Sugar Bowl Recap: How The Buckeyes Tamed The Tigers
In a rematch of the 2019 College Football Playoff semifinal, Ohio State dominated Clemson en route to a 49 – 28 win and punched their ticket to the National Championship Game. Much like last year Ohio State outplayed Clemson, but unlike last year, the Buckeyes finished their drives with touchdowns and did not allow the big plays that cost them a year ago.
The game was physical and took a toll on both teams. Despite the physical nature of the game it was clear that Ohio State outplayed Clemson at every position. The 2nd quarter ended up being the deciding quarter as the Buckeyes outscored the TIgers 21 – 0 and outgained them 229 yards to 34. The dominance in the second quarter allowed the Buckeyes to milk the clock in the second half and salt the game away. This was a team win, but the success began with the most important player on the field for the Buckeyes.
Justin Fields
The Ohio State quarterback was coming off the worst performance of his Ohio State career against Northwestern. For the first time in his Ohio State career there were questions about how he would perform. The questions ranged from his health due to a wrist injury to whether he could effectively read the defense and find open receivers other than Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. The star quarterback came up big for the Buckeyes, answering every question his critics raised emphatically. He was smart with the football, threw the ball accurately and excelled in every way a quarterback can to lead his team to victory.
Fields stretched the field with big plays to his receivers. Ohio State’s receivers were a mismatch downfield against the Clemson secondary and Fields was able to hit them with accurate passes downfield repeatedly. Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Jameson Williams all got behind the Clemson defense to make big plays for the Buckeyes. Fields was incredibly accurate with his deep throws, showing the arm strength and touch to punish the secondary repeatedly. Olave caught 6 passes for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns and Wilson chipped in 52 receiving yards of his own. Jameson Williams hasn’t seen many targets this year, but Fields also hit him with 3 passes for 62 yards and another touchdown. Fields completed multiple passes to four different wide receivers in this game, going through his progressions and finding the open receiver repeatedly.
The receivers were not the only beneficiary of Fields’ excellent performance. Ohio State fans have clamored for the team to use the tight ends in the passing game for years. On Friday night, Fields did an excellent job of finding mismatches with his tight ends and getting the ball to Jeremy Ruckert and Luke Farrell. Three of Fields’ six touchdown passes came on passes to the tight ends. Jeremy Ruckert made 3 catches for 55 yards with 2 touchdowns and Luke Farrell added 2 catches for 11 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown to Farrell came on a play where he was well covered by a corner, but Fields threw an absolute laser right by the defender and Farrell was able to use his frame to fight off the defender and make the catch.
All throughout the game, Fields did a good job of going through his progressions and finding the open receiver. When there was no open receiver he was patient and checked down to his running back as a safety valve. Trey Sermon was open in the flat repeatedly and made 4 catches for 61 yards. Fields seemed to be trying to make too many big plays in the past, but he took what the defense gave him against Clemson and even these check downs led to big plays for the Ohio State offense.
Though he is an excellent passer, his throwing ability is just one way Fields can hurt the defense. For a quarter and a half he showed the explosive running ability that makes him so dangerous even when the defense does everything right. Fields ran for 42 yards and it could have been a lot more, but he took a big hit to the ribs in the second quarter that definitely hampered him the rest of the game. Fields did not run much after the hit and was visibly in pain the rest of the game.
The most impressive part of Fields’ game on Friday night was his toughness. He was in obvious pain after that second quarter injury, but missed just one play. He immediately came in and threw a touchdown to Chris Olave before limping off the field again. Fields threw four of his six touchdowns after the injury, including two bombs to Olave and Williams. It must have been very painful to generate the torque on these downfield throws with the injury to his side, but Fields not only “warriored” on, he made big plays that helped his team pull away for the big win.
For the game Fields completed 22 of 28 passes for 385 yards and 6 touchdowns with just 1 interception. He added 42 rushing yards on 8 carries and orchestrated a dominant performance by the Ohio State offense. Fields threw as many touchdowns as he had incomplete passes in the game. Even his one “mistake” on the interception was tipped as he threw the ball, leading to the interception. Ohio State has a long and illustrious history, but Justin Fields has cemented his place as the best quarterback in the program’s rich history.
