans 5-yard run early in the fourth quarter and Cam Phillips 26-yard TD reception with just under 6 minutes remaining.Weve been there before. We were down 17 in the Notre Dame game and we were able to rally together to fight back, Hokies receiver Isaiah Ford said. So we were confident we could come back.Virginia Tech got the ball back with a chance to force overtime. Evans drove his team to the Clemson 23, where the drive stalled when Tigers cornerback Cordrea Tankersley intercepted a pass on fourth-and-6.They got here for a reason, Swinney said of Virginia Tech. We just couldnt put them away.Virginia Tech didnt take solace in playing Clemson close.They showed up here to win the ballgame. Its a pretty somber locker room because of that, coach Justin Fuente said.Obviously, we came up `a little short, but it wasnt because we werent out there competing, Fuente added. I think our kids poured their heart and soul into this and are going to learn some life lessons from this endeavor.SITE CHANGEThe game, originally scheduled to be played in Charlotte, N.C., drew a crowd of 50,628 -- about 20,000 shy of Camping World Stadiums listed capacity. The ACC moved the event to Orlando because of North Carolina House Bill 2, a controversial law that limits legal protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.EVANS BIG NIGHTVirginia Tech QB Jerod Evans finished 21 of 35 for 264 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He rushed for 46 yards on 21 carries, and joined Travon McMillian in scoring two TDs on the ground. Meanwhile, Cam Phillips had 12 receptions for 92 yards, and Isaiah Ford had four catches for 89 yards while becoming the Hokies career leader in receiving yards.THE TAKEAWAYClemson: Its been a yearlong quest to get back to the CFP, and the Tigers survived every test with the exception of a 43-42 loss to Pittsburgh in early November -- a game in which the Tigers turned the ball over three times but still came within a fourth-and-1 conversion of winning. Watson was overshadowed early in the season, when ACC player of the year Lamar Jackson was posting gaudy statistics for Louisville, however the Clemson quarterbacks performance Saturday night added to the sterling resume hes put together for Heisman Trophy consideration .Virginia Tech: The Coastal Division winners werent just happy to be in the title game. Fuente and his players were determined to make the most of the Hokies first appearance in the title game in five years. And for a half, they kept it close, weathering Clemson scoring on its first three possessions to build a 21-7 lead. Even after being outgained 148 yards to minus-14 while falling behind by three TDs in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, Evans rallied his team to make a game of it in the fourth quarter.DISQUALIFIEDClemson LB Dorian ODaniel was ejected in the opening quarter after being penalized for targeting on a high hit on Virginia Tech RB Sam Rogers, who was dropped for no gain on a pass reception. The call, along with Terrell Edmunds 20-yard reception on a fake punt play and a 15-yard pass interference penalty against Tankersley, fueled the Hokies first scoring drive, a 12-play, 77-yard march that McMillian finished his TD run.UP NEXT:Clemson: Awaits official word on a berth and seeding in the CFP, which begins with the national semifinals on Dec. 31.Virginia Tech: Will travel to a bowl game hoping to finish its season under Fuente with 10 wins for the first time since 2011. Fuente also would become the first coach in school history to win 10 games in his first season leading the Hokies.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 . Custom Colorado Rockies Nike Jerseys . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Custom Washington Nationals Nike Jerseys . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. https://www.custombaseballnikejerseys.com/?tag=custom-new-york-mets-nike-jerseys .7 million, one-year contract, a raise of $2.2 million. Wieters had asked for $8.75 million and the Orioles had offered $6. Custom Boston Red Sox Nike Jerseys .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. Custom Minnesota Twins Nike Jerseys .com) - The women will also have a new champion at the Australian Open. RIO DE JANEIRO -- The history of golf in Brazil would fit on the back of a scorecard.It begins at the turn of the 20th century, when English and Scottish railway engineers convinced some Benedictine monks to set aside a parcel of land for the game on a monastery near Sao Paulo. A lot of people would argue it nearly ended there, too, soon superseded in Brazils sporting hierarchy by another wildly popular Scottish import of the era called futbol.Golf remains a niche sport here, played largely by the rich. But the hope is that the games return at these Olympics could spark a boom, not unlike the way a swashbuckling young American named Arnold Palmer convinced his countrymen to pick up a club and give golf a go in the 1960s.Whats happening here, we hope, will be like what happened in the states 60 years ago, said Nico Barcellos, who played a dozen years on Latin Americas modest pro golf circuit and Brazils Olympic golf team leader, as well as the head of the national federation. Were 60 years behind, but were working on it.To call that a daunting task, given the current state of the economy, doesnt tell the half of it.With a population of 200 million, Brazil has exactly one player, Lucas Lee, currently on the PGA Tour. Its nearly 300 times larger than North Dakota, but they have the same number of golf courses -- about 125. Despite the just-completed Olympic Golf Course on the city west side, theres no chance to close the gap soon. The country has to import everything from clubs and balls to earthmovers and riding mowers.They dont even have that staple of the 19th hole -- golf jokes.Give me a second, Barcellos chuckled. Maybe I can come up with one.But that hasnt dissuaded him from trying to grow the game. The Brazilian federation recently trained 50,000 physical education teachers as part of a Golf Para Vida (Golf for Life) campaign to familiarize schoolkids with the game and says 100 youngsters will be out on the Olympic course every day after the Rio Games end.While hed like to discover another golfer or two like current Brazilian womens team member Victoria Lovelady, both of them know it wont be easy.In my generation, your family had to be part of the game, the 29-year-old Rio de Janeiro native said. The hope is this is a big step in making golf more accessible to all.ddddddddddddHer great-grandfather was a founding member of Itanhanga, one of three courses in the Rio metropolitan area. But after playing the Orange Bowl tournament, a premier junior event in Miami, she moved in with a relative in the United States to raise the level of her game. After attending USC on a golf scholarship, and attempting to lock up a spot on the pro tour, like Barcellos, she views these Olympics as a chance to give something back.Asked what it would take to impress her countrymen, she laughed.Maybe that we can hit the ball over 200 meters, or more than two soccer fields, she paused, something Brazilian fans can relate to. And its probably the first time that many of them will see something like that.Justin Rose, one of the best-known mens golfers to actually show up, had a shorter answer to the same question.Lots of birdies, the Englishman began.A moment later, he added, But it wont hurt if one of the Brazilians gets into a close battle coming down the stretch on the final day. Competition like that always translates well.Whether the locals tune in when mens play begins Thursday is anyones guess.The course is designed like a traditional links, flat and treeless, tucked behind a highway lined with car dealerships.The grandstand alongside the 18th green is about the size of the one used for the RSM Classic on Sea Island, Georgia, a modest PGA Tour event in November that closes out the season. Looming nearby are a handful of completed and still-under-construction condominium towers that are part of the same project, a reminder that building a golf course in Brazil remains heavily dependent on the state of Brazils economy.But that isnt Barcellos only concern.PGA Tour pro K.J. Choi, who is Koreas team leader, played a round at Olympic and described it this way: Many waters ... wind very important ... good for iron play.When that description is relayed to Barcellos, he looks off in the distance.I think this course will be the biggest legacy of these games.But I worry sometimes its too hard, he said finally, and that a player will hit three slices off the first tee, lose all three balls and ask for a taxi to go home. ' ' '