CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Heavyweight Fight: Elliott says Buckeyes bloodied Clemson in Fiesta Bowl last year
Last year's game was knock-your-helmet-off physical.

Heavyweight Fight: Elliott says Buckeyes bloodied Clemson in Fiesta Bowl last year


by - Senior Writer -

Tony Elliott thinks the Tigers got their noses bloodied in last year’s game against Ohio State and likened the contest to a heavyweight fight. He’s expecting more of the same this season.

Ohio State changed defensive coordinators in the offseason, moving Kerry Coombs to the top spot after co-defensive coordinators Greg Schiano (Rutgers) and Jeff Hafley (Boston College) moved into head coaching roles. While the names may have changed, the Buckeyes’ defense looks very familiar to Elliott.

The Buckeyes finished ninth nationally in rushing defense in 2019, giving up just 103 yards per game. Ohio State is ranked seventh this season at just a little over 98 yards per game on the ground. The big difference is in pass defense – Ohio State finished No. 1 in 2019, allowing just 158 yards per game through the air. This season, they are allowing 261 yards per game and have slipped to 104th nationally.

However, Elliott sees the same elite players across the defense that he saw last season.

“They were very good in the middle, on the edges, and on the backend last year. And they are very, very similar,” Elliott said. “Again, a lot of the faces and names may be new, but the structure, the tenacity they play with, they're very, very well coordinated. Everybody understands what their role is, how they fit. They're not out of position much. They fit their gaps. If you are lucky to be able to make the step up in pass protection, they know exactly where they need to go. Once they diagnose, they know their drop spots, their reading routes. A lot of this stuff is very similar to last year, with a difference. Only difference is just the names and the faces.

"But what you can tell, they understand structurally, offensively, what you're trying to do. They have their guys very, very well prepared. You can tell No. 32 (Tuf Borland), tough in the middle, very, very smart linebacker helps those guys get lined up. They have had to play some different guys inside and on the defensive line throughout the course of the year. You can't really tell a difference between those guys. (No.) 11 (Tyreke Smith) and 0 (Jonathon Cooper), I mean, they pretty much were spitting images of each other. Then you have got the length of No. 9 (Zach Harrison) on the edge. They know how to play the zone read. Again, I know the coordinator may be different but the product is very, very similar.”

In other words, the Buckeye defense is similar in structure this season to the one Clemson played in last year’s Fiesta Bowl.

"Obviously, I know there's two different coordinators between the last time we played them and this season,” Elliott said. “But they still have the similar structure. They play the same coverages, very similar pressures. I anticipate they're going to have some things that we've got to adjust to throughout the course of the game. But it's the combination of getting ready for this one, making sure that we understood from last year's take where we needed to improve because, obviously, it's a professional courtesy. They're going to try and attack some of the things they had some success attacking last year. And we've got to make sure we fix those. And then they're going to build upon the strengths of this team.

“Even though the structure is similar, each team, just like us on offense, each unit will have its own identity. They are going to play to the strengths of their identity. They are going to test and make sure that we corrected the issues from last year. But I think it's just going to come down at the end of the day, you get to this point doing what you do. You're not going to get away from what your base offense is. You're going to have a couple of game plan wrinkles.”

One key for the Tigers? Controlling their emotion.

“But at the end of the day in this one, on the biggest stage, when the lights are bright, there's going to be a lot of emotion in this game,” Elliott said. “You got to make sure that you put your players in a position to be successful. And the best way to do that is to just do what you do and do what has gotten you to the point to be in this game.”

Clemson put up 417 yards of total offense against the Buckeyes in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, and Elliott said everyone on the offensive side of the ball has to play better.

“No doubt. Really, the wide receivers, the interior of the offensive line, Travis [Etienne] in pass protection, we put a couple of balls in jeopardy in the passing game,” Elliott said. “Fortunately, we were able to put enough plays in the end to win the game. Everybody will be challenged to play better because we know they're going to come in and they want it just as bad as we do, and we're going to have to execute.

“The wide receivers were challenged last year. I made reference to that in a previous question. They are probably going to try to attack us the same way, I would imagine. Get up there and press our guys and see if they can have more success. Who's going to have more success? Their corners or our receivers in terms of winning the matchup at the line of scrimmage.”

Elliott said the Buckeyes threw several haymakers early in last year’s game that put the Tigers on their heels.

“Biggest thing for us is making sure that we don't try and do too much, but we're well aware of the things we need to improve upon, and then have the right state of mind. Because last year, I think going into it, they came out and they punched us in the mouth,” he said. “It's been a while since we've been in a heavyweight fight. In reference to last season, it bloodied our nose. It took us a little while to rebound and then really kick it in gear.

“This game right here, we are not going to be fortunate enough to be able to have that mind set. We have to come in and set the tempo early with what we're doing on offense. We have to match their physicality and their intensity in the trenches, and then guys have got to go make competitive plays.”

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