Jeff Okudah Hanging on to Fiesta Bowl Frustrations

Okudah made what was arguably the best defensive play of the College Football Playoff semifinal, but it was incorrectly overturned by replay officials.

Sports fans and athletes have a love/hate relationship with officiating. Fouls, flags, outs, balls and strikes can come with controversy that leads to “what ifs” for athletes and fans.

One of the bigger officiating controversies came in this year’s Fiesta Bowl, which served as a semifinal game in the college football playoff. Clemson wide receiver Justyn Ross made a catch and fumbled the football, thanks Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah's hand.

OSU ran the fumble for a touchdown and gained a 22-21 lead, but the officials reviewed whether Ross had complete control of the football or bobbled the catch. The referees ultimately overturned the scoop and score, thus giving Clemson back the football and the lead. This call still haunts those who support the Scarlet and Gray.

A TikTok with some of the Clemson football team dancing to a catchy beat recently surfaced on Twitter. Okudah made his opinion well-known.

Clemson escaped with a 29-23 win over the Buckeyes, but went on to lose to LSU in the National Championship. While it’s easy to point to this play as a game-changer, Ohio State had three red zone opportunities to score touchdowns in which they settled for field goals. Justin Fields also threw two interceptions, although the second one that sealed the Clemson win was not really Fields' fault. Wideout Chris Olave cut back his route and Fields got crossed up in the process.

Head coach Ryan Day spoke about the momentum swings in the Fiesta Bowl after the game ended.

“I think that it’s a range of emotions, because even though those things were happening, we were overcoming it,” Day said. “We just kept fighting and kept playing. It was like, Don’t worry about those; just keep playing. I think when we look back on it, it is going to be overwhelming. Those game-altering plays that happen in a game, you need those things to go beat a team like Clemson where you're playing in a Semifinal game. You need those one or two plays. Then to miss a couple of them, that hurts you.

“Again, a range of emotions. We’ll rest on it. Watch the film, and kind of go from there.”

Okudah went on to be drafted No. 3 overall by the Detroit Lions and agreed to a 4-year contract. Spotrac’s NFL Draft salary tracker estimates Okudah’s contract is worth $33.5 million with a $21.9 million signing bonus.

Sorry to make you relive the pain Buckeye fans. Here’s to 2020.

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