3 reasons Ohio State will get revenge against Clemson

The Ohio State Buckeyes have arrived at the College Football Playoff semifinal to face the Clemson Tigers.

The rematch finally approaches as the Buckeyes have waited nearly an entire year to avenge a loss that has not sit well with the organization. The controversial aspects of the game ended up being lost in what ultimately resulted in a loss for the Buckeyes which was a late miscue. In reality, the Buckeyes would not have been in a situation to come from behind late if they had a few off calls go their way and didn’t suffer from multiple injuries and missing players.

It’s no secret the Buckeyes ended up sealing their fate via Justin Fields and Chris Olave not being on the same page on a very rare occasion. The duo had been in sync on seemingly every other play in the season other than that fatal finale which only added further to the tragedy. The Buckeyes had already been playing through adversity with Fields and running back J.K. Dobbins hobbled by injury throughout the contest.

The Buckeyes were also without playmaking safety and now one of the best players on the Buckeyes’ roster in Shaun Wade for the final parts of the game. Wade blitzed Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence leading to a sack in which the referees had determined the hit to be targeting. Lawrence ducked his helmet into Wade to brace for the hit which caused a helmet-to-helmet impact. Wade was ejected from the game. The Buckeyes were leading 16-0 in the second quarter at that point.

That was a third-down play in which the sack would have forced the Tigers to punt giving the Buckeyes a chance to extend the lead. Instead, the Tigers were given 15 yards and a first-down into Buckeye territory which led to their first touchdown and then another touchdown in the following drive. The loss of a key defensive player combined with that penalty coming in a key juncture of the game had a major impact on the final result.

The next controversial play that severely impacted the game was toward the end of the third quarter when Lawrence’s pass was completed to a Tigers receiver who fumbled the ball then the Buckeyes scooped and scored. The play was reviewed and determined to be an incomplete pass even though the receiver made a football move after the catch to maintain possession. The scoop and score from the turnover would have given the Buckeyes a lead going into the latter part of the game but that was denied.

People tend to forget aspects of the 2019 Buckeyes when reflecting on the season from today’s point of view. Everyone will only focus on Fields’ late interception rather than the aspects that led up to that moment. Fields was suffering through a nagging knee injury throughout the season and had noted his knee was about 80 percent strength going into the Clemson match up. Dobbins was also heavily hampered during the Clemson game as he suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter.

It was unclear at the moment if Dobbins was going to return after halftime after being injured but he decided to play through it. Dobbins had been torching the Tigers in the run game prior to his injury as he opened the game with a 68 yard touchdown run on the first play of the second drive. Even through injuries and ejections, the Buckeyes nearly pulled off the win.

Mentioning those aspects of the game that impacted the result is in no means a way to sulk about what could have been but more so to give perspective. Even in a half perfect world, the Buckeyes would have had a great chance to edge out a victory but too many chance opportunities tilted the wrong direction. The Buckeyes will come into this game with all their pieces intact even with possible external obstacles considered which should give them an even better shot at coming away with the win.

Surprisingly enough, this will be the Buckeyes’ first time making the College Football Playoff in consecutive seasons. Since winning the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship in 2014, the Buckeyes have put at least one year but no more than two years between playoff appearances. The Buckeyes have sat near the surface and occupied a top four ranking in the majority of each season but have been on the outside looking in on several occasions. The Buckeyes will look to make things right as they seek revenge against the Clemson Tigers.