It felt like the Ohio State Buckeyes dominated the Clemson Tigers, yet they will enter halftime only leading by two points thanks to a late surge by the ACC Champions.
It isn’t enough to say the first half of the Fiesta Bowl was entertaining. Going up 16-0 to start the half, Ohio State allowed a few huge plays in which it almost lost the lead to end the half.
However, the biggest play of the first half may not have been a scoring play after all, but a judgement call by the officiating crew.
It was Shaun Wade’s ejection for targeting that turned the tide. It was questionable at best as both Chase Young and Wade collapsed on the Clemson quarterback. Trevor Lawrence went down and stayed down in agony, but lowered his head as Wade came in on the tackle.
The first half was ignited by 60-plus yard runs from both Trevor Lawrence and J.K. Dobbins. With Dobbins totaling 142 yards on nine carries, the junior was almost able to take two more to the house yet failed to secure two catches that could have made the gap even larger.
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Halfway through the fight ‼️#GoBucks #ToughLove pic.twitter.com/pg93TXY29G
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 29, 2019
Overall, the first half was a thriller, yet for Ohio State, it was brutal ending as they almost put the game away. The Tigers clawed back in the game and now we’re sure to have a tight second half.
Time to fight through the adversity.
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