Why Ohio State Will Win The Sugar Bowl
– Ohio State has never been right. It wasn’t all that great to start the season against Nebraska – even in a 52-17 blowout – and it was hardly the machine of 2019 that looked national championship-good. There was a reason, though.
It was supposed to be a bit of a rebuilding year in some ways, but it’s Ohio State – it reloaded with talent. The problem was the talent wasn’t always able to get on the field.
The offensive line was missing four starters against Michigan State, the team was missing way too many players in the Big Ten Championship against Northwestern, and it was a constant battle to get everyone the field and going. Now we should finally see just how good this Buckeye team can be.
– Even with all of the issues and personnel concerns, Justin Fields is still a special quarterback who’ll be an NFL franchise-maker next year at this time, the defense still has enough talent to be a rock against the run, and the running game showed off what it could do as the season wore on.
Fields can run, but it was Trey Sermon who blasted away for 331 yards and two scores on a nasty Northwestern run defense, the team came up with over 300 yards on the ground in each of the last three games, and it could be more of the same as long as the offensive line is in humming.
The Clemson run defense has been a rock all year except for one game – Notre Dame barreled for 208 yards and three scores in the win in South Bend.
– It’s an easy talking point that this isn’t the 2019 Ohio State team, but it’s not the 2019 Clemson team running out there, either. The Tigers are still a machine, and they’re still obviously outstanding, but this isn’t the unstoppable offensive juggernaut that came up with 550 yards of total offense getting off the bus last season.
The running game picked up over the last few games, but it’s been just okay – at least by Clemson’s standards – throughout the season. The secondary that only allowed over 200 yards once over the first 11 games last year and just four times over the entire campaign has been hit for two bills seven times including each of the last five games.
The Ohio State offense will work.
– Why Clemson Will Win The Sugar Bowl
– What’s Going to Happen, Prediction, History