As the No. 3 Clemson Tigers prepare to take on the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Playstation Fiesta Bowl next weekend, Dabo Swinney’s biggest observation about his next opponent is a fairly obvious one: “A complete team in every sense of the word,” he told ESPN’s Marty Smith.
All season, the Buckeyes have been at or very near the top of the country in both total offense and total defense, and their leaders on both sides of the ball, quarterback Justin Fields and defensive end Chase Young, were both 2019 Heisman Trophy finalists. They’ve dominated just about every opponent so far this season, and it wasn’t a question of if they’d make the playoff but whether or not they’d be the top seed. (LSU is and will face No. 4 Oklahoma.)
But the only other team that consistently ranked among the top five on both sides of the ball was Clemson. A week out, the Tigers are slight 2.5-point favorites.
“There’s just no weaknesses,” Swinney told Smith about Ohio State (just after the 22-minute mark in the video below).
“I mean, they’re really good. They’re a mirror image of us, to be quite honest with you. If you look at us statistically, we’re [No.] 1 in this, they’re [No.] 2 in this. We’re [No.] 2 in this, they’re [No.] 1 in this. We’re [No.] 3 in this, they’re [No.] 2. I mean, we’re literally mirror images of each other.
“So I really wasn’t surprised to see that statistical analysis, but when you watch the tape, they’re a complete football team just like we are. We’re one of the few teams out there top five in the country [in] total offense and total defense, and so are they. They’re just good.”
Going into the playoff semifinal, the Tigers are ranked No. 3 nationally in total offense (547.7 yards per game) behind LSU and Oklahoma, while the Buckeyes are No. 5 (531.0 yards per game). Tigers’ Trevor Lawrence and Buckeyes’ Justin Fields are two of the best quarterbacks in the game, and the same goes for running backs Travis Etienne and J.K. Dobbins.
When asked what comes to mind about Young, who leads the nation with 16.5 sacks this season (after missing two games), Swinney said:
“Speed, just a monster off the edge, man. He’s a fast, twitchy dude that can get to the quarterback.”
However, Lawrence is behind an offensive line that has limited his number of sacks to 12 so far this season, and although he has eight interceptions this season, he hasn’t thrown one since mid-October. But his counterpart, Fields, has thrown just one.
On the other side, Clemson is No. 1 in total defense (244.7 yards per game), and Ohio State is No. 2 (247.6 yards per game). They’re also both among the top-5 teams in scoring offense and scoring defense, defensive yards per play and first downs. On offense, Clemson is No. 4 with 7.51 yards per play, while Ohio State is No. 7 with 7.02.
Swinney continued to explain what he sees in Ohio State:
“Defensive line, strong. Linebackers, good players, elite players in the secondary that can all run and cover, just like we got. Flip it over to the offensive side: Elite quarterback, elite running back, elite wideouts, elite offensive line. So it’s literally a mirror image of each other. You’re just in different uniforms.
“So it’s gonna be fun, man, just like practice. It’s like what we practice against every day. You know, when we go out there live good-on-good, I mean, that’s the best way you can prepare for a game like this because that’s the level of talent that you’re getting ready to play. … There’s gonna be some fun matchups, but I don’t really see a weakness really anywhere.”
The Fiesta Bowl is the second semifinal Saturday, December 28. LSU and Oklahoma play in the Peach Bowl at 4 p.m. ET, and then Clemson and Ohio State face off at 8 p.m. ET.
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