Clemson football has broken Ohio State
Every person has a breaking point in life and apparently Clemson football pushed Ohio State head coach Ryan Day to his breaking point just 14 games into his career.
After Clemson beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl back on December 28th, the crying and excuse-making from those that represent the scarlet and gray has been non-stop, especially from coach Ryan Day. Every opportunity he has to talk about the officiating in that game and blame that loss on everyone but himself or his players, he takes full advantage of.
Whether it be local radio shows, national radio shows or at basketball games, Ryan Day talks about losing to Clemson every chance he gets.
Part of sports, in general, is learning to play through adversity. Not every call goes your way nor does every play.
The national championship game against LSU is a prime example and one that Coach Day and Ohio State faithful can learn from. There were several bad calls and missed calls that could have changed that game for Clemson, yet, not one Clemson coach, player or fan has cried as much as Day has.
Imagine being a “blue blood” of college football and being completely broken a month after the game. Reports coming out this week are that quarterback Justin Fields is “completely different than he was a year ago because of the loss to Clemson”.
Not sure what Fields was a year ago, but against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl, he was an average quarterback at best. He threw two interceptions and Clemson had three more that were dropped, he looked indecisive at times and made bad reads with his RPO’s.
Ohio State has already added a sign to their weight room with the final 29-23 score and seems to be focusing all of their offseason efforts on Clemson. The oddity is they may never play Clemson again.
This is where Clemson is different than most other programs in the country. Playing to a standard is a culture that has been established and is passed down to every player that comes through this program. At no point do you hear coaches or players talking about teams but rather what Clemson can do differently to be better prepared.
If you need more proof than five straight ACC titles, five straight playoff appearances, and two national championships, simply look at each of the last three senior classes. Each class has set the school record for wins. Why? Because unlike Ryan Day and Ohio State, they focus on getting better and not how they were wronged because the game turned out differently than they believe it should have.
Clemson has broken Ohio State and not simply because of this one game. As radio voice of the Tigers put it – “Clemson gave Woody Hayes his last loss, Urban Meyer his worst loss and Ryan Day his first loss” and the Buckeye nation is unable to come to the reality that they aren’t on Clemson’s level and never will be.