It is almost as if the post-season clashes between No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State were becoming a standard college football tradition that rivals the bowl games themselves. Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl will be the fifth time these two programs have met, and all five will have taken place in bowl games.
The first came back in 1978 at the Gator Bowl, when the Tigers beat the Buckeyes 17-15. It would take 36 years before they met again when they faced each other at the 2014 Orange Bowl, but this year’s game will mark their fourth meeting in the past seven years and the third time in a College Football Playoff game. Of course, although the stakes have changed, the results have been the same.
Clemson has won all four games so far, including a 31-0 loss at the 2016 Fiesta Bowl. That win propelled the Tigers to their first national title. Last year’s Fiesta Bowl meeting was much closer with Clemson winning 29-23. Will moving from the desert to the bayou do the Buckeyes good or will Clemson continue to dominate the series?
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Games: Sugar Bowl – College Football Playoff semifinal
Meeting: Friday, January 1 | Time: 8 pm ET
Location: Mercedes-Benz Superdome – New Orleans, Louisiana
TV: ESPN | Live broadcast: fuboTV (try for free)
Storylines
Clemson: The Clemson program has reached a point where you almost feel like you can skip it during the regular season because you know you’re going to win ACC and make it to the College Football Playoff. Well, there was a little bit of doubt this year due to Notre Dame’s presence at the conference, but even when the Fighting Irish beat Clemson 47-40, you still thought they would have to do it a second time. That meeting was much better for the Tigers, who beat the Irish by 34-10, with Trevor Lawrence back in the center. Now they are back in the playoff for the sixth time (tied with Alabama in most games) in their seven-year history and are looking to win their seventh playoff game. That would put the Tigers in the title game for the fifth time.
Ohio State: It was a strange season for the state of Ohio, even by the strange standards of college football in 2020 as a whole. First, the Buckeyes had their season postponed by the Big Ten, only for the conference to make a 180 in the decision. Then, after a hot start, the Buckeyes’ season was postponed again when their game against Maryland was canceled due to COVID-19’s concerns about the Terrapins. They came back and fought one of Indiana’s top 10 teams, but they won. The following week, the game against Illinois was canceled because of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Buckeyes. Once again, they returned for a game – a 52-12 break in Michigan – before the end of the regular season against Michigan was canceled due to COVID-19. It was a season of stops and starts that made it difficult for the Buckeyes to get into the rhythm. Now they enter the playoff with just six games and face a Clemson team that is being a pain in the ass.
Sugar Bowl forecast, choose
Most recent odds:
Clemson Tigers -7.5
I don’t know why Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has been so willing to provide Ohio State with billboard material in recent weeks, but he is not afraid of that. Swinney is adamant about his belief that the state of Ohio should not have been selected for the College Football Playoff because it played only six games. Well, we all know that if it were Clemson that was limited to just six games, Swinney wouldn’t be arguing that his team didn’t belong. Still, it doesn’t mean he is wrong. It is advantageous for the Buckeyes to have to play only six games, but I don’t think it is a sufficient advantage that they win this game. When Clemson has Lawrence, it looks like the steamroller we all expected it to be. Ohio looked great in its first three games, but it has been inconsistent ever since, with Justin Fields especially struggling to find his confidence. Unless Fields returns to his elite form, it is difficult to imagine the Buckeyes keeping this game within a touchdown. Choose: Clemson -7.5 | Clemson 31, Ohio 21