Clemson football film room: Breaking down Ohio State Buckeyes

Film Analysis: Clemson football set to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes

The Clemson football team will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Sugar Bowl for a chance at advancing to the National Championship.

The Tigers are considered about a touchdown favorite heading into the matchup, but there are plenty of experts who believe the motivation of the Buckeyes will be the difference in the outcome.

Though there is not a lot of film to go on (OSU has only played six games), we went and watched back some replays of their games from this season and here is what we found in the ‘Clemson football film room.’

Assessing the Ohio State offense & defense against Clemson football

Ohio State offense

First of all, Ohio State has more playmakers on the outside and at skill positions than any other team Clemson has faced this year. The combination of Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave is probably the best WR duo in the country.

Justin Fields, Trey Sermon and Master Teague aren’t a bad backfield combination, either.

The thing we’ve seen from defensive teams that have had success against Ohio State is the ability to rush the passer. You’ve got to get into the backfield and put pressure on Fields. OSU was held to just 22 points against Northwestern, but what we saw the Wildcats was simple: They had three sacks and forced two interceptions.

If you can put pressure on Fields, he tends to make some mistakes. If not, he can hurt you with his arm.

The other thing that Clemson football fans need to know about Fields is that he is a shifty runner. That OSU rushing attack is scary. Sermon is the explosive back who can break off a touchdown any time he touches it. Teague is more of a ‘power back’ and Fields runs the RPO just as good as anyone in the game not named Trevor Lawrence.

This offense has a ton of weapons, but to stop them it all starts up-front. Clemson’s secondary isn’t going to contain Olave and Wilson forever. It’s going to be up to those defensive linemen to make things difficult on Fields force him into some bad mistakes.

The good news? Ohio State’s offensive line ranks as 113th in the country in sack rate, behind even Florida State.

Ohio State defense

The defense of Ohio State is nowhere near what it once was. Last season, it seemed as if Clemson was going up against an NFL-caliber unit with first-round talent all over it. You had Chase Young (the best pass-rusher in the game) along with a secondary that possessed three first-round talents.

Much of that is gone.

CB Shaun Wade is back, though he hasn’t quite had the year that many had hoped for, and the linebacker core for Ohio State is experienced but not great. They’ve given up massive amounts of yardage to teams all season (including Indiana and even Penn State) and that should bode well for the Clemson football offense.

The main key for the Tigers offensively is striking when they get their chance. Going back to that Northwestern game, there were far too many times where the Wildcats got the ball back after a turnover or a blunder from the OSU offense and they weren’t able to cash in.

If Clemson can cash in and make the Buckeyes pay for their mistakes, the Tigers could rack up a significant amount of yardage and points. The offensive line has to give Lawrence time to throw and open up holes for Travis Etienne to run, but there’s nothing stopping Clemson from having a big day offensively against this group.

For a point of reference, Ohio State’s defense has not shown the ability to be anywhere near the  caliber of unit that the Tigers just faced in Notre Dame.