The Defensive Line Dominates
Ohio State’s defense line had several stars they needed to replace this year. Star defensive end, Chase Young, was the second pick in the draft but he was not the only departure up front. Ohio State also lost defensive tackles DaVon Hamilton (3rd round pick), Jashon Cornell (7th round pick) and BB Landers who was not drafted but was a big contributor for the Buckeyes a year ago. In addition to the losses from last year’s unit Ohio State was without defensive ends Zach Harrison, who leads the team with 4.5 tackles for loss and Tyler Friday who is also a key player in the defensive end rotation. As he seems to do every year, Larry Johnson had his defensive line ready for the big game and they delivered a huge performance.
The strong play started on the inside, where defensive tackles Haskell Garrett and Tommy Togiai did an excellent job of collapsing the interior of the Clemson offensive line and getting pressure on Trevor Lawrence while practically eliminating inside runs for Clemson. The Buckeyes gave up almost nothing up the middle and forced Clemson to the perimeter all night. As the game wore on, the Buckeyes rotation of defensive tackles continued to get pressure up the middle and not allow Trevor Lawrence to step up in the pocket to deliver the ball.
On the edge, Jonathan Cooper and Tyreke Smith were excellent containing the edge on quarterback runs and were able to get steady pressure as the game wore on. In the second half, Cooper and Smith were all over Trevor Lawrence, pestering the Clemson quarterback relentlessly and hitting him several times. Baron Browning shifted from linebacker to defensive end at times and also was effective pressuring the Clemson quarterback. Fittingly, the game effectively ended on a play where Browning and Smith pressured Lawrence and he lobbed the ball into the endzone hastily. The Buckeyes were able to tip the ball away from the receiver and make the game sealing interception.
The defensive line set the tone for the Ohio State defense and forced Clemson to be one dimensional. The Tigers had very little success running the ball, totaling just 44 rushing yards on 22 carries. Travis Etienne was completely ineffective as a runner and almost never got a chance to build up speed and get going. He finished the game with just 10 carries for 32 yards.
Trevor Lawrence threw for 400 yards in this game, but he was pressured and hit all game. He missed open receivers at times because of the pressure and was unable to connect on the big plays Clemson has become accustomed to. In the second half, it felt like Lawrence was on the ground every other play, he spent as much time staring at the ceiling of the Super Dome as he did scanning the Ohio State secondary. The pressure and hits took a toll and Lawrence threw an interception and fumbled twice, losing one of the fumbles.
Ohio State’s defensive line dictated to the Clemson offense and their performance was critical in the Ohio State win. In this day and age of college football it’s impossible to shutdown a good offense, but Ohio State was able to slowdown Clemson enough, thanks in large part to their defensive line.
Others Who Shined
Trey Sermon didn’t break records against Clemson like he did against Northwestern but the star running back shined again this week. He carried the ball 31 times for 193 yards with a touchdown and also caught 4 passes for 61 yards. Sermon picked up key first downs repeatedly, running with vision and attitude. Most importantly, when Justin Fields got hurt and needed time to get back in a groove, Sermon was a steady force for the Buckeyes picking up chunks of yardage and keeping the offense on schedule. The Oklahoma transfer has been a huge pickup for the Buckeyes in 2020 and his play was crucial to Ohio State’s success against Clemson.
Another player that carried over his strong play from the Big Ten Championship Game was Justin Hilliard. The sixth year senior was a heat seeking missile again this week, delivering big hits and making plays all over the field. Hilliard made 8 tackles with 1 for a loss and recovered a Trevor Lawrence fumble for the Buckeyes. Hilliard was around the football all night, he is making the most of his opportunities and is playing like a player who is hungry to make up for lost time. His strong play has been a big part of the defenses strong play the last two games.
True freshman Lathan Ransom was pressed into duty because of injuries and performance issues in the Ohio State secondary. Ransom may be short on experience but is clearly on his way to being a big time player for the Buckeyes. His impact wasn’t as noticeable in the box score, but #12 was very noticeable on the field Friday night. He was involved in the interception that closed the door on any chance of a Clemson comeback, as he was in good coverage and got his hand on the ball to help the Buckeyes knock the ball away from the receiver. He also made a big tackle on a screen pass that seemed destined for a big gain, but instead was a minimal gain. Most importantly Ransom was never noticed for being out of position or beaten in coverage.
Ohio State had been 0 for 4 against Clemson before last night, but they were able to breakthrough against the Tigers in convincing fashion. The Buckeyes will be in for a big test against Alabama in the National Championship Game but one this has become clear after Friday night, the two best teams in the country are going to play for the title on January 11th.
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