The 11th-ranked team on Dabo Swinney’s Coaches Poll’s ballot turned their team to dust last night, while Ohio led Justin Fields and Trey Sermon to a 49-28 loss to the Clemson Tigers in a College Football Playoff semifinal.
With Fields clicking on all cylinders, despite having made an important shot in the second quarter and Sermon cutting the Tigers at will, the State of Ohio accumulated 639 attack yards on the way to the winner’s circle.
An explosion in the second quarter in which the Buckeyes overcame Clemson by 21-0 was all the cushion Ryan Day’s team would need to win an encounter with Alabama in the week-long national championship game starting on Monday in Miami.
Day and his team devised a masterful game plan and his players certainly arrived motivated to give Swinney a big dose of Shut The F $ #% Up.
So come on, here are the five things from a magical night in NOLA.
ON THE RIGHT TIME
After a failure in the Big Ten title game that saw him complete just 12 of 27 shots for 114 yards, a choice and zero touchdowns for the first time as a Buckeye, Fields went out smoking and never looked back against the Tigers.
Justin hit 11 of his first 12 passes for 163 yards and two scores before James Skalski of Clemson buried his helmet on Fields’ back, earning a disqualification, while sending Fields to the medical tent in significant pain.
Fields lost just one move before rolling back to the right and hitting Chris Olave for a 9-yard touchdown and a 28-14 lead with 5:12 remaining in the first half.
Despite making such an important shot, Fields completed 11 of 16 shots for four touchdowns after the game to end the night with a statline from 22 to 28 for 385 yards and a Sugar Bowl record of six touchdowns.
Two of those striking strokes after the injury came from 45 yards for Jameson Williams and 56 yards for Olave.
Coming out of poor performance in the Big Ten title game and then taking a monster shot from Skalski, Fields had one of the greatest performances of a single game by an Ohio state quarterback.
Hat tip to him for holding on and continuing to lead his team despite the pain.
TIGHT, TIGHT, TIGHT
Day got into his bag of tricks after what appeared to be a curious move against Northwestern to disorient Clemson. One way to do this was to use your tight ends in the passing game during the first decisive half.
Jeremy Ruckert pulled three receptions for 55 yards and two scores, while teammate Luke Farrell added two footprints for 11 yards and a score.
Farrell’s 8-yard drop from a Fields laser to six tied the game at 14 each at the end of the first quarter. Ruckert then went to work guaranteeing a 17-yard touchdown to make 21-14 before a 12-yard connection just before the break put the Buckeyes ahead 35-14.
The pair’s five receptions for 66 yards and three scores compared favorably to the previous six games in which they recorded 12 receptions for 86 yards and three touchdowns.
With Day wearing a ton of two tight sets, Ruckert and Farrell also stood out in the block for Sermon and receivers after the reception. Just a great overall performance from the two talented guys, though often underutilized.
FRONT SEVEN IS HIGH AGAIN
Clemson was going to do his yards with Trevor Lawrence leading the show, but the Ohio State defense did what it needed to do, especially in the first half. The unit’s effort matched perfectly with the Buckeyes’ explosive attack as the team built a 35-14 lead at halftime.
Giving up just 14 points in the first half for a team averaging 45 points per game coming up, Ohio State stopped the Tigers in third place in four out of five attempts, while forcing three 3 and-outs and a 4-and-out against the first six of Clemson half of the possessions.
Not that Clemson had a big fast attack to begin with, but Ohio State closed the ground game completely, making Tigers one-dimensional, allowing only 44 yards at 2.0 per load for the game. Tigers’ running back, Travis Etienne, averaged 3.2 yards in 10 attempts.
Pete Werner was everywhere with nine stops, Justin Hilliard recorded eight, including a tackle for defeat and Tuf Borland also scored eight tackles on the way for the defensive player of the game’s honors.
As usual, defensive tackles Haskell Garrett and Tommy Togiai (four tackles, TFL, PBU, FF) caused interruptions throughout the night.
HAVE A DAY, CHRIS OLAVE
You know the story of last year. Olave had three 50-yard receptions against the Tigers before his decision to interrupt his route led to an interception by Fields, extinguishing the Ohio State’s chance of victory.
On the way to the rematch, there was an initial concern as to whether he would be able to play due to the COVID-19 protocols. Despite losing practice time, Olave was really able to play and deliver in style, recording six receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns on eight targets.
All six catches resulted in a first down or touchdown.
His first score came on a 9-yard turn shortly after Fields returned from the injury to give Ohio State a 28-14 lead.
His second touchdown came through a 56-yard connection with Fields after Clemson reduced the Buckeye lead to 35-21 in the middle of the third quarter. On the 2nd and 10th, Olave set fire to Derion Kendrick on a post route to crown a course of 7 moves and 91 yards.
In six games, Olave has 42 catches for 660 yards and seven touchdowns, or 110 yards per game. All of these numbers are team records, despite losing the Big Ten championship game.
TREY DOESN’T PLAY
With Fields beaten and in need of a sidekick, Trey Sermon again answered the call with 31 runs for 193 yards and a touchdown.
Sermon racked up 10 runs of at least nine yards, including a 10-yard clutch in a 3rd and 9th game in Ohio’s last scoring attempt in the second quarter.
Leading 28-14 and looking for separation before the break, Sermon loaded six times for 32 yards (including that 3 and 9 tour) and picked up two 13-yard balls, giving him 45 of Ohio’s 80 yards on the march scoring.
In the last three games, Sermon has run 636 yards, which means an astonishing 212 per game, at 9.1 yards per pop.
In his first four games in Ohio, Sermon had 232 running yards, or 58 per game, in 5.2 yards per transport.
I still have a hard time understanding your emergency. What are the chances that he will have another magical night in his bag?