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Ohio State's Players Not Whining About Fiesta Loss

Buckeyes' fans voicing more bitterness than players with loss to Clemson
Bruce Hooley|
Ohio State's Players Not Whining About Fiesta Loss
Ohio State's Players Not Whining About Fiesta Loss

The narrow nature of Ohio State's loss to Clemson the College Football Playoff birthed endless what-ifs and eternal if-onlys that will resonate forever among the fan base.

But have you noticed.. ..there's been precious little regret voiced by the Buckeyes' players in the aftermath of the 29-23 loss that ended their season a game shy of reaching the national championship game.

Maybe that's because the players know they left nothing in reserve on Saturday night in the Fiesta Bowl, where the outcome came down to whether OSU could make a game-ending stop on defense or a game-winning drive on offense.

It did neither, but it's refreshing that neither head coach Ryan Day nor his players have accepted the heart-breaking outcome with anything less than complete class.

Sure, they might feel embittered, or even be embittered by the replay review that overturned a third-quarter defensive touchdown, but they haven't engaged in any of that publicly, which is to their credit.

Here are some juicy leftovers from a fantastic night in the Arizona desert:

1. The game stands as easily the best CFP semifinal in the six-year history of the format, eclipsing OSU-Alabama from 2014.

Why?

Because that game, though it had considerable NFL talent on both sides, didn't have a future NFL star on either side.

You have to believe that's not true of this game, with OSU's Justin Fields and Clemson''s Trevor Lawrence making pro scouts salivate with their play-making ability.

NFL scouts must be testing the water in Central Georgia, given that Lawrence and Fields grew up 20 miles from each other, just north of Atlanta.

2. Ohio State's defensive transformation was what made the Buckeyes a juggernaut this season. The offense was great, too, but not appreciably greater than what it was under Dwayne Haskins direction in 2018.

But if OSU fans, and fan-boy medias, can tear themselves away from lamenting the replay overturn and look at what transpired on defense in the Fiesta, that's where the Buckeyes fell short.

After allowing only 12 plays of 30 yards or more in 13 games prior to meeting Clemson, Ohio State allowed four such gains in its first loss.

Two of those -- Amari Rodgers for 38 yards, Travis Etienne for 34 yards, came on catch-and-runs on Clemson's game-winning drive. The others came on Etienne's 53-yard screen pass for a TD and Lawrence's 67-yard scoring run.

3. Here's OSU defensive co-coordinator Jeff Hafley in mid-season, discussing the priority his unit placed on eliminating explosive plays by opponents:

"The number one thing we talk about when we put in new calls, when we talk about anything — and we say it over and over again — is we want to eliminate explosives. If we think a blitz is really, really good, but there’s potential for it to give up an explosive, we’re not going to put it in.

"If we feel like there’s a really, really good coverage that say we want to run on third and 4-to-6, and we really like it against what they’re doing, but there’s a chance to give up an explosive, we’re not going to do it.

“Everything we think about, we think about explosives, because our whole philosophy is, we want to make you drive the length of the field. If you can drive on us the length of the field and then put it in the end zone against us in the red zone, nice job. Then we’ve got to figure out why and we’ve got to adjust some things.”

4. That tells you how much stress Clemson puts on a defense, and the Tigers might have put more on OSU had receiver Tee Higgins not gotten hurt and played sparingly in the first half.

Don't forget, on the few plays Higgins participated in until leaving the field after landing on his head after Jordan Fuller swiped at a pass and knocked his helmet off, he gained 21 yards on a crossing route.

5. Did you catch the aftermath of Justin Fields' game-ending interception in the end zone? Not the turnover...the aftermath?

Watch the replay and you'll see a brief shot of Ohio State tackle Branden Bowen bending down to talk to Fields on the bench. It was a touching scene of encouragement and compassion at a moment of great disappointment.

Bowen has overcome much in his career, including a leg injury that cost him all of the 2018 season.

