What went wrong with Clemson defense in blowout loss to Ohio State
Clemson’s defensive performance in last year’s national title game wasn’t a huge surprise.
Joe Burrow and his all-world receivers at LSU had their way with pretty much everyone they lined up against as Burrow put together a record-setting and Heisman-winning season.
But what happened Friday night in the Sugar Bowl was stunning.
For the second consecutive year, an opponent had its way with Clemson’s defense on the big stage as Brent Venables’ unit had an even worse performance against Ohio State than it did to end last season.
The Buckeyes scored 49 points and finished with 639 yards of offense in a dominant 49-28 victory over Clemson, finishing with more points and yards than LSU did last year. Ohio State had 35 points and 394 yards of offense at halftime, numbers that are typically unusual for Clemson to allow in an entire game.
During a stretch from midway through the first quarter until the end of the second quarter, Ohio State had five consecutive drives end in touchdowns. All five drives went for 75 yards or more.
“Defensively we were really out of rhythm and too many busted big plays, big chunks, posts over the top, guys open, not stopping the run,” Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said. “Five straight touchdowns and we weren’t able to respond like we needed to offensively.”
As Swinney said, it’s not as if Clemson was great on offense. Trevor Lawrence and the Tigers scored 14 points by halftime, and Clemson’s offense had three three-and-outs in the first half.
If not for an all-time poor defensive performance, the Tigers still could’ve been within striking distance.
The 394 yards Clemson allowed in the first half marked the most yardage given up by a defense under Swinney in a half. The 21-point deficit was Clemson’s largest since the 2012 Orange Bowl against West Virginia, a game that led to defensive coordinator Kevin Steele being fired.
Venables isn’t going anywhere, unless he accepts a head coaching job. He puts together one of the best defenses in the country year in and year out.
But a performance like this for the second consecutive year in a big game is still concerning.
The Buckeyes averaged 8.9 yards per play and had their way with the Clemson defense on the ground and through the air. Ohio State topped 600 yards of offense with over 14 minutes left in the game, before taking their foot off the gas and cruising to the finish line.
The Buckeyes passed for 385 yards and rushed for 254. When Clemson loaded the box to try and stop the run, opposing wideouts and tight ends won their one-on-one matchups. When Clemson played coverage and didn’t load the box with defenders, Trey Sermon found open holes everywhere. The OSU tailback had 31 carries for 193 yards and a score.
“In games like that, there’s been times the defense has had to pick us up. And this was just one of those nights we ... yeah, we could have used a few more stops for sure, but they kind of needed us to pick them up,” Lawrence said. “And there was a few times we weren’t just playing complementary football for too long. When we’re punting and they’re scoring pretty much every drive for a quarter, it can get out of hand quick.”
Some breaks went against Clemson. Starting safety Nolan Turner was out for the first half after getting ejected for targeting in the ACC championship game against Notre Dame. And Tigers linebacker James Skalski was ejected in the second quarter for targeting on Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.
But those two weren’t going to fix all of the issues Clemson had on Friday. Clemson’s front seven couldn’t get off blocks consistently, and the secondary struggled to make plays. Fields finished with as many touchdown passes (six) as he did incompletions.
“I’m not going to get into the woulda‑shoulda‑coulda. We had plenty of opportunities. They just kicked our butt. Period,” Swinney said. “Losing (Skalski) was a big loss for us. But that’s ... like I said, nothing we can do about it. We’ve got to respond, and we didn’t get it done.”
