Clemson Football: 5 areas of concern vs. Ohio State Buckeyes

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – DECEMBER 07: Justin Fields #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes runs with the ball in the BIG Ten Football Championship Game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 07, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

3. Slowing down Justin Fields, OSU running game

Ohio State is going to run J.K. Dobbins. The more concerning factor when looking at Ohio State’s offense, though, is the play-making ability of Justin Fields.

Bryce Perkins did an excellent job against the Tigers’ defense in the ACC Championship. Perkins tucked the ball and ran, taking advantage of linebackers that were out of position. He also had a couple of deep passes that were perfectly placed with safeties out of position, in particular Tanner Muse.

In many ways, Fields is Bryce Perkins, but with a better arm and perhaps not quite as much pure-speed. Either way, you can fully expect that Fields is going to take off and run and he’s going to try and have a similar night to Perkins- without the interceptions.

Fields isn’t the type of quarterback that’s going to make mistakes. He doesn’t throw the ball into tight coverage. He’s not going to trust his arm to just make the throws. Instead, he’s going to scramble, allow plays to open up and scan the field for the open man.

Clemson has to find a way to slow down that Ohio State offense- particularly the rushing attack- and make Fields put the ball in tight windows.

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