Ohio State vs. Clemson: Campus Lore breaks down the defenses in the Fiesta Bowl

Campus Lore analyst Aaron Murray takes a look at whether Ohio State or Clemson has the defensive edge in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl.

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We are now inside of a week before the big College Football Playoff semifinal between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. There’s so many storylines and angles on this matchup, but one that will play a critical role obviously is how each defense fares.

Both are a top five unit, and both have the ability to make game-changing momentum plays. It might be via the turnover, sack, tackle for loss, or a big third down stop. Either way, the team that can stymie the explosive offense on the other side has the best chance to dictate pace of the game and move on to New Orleans.

Former Georgia quarterback and Campus Lore analyst Aaron Murray took some time to break down both defenses, and if you’re an Ohio State fan, you might be happy to listen to what he has to say.

When asked about which defense he’s leaning towards, Murray first sounded hesitant.

“I really don’t know,” said Murray. “I mean you look at these defenses, and they’re both very talented. Obviously we know about Chase Young on the outside — he’s an absolute terror over there. And Clemson, they’re really good defensively. They lost a ton of guys to the NFL last year, but they just find a way to reload on that side of the football.”

But then Murray seemed to hone in on an advantage for the Buckeye defense.

“But when you look at both defenses, you look at both teams overall, who has Clemson faced,” Murray said. “I mean they played great defense and we can say this is an elite team on both sides, and an elite defense based on what we’ve seen, but what offense have they gone against where you can say ‘look, they stopped that elite offense, or they stopped that offense.’ There is no one on their schedule that probably really should have been close to beating them. And no one really was besides North Carolina in that one scary game early in the season.”

Then Murray shifted to Ohio State.

“Ohio State is tested,” said Murray. “They’ve played great defenses — they’ve played great offenses. They’ve played teams that run the ball like Wisconsin. They’ve played teams that want to throw the football. I mean, they have done it all. I think that gives Ohio State a little bit more confidence headed into this game both offensively and defensively.”

Well, we’re soon to find out when these two go at it in the desert night on Saturday.