Clemson Football: Tiger offensive line needs its best game vs. OSU
The Clemson football offensive line has been one of the top units in the nation, but it will need an extra effort Saturday night against Ohio State.
The Clemson football team will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the CFB Playoff semifinals Saturday night in the Playstation Fiesta Bowl.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. E.T. with Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (color), Maria Taylor (sideline) and Tom Rinaldi (sideline) on the call.
Thousands of Clemson football fans made the trek to Glendale, Arizona and they’re expecting to see a win when the Tigers take on the Buckeyes.
For that to happen, though, it’s all going to have to start up-front, in particularly with the offensive line for Clemson football.
More so than any game this season, the Tigers need the offensive line to step up in a big way.
The Ohio State defensive front is potentially the best in the nation and the Buckeyes love to bring pressure from that second level of linebackers to rush the quarterback and stop the run before it ever gets going.
Not only do the Buckeyes possess a very talented unit, they have the single-best pass-rusher in the nation in DE Chase Young.
Young will line up on both sides of the line at times, which means that he’ll challenge both LT Jackson Carman and RT Tremayne Anchrum. Look for him to really attack Carman on obvious passing downs (3rd down and moderate).
The offensive line for Clemson football has been pretty consistent, for the most part, all season. The Tigers have looked good and they’ve done a really good job, especially opening up holes for the running game.
However, they have struggled in pass-protection at times and have even had times where they didn’t get a good push out of their stance. You can look back at film and see that the offensive line- especially in games against Texas A&M, UVA, Louisville and UNC- actually struggled early on and then progressively wore down the defensive fronts and took control in the second half.
The unit won’t have the luxury of ‘feeling it out’ in this one.
The offensive line for Clemson football needs to have its best game of the season Saturday night in the Fiesta Bowl. They’ve risen to the occasion in the past and they need to do it again here. Ohio State is an extremely talented bunch, but this Tiger unit has the manpower to match up with them one-by-one.
The key will be picking up blitzers and not allowing Chase Young to run free.
Next. Clemson vs. Ohio State: 3 Keys to A Victory. dark
If Clemson football fans want to see where the game is won and lost Saturday night, they don’t necessarily need to look at the quarterbacks, skill position players or special teams. They need to look in the trenches where a battle for supremacy will take place each and every play.