FIESTA BOWL
The PlayStation Fiesta Bowl between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson on Saturday is a rematch — plain and simple.
Players and coaches on both sides are all saying the right things about roster turnover and looking forward rather than looking back.
But Clemson’s 31-0 victory over Ohio State in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl has shaped each program in ways that show up today.
“We know what happened,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Thursday. “But I wasn’t here, and a good portion of the team wasn’t here, either. They’re a different team. We’re in a different spot. Different
coaching staff. Different players. It’s certainly a reference point, but it’s not something we’ve talked a lot about.”
'A bad taste in our mouths'
There’s really no need for Ohio State to spend much time discussing it.
Day was hired as offensive coordinator within a week of Clemson’s shutout win. Ohio State has been electric ever since.
The Buckeyes have had 16 games against ranked opponents since Day arrived on campus. (Eight have come with Day serving as head coach.)
The program is 15-1 with a scoring averaging of 35.75 points per game in those matchups.
“Coach Day is just a genius,” senior receiver C.J. Saunders said. “He knows how to dial up plays. He knows how to get all of us playing at our maximum capacity.”
Saunders is among 21 seniors at Ohio State. That makes for plenty of guys who remember the 2016 Fiesta Bowl. They don’t need to remind each other what that was like.
“We really haven’t,” he said. “I think for ... the guys that were here, it’s left a bad taste in our mouths. But all we can do is control this game and try to make the best of it.”
Clemson has had changes, as well. The Tigers have only eight seniors. “College rosters turn over pretty quick,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Three years is a lifetime in college football.”
The 2016 College Football Playoff semifinal game “really has not been a factor at all. These are totally different teams and dynamics,” he said.
Clemson senior safety K’Von Wallace was around. He didn’t play against Ohio State, but he remembers seeing what gave his teammates the edge.
“A team that was hungry,” he said. “A team that wanted it more … It was a different level of hunger that all the guys had. They just wanted it more.”
The 2016 Fiesta Bowl was a keystone moment on Clemson’s current path. Before that win, the Tigers were a plucky upstart. Now, they’re defending national champions on a 28-game win streak. But this group isn’t complacent. “We’re more motivated than ever,” Wallace said. If anything, I feel like we’ve gotten more disrespected than any other team I’ve played on in the four years being here. My freshman year, people wanted us to win. People wanted us to beat Alabama, or beat Ohio State, or beat anybody who was in our way. They were rooting for us.
“This year, it’s completely flipped. They tried to keep us out of the playoff. … They want to see LSU win. They want to see Ohio State win. They want to see Oklahoma win. They want somebody new in the club. But we’re hungry, man. We want it.”
'We have the experience'
Clemson has won two of the last three national titles. It’s that experience, overall, that might provide an advantage. Going into the 2016 Fiesta Bowl, Swinney and the Tigers had never been anything more than runners-up.
“Everyone is just so much more confident that we’ve been to (three championship games in four years,)” Clemson senior long snapper Patrick Phibbs said.
“We’ve been there, we’ve done that. I don’t think it’s been different for us in any of these big games, since we have the experience that I think a lot of other programs don’t.”
But Ohio State has gained experience, too.
“It’s been pretty similar, but … it definitely is a little bit more of a business trip,” Ohio State senior long snapper Liam McCullough said.
“As opposed to being a little starstruck and excited to be in the playoff and the Fiesta Bowl, it definitely feels like more of a business trip.”
The 2016 Fiesta Bowl has shaped each team. Ohio State revamped its staff and offense. Clemson took off on a road to dominance.
Differences aside, these are the same programs with the same rankings in the same bowl game with the same stakes.
This game is a rematch — plain and simple.