For the second straight year, Ohio State and Clemson will be meeting up in the College Football Playoff. This time, they will battle at the Sugar Bowl.
How They Got Here: Ohio State
The Buckeyes have the least amount of games played in the CFB Playoff with only six. The Big Ten postponed their season and quickly reversed course when Sir Yacht told them to.
After escaping Indiana with a 42-35 win, they had their games against Maryland and Illinois cancelled due to COVID. Needing only one more game to be eligible for the Big Ten Championship game (per Big Ten rules) after their 52-10 win against Michigan State, they had their last game against Michigan cancelled due to an outbreak in Michigan’s program.
However, the Big Ten quickly realised that Ohio State pays the bills and they couldn’t afford Ohio State potentially missing the playoffs. The rule was changed and they were able to escape a scare against Northwestern in the Big Ten title game. In the end, the committee showed all year that the number of games that Ohio State played did not matter, and they were in with a 6-0 record.
How They Got Here: Clemson
For the first time since Clemson became a powerhouse in College Football, they had some competition in the ACC. With Notre Dame needing a conference to play in for this season, they jumped to the ACC because of their basketball tie-ins with the conference (I still believe they are running from their destiny of joining the Big Ten.)
After a 47-40 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend (without Trevor Lawrence) the urgency to win out was present and it all but settled a rematch in the ACC Championship down the road.
After throttling on some bad teams to end the season, they got their rematch against the team that beat them earlier in the year in the ACC Championship game. With a healthy roster, Clemson was able to whoop Notre Dame 34-10 to cement themselves as one of the four best teams in the country.
Gambling: Clemson (-7) O/U:66.5
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Prediction
Ohio State is averaging over seven yards per play and 42.5 PPG. Even with those impressive numbers, they haven’t been able to find a groove all season. We can chalk this up to COVID constantly interrupting their season but they will need to find that groove against Clemson. A big part of that is which Justin Fields are we going to get this game. He had five interceptions this year, which is one more than he has had in his entire career. If Fields can protect the ball and continue to complete passes at a high clip (72% on the season) Ohio State should be able to get away with a somewhat ho-hum rushing attack against a defense that is only allowing 17.5 points per game.
If Clemson just plays their game, they should be able to handle Ohio State. There are some big concerns with this Ohio State secondary and with the way Lawrence and Travis Etienne are clicking, it could be a long night for the Buckeyes.
Final Prediction: Clemson 42-31