He returned this year as a graduate student to start on one of OSU's most dominant offensive lines in the last decade.

Bowen won't get another chance to win a national championship.

Fields will.

Yet it was Bowen making sure Fields was OK after the late turnover.

Sometimes teammates say they love each other and it's pure fertilizer.

All indications are, such talk was very genuine with the 2019 Buckeyes.

6. OSU running backs coach Tony Alford and junior J.K. Dobbins had a special relationship.

Alford was more than Dobbins' coach, he was a mentor, a father-figure of sorts.

Dobbins' father died when he was 15, and he grew so close to Alford during recruiting that he signed with Ohio State without ever visiting Columbus.

No surprise, then, that Alford was captured by ESPN cameras consoling Dobbins afterward.

7. Think these guys don't put everything into these games?

Did you see Clemson All-American guard John Simpson sobbing on one knee in the post-game celebration of his teammates.

Simpson and OSU's Robert Landers had an epic battle all night.

Landers won his share, and so did Simpson, most notably his chip block on linebacker Malik Harrison, getting just enough of him to free Etienne for the go-ahead TD catch and run.

8. Locker rooms are open for 20 minutes after College Football Playoff Games. OSU's Chris Olave sat at his for the entire time and patiently recounted the play that resulted in Clemson's game-ending interception.

Olave scored to put OSU in front earlier in the third quarter on a deep crossing route against safety Nolan Turner.

The Buckeyes had that match-up again, facing second-and-7 from the Tigers' 23.

Olave saw Fields move in the pocket and mistakenly thought his quarterback was under duress from the pass rush.

That calls for Olave to break off his route and go opposite his planned path.

He did, at the precise moment Fields threw the ball over the middle.

Turner tracked it and caught it, while Olave fell to the ground on the slipperyt turf.

“This is on me," Olave said. "Put the game on my shoulders.”

In truth, it wasn't "on" anyone. It just happened.

That's how thin the margin between winning and losing is sometimes.

9. Turner winding up the hero for Clemson is a multi-level being story.

He was the victim on Olave's go-ahead catch, so getting the game-ending turnover was quite a comeback.

But it goes deeper than that.

Turner's father, Kevin, was Swinney's best friend and teammate on Alabama's 1991 national championship team.

Kevin Turner was dying of Lou Gherig's disease early in 2016 when four Clemson defensive backs turned pro unexpectedly.

Swinney was scrambling for players, and upgraded his preferred walk-on offer to a full scholarship for Nolan Turner.

Other than Alabama-Birmingham, Clemson was Turner's only Division I offer.

He had never been to Clemson, but accepted the offer and wound up starting, just like three of the four late signees Swinney grabbed to replace the quartet that surprised him by turning pro.

Here is the text message Kevin Turner sent to Swinney before Nolan Turner enrolled at Clemson:

“Let me be realistic for a moment. Most likely, I won’t see Nolan graduate, and there’s nothing that you could have told me that would have made me happier than telling me that a man of your character and integrity was going to be there for my son after I’m gone. I’m not scared of dying, but not being there for my kids terrifies me.”

Swinney shared that text when he gave the eulogy at Kevin Turner's funeral in March of 2016.

10. The replay overturn of Jordan Fuller's fumble return for a touchdown in the third quarter reminded some of the late pass interference call in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl that extended overtime and allowed Ohio State to defeat Miami.

That wasn't the only similarity between the two games.

Lawrence's career-highs in rushing attempts (16) and rushing yards (107) burned OSU all night, in the same way Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel's 86 rushing yards vexed the Hurricanes in the BCS title game.

Lawrence did more damage than just on his 67-yard TD run before the half.

He rushed for all but two of Clemson's seven first downs via the ground, including an 11-yard run on the second play of its 94-yard, four-play, game-winning drive.

For the latest on Ohio State follow Sports Illustrated Buckeye Maven on Facebook and @BuckeyeMaven on Twitter.

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Bruce Hooley
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