Ohio State is ready to match up with the national champion Clemson Tigers in the Fiesta Bowl. Here’s the scouting report on the Tigers.
Before every game, we provide a preview of Ohio State football’s opponent for the upcoming week. It was a twelve game slate to the regular season, then the Big Ten Championship game, and now the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Buckeyes are taking on the ACC Champion and defending national champion Clemson Tigers. It’ll be a daunting task, but one the Buckeyes are hopefully up to. We’re here to give you all you need to know about a Clemson team on top of the college football world right now.
So, if you want to impress your friends while watching the game, we’ve got your cheat code right here. We do the research, you drop nuggets. You win on Saturdays. It’s as simple as that.
Dabo Swinney sees a lot of similarities between the Tigers and Buckeyes.
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.
Previewing the College Football Playoff futures including National Championship best bets.
The College Football Playoff kicks off Dec. 28 with the semifinals. Top-ranked LSU Tigers (13-0) faces the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners (12-1) in the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (13-0) will battle the No. 3 Clemson Tigers (13-0) in the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Below is my best bet and rationale for who will be crowned the national champion on Jan. 13.
Get some action on this game or others by placing a bet at BetMGM!
It’s amazing how relatively under-the-radar defending champion Clemson has flown in 2019. A bonafide dynasty, the Tigers have played in four of the five College Football Playoffs, winning two titles in their three Championship Game appearances, including last year’s 28-point blistering of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence received Burrow-esque hype following Clemson’s 2018 title run, but has been largely missing from the national conversation because of a shaky start to 2019 – he threw eight interceptions in his first seven games. However, he finished strong with 20 passing touchdowns and NO interceptions and ended up with 41 total touchdowns. While LSU’s Joe Burrow is getting all the buzz heading into the CFP, make no mistake, Lawrence should be the No. 1 pick whenever he enters the NFL Draft, presumably in 2020.
Led by coach Dabo Swinney and defensive wizard Brett Venables, Clemson has the best coaching staff in the Playoff. No other coach in the CFP has a national championship appearance or title. The Tigers have been here before and the moment will not be too big for them. Despite all the defensive players drafted back in April, Clemson’s defense is still stout, allowing the least passing yards per game (138.5) in the country, and ranking ninth in rushing yards allowed (106.2 YPG).
Another random tidbit that I cannot explain but thought was worth mentioning: The No. 1 seed in the CFP has never won the national title. I don’t know if that’s because the top team is really feeling themselves during the extended break, grows complacent or the opening-round matchup against the No. 4 team isn’t difficult enough to get them ready for the title game. Whatever the case is, Clemson entering the CFP as the 3-seed only makes me feel better about my CLEMSON +200 ticket.
New to sports betting? Every $10 wagered on Clemson to win the National Championship would profit $20 if the Tigers prevail.
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What players on Clemson could make life difficult on Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl CFP Semifinal? Here are the Tigers’ five best players.
We’re less than two weeks away from the College Football Semifinal matchup in the Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson. As a Buckeye fan, we know you’ve been up at night thinking about this matchup and what to be aware of. So, we’ll be bringing you things leading up to the game, and first up is a cliff notes version of the best five players on this Tigers’ squad.
It’s not Clemson is the great unknown opponent. You don’t win a couple of national titles over the last three years and go under the radar, but still, with the schedule and lack of coverage of the ACC Champion’s year, you may not be completely up to speed on who has been the biggest playmakers for Dabo Swinney’s club.
Oklahoma seems to desperately need one of Oregon or Utah to lose before the Pac-12 Championship and then to win that conference title game if they’re going to have much of a chance at one of the four playoff spots.
No matter if your team won or lost on Saturday, it was another fall afternoon that further-proved why college football is undefeated as a whole. It has flaws like anything else but the most exciting regular season in all of sports lived up to the hype yet again with crazy performances, incredible comebacks and all-time showings of sportsmanship alike.
Come with us at Fighting Irish Wire as we take you through the ten things we loved about college football this weekend.
Lawrence caught up with the 16-year-old girl who went viral for how much they look alike.
Not too many people can play football like Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but there’s actually a handful who look like him. And that recently led to multiple doppelgängers sharing videos on TikTok highlighting just how much they look like the Tigers’ star.
He was watching a video of Bella Martina — a 16-year-old girl from Alpharetta, Georgia, The Athletic reported — imitating different photos of him while wearing a Clemson jersey and headband, just like he does. And she really nails the impression.
Well Saturday ahead of the Tigers’ game against Wake Forest, Lawrence and Bella finally met.
In a story detailing how Martina realized she looks like Lawrence all the way to her experience going viral, she told The Athletic:
“I don’t know what I would say to him (if we ever met) because I don’t know how he would react,” Martina said. “I’d be like, ‘Hi! My name is Bella. You’ve seen my TikToks. We have the same face.’ I’d be so overwhelmed. I might just squeal.”
Martina told The Athletic that a friend told her about her striking resemblance to Lawrence in their history class, adding: “Everybody was like, ‘Oh my gosh. It’s kind of scary the accuracy.’”
