NEW ORLEANS – Ohio State’s inevitable victory over Clemson at the Sugar Bowl on Friday 49-28 will rekindle the debate over the Buckeyes’ inclusion in school playoffs after betting six regular-season games.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, whose team played on Friday, fueled controversy by sounding the playoff credentials of a team that faced a lighter schedule than playoff contenders, reinforcing that position by calling the Buckeyes No. 11 in his penultimate Amway. Coaches poll.
“No, I don’t do any of this, ” said Swinney. ” Polls have nothing to do with motivation. This has nothing to do with the state of Ohio. I said they were smart enough to beat us. The only thing”Clearly I didn’t do a smart enough task to prepare my team, but I have nothing about it. “
Instead of indicating genuine merit for a quiet normal season, the result simply revealed OSU as the most productive team, and whether the Sugar Bowl is an indication of a worthy challenger to convince Alabama in the national championship game.
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Amid questions about the Buckeyes’ ability to convert a transfer and the expected top team as a shorter season approaches, OSU provided a blunt answer that erases more than the bitter taste of last year’s painful Fiesta Bowl defeat to the Tigers.
“When you get this far in the season, so many games, everything motivates you,” ohio State final Jeremy Ruckert said. “We heard everything he said. We use it as motivation. But now we have a chance to move on,” and that’s enough motivation. “
From Clemson’s perspective, the 21-point loss was a significant setback given the Tigers’ appearance since the November loss to Notre Dame and the reaction that will result from Swinney’s comments and rankings.
For Swinney, the first evidence of these consequences came right after the final whistle: Ohio State superdome enthusiasts serenaded Clemson out of the box with chants from “Dabo, Dabo, Dabo. “
The inability to beat the Buckeyes and at least advance to the championship game also represents a painful missed opportunity for Clemson, who will now reboot without Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, runner Travis Etienne and several of the show’s key figures in good fortune in the beyond 3. Stations.
“We were looking to finish in Miami,” the championship game, “with a win and go out at sunset. But it wasn’t the intention,” Swinney said.
The two-time elite quarterback game won through Justin Fields, ohio State junior, who completed 22 of 28 pitches for 385 yards and six scores opposed to an interception, and added another 42 yards on the ground.
With his right thumb bandaged, Fields performed brilliant functionality opposed to a defense that had allowed only two quarterbacks in the last four seasons to throw more than three hundred yards and several touchdowns.
At the decisive moment of the game, Fields briefly left through a violent blow through Clemson’s senior supporter, James Skalski, who ejected to aim, then returned a play later to launch a landing pass to open receiver Chris Olave.
After Lawrence ran to score in the first practice of the game, Clemson struggled to stay in the opposite pace to an Ohio State defenseman who was in the back of the Big Ten normal season in allowed yards consistent with the game. yards per pass and two touchdowns at the time of the loss of their school career, either in New Orleans.
Rather than setting the tone, the early landing negated the Tigers ‘struggles to set up extended workouts to combat the Buckeyes’ explosiveness. Four of Clemson’s next five drives lasted 4 games or less, while OSU collected five drives from consecutive landing to end the first half. the last 3 cover at least nine games.
Lawrence’s strangely disjointed game and Clemson’s attack compensated for the general collapse of Clemson’s defense and a series of decisions through Swinney’s conservative coaches who seemed unaware of how OSU had gained momentum.
With the score tied at 14 in the first practice room of the moment, Swinney opted for a quarter-and-two clearing on Clemson’s 43-yard line. With just over 3 minutes to play in the role and OSU up 28-14, Clemson opted to throw back in similar circumstances: facing the fourth and third in the same position on the field. The Buckeyes would score landing with 16 moments to play.
In the case of the particular clearing moment, Swinney’s resolution indicates an inability to measure the course of a game that was becoming an eruption in the state of Ohio.
Put a mixer through the Fields mix and the offensive trey sermon, who continued his record show against Northwestern in the Big Ten championship game with 193 yards on the court and a touchdown, Clemson’s defense has now cracked on the show. two playoff games.
“We may have only used a few additional stops, of course,” Lawrence said. “When we kick and score a room, it can temporarily get out of control. In games like this, you have to play well all the time. and we didn’t do that tonight. “
In fact, the Tigers looked worse opposed to OSU than in last year’s loss to LSU, when the defensive ceded 628 yards and allowed Joe Burrow to throw touchdowns. The Buckeyes led 35-14 at half-time, Clemson’s first time facing a 21-point deficit at half-time since the 2012 Orange Bowl against West Virginia, and ended up with 639 yards on offense for 8. 9 yards consistent with the game.
So far, one of the Buckeyes’ seven landing practices was at least 75 yards. The Buckeyes averaged 6. 3 yards consistent with the race after adjusting the catches and ran 265 yards in total, the maximum Clemson had allowed in a game since 2016. his first possession, then returns until his final practice of the third quarter.
“Defensively, we were out of rhythm,” Swinney said. ” Again, five touchdowns in a row and we weren’t going to respond the way we’re looking offensively. They just put us in a hole. And games like this, that’s not the position we should be in. “
Following last season’s 42-25 loss to LSU, the defeat traverses the inevitability of the most recent iteration of the conference rivalry with Alabama and alters the Tigers’ status position as the only program worth comparing. Tide.
Reaching the playoffs has a birthright for Clemson, who, after years of disappointing results, broke in 2015 and has since won two national championships, played for two more and earned a spot in school football history.
Ohio State did something that no team, not even LSU, had done at Clemson during the playoff period: to make the Tigers not only disappointing, but also not to be prepared for the sport’s most important stage.
“We had wonderful preparation, a wonderful concentration, ” said Swinney. “But we don’t play well. We’ve never been there to give a new impetus. We’ve been very inconsistent and haven’t done some of the top fundamental things you want” to do to win games like this. “
Follow USA TODAY journalist Paul Myerberg on Twitter @PaulMyerberg