COLUMBUS – In the end, a loss to Penn State, which cost the Buckeyes a chance to compete for the Big Ten championship, will not stand in the way of their playing for the national title for the second time in three years.
(#2) Clemson (12-1) vs. (#3) Ohio St. (11-1), PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Dec. 31 (7:00 p.m./ESPN), University of Phoenix Stadium. Glendale, Ariz.
Head coach Urban Meyer said he was impressed by the quality of teams in the running for a berth in the top four, referring to the present era as “the golden years of college football.”
“The amount of teams that were worthy of this, I just said, I’m going to send a text out to my players and staff right now that we receive this opportunity with incredible humility and class because I can name six, seven teams right now that are that quality of teams. We’re going to do the best we can to represent” he said,
Ohio State receives approximately 13,000 tickets for the game and fans interested in buying tickets in the Ohio State sections should submit a request now on the Athletic Department website. Prices start at $120.
Meyer watched the selection announcement from the maternity department at Riverside Methodist Hospital, where his daughter had given birth to a son earlier in the morning. Quarterback J.T. Barrett ate some chicken wings while he watched the show from home, then got hold of his pal, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“I said ‘I’ll see you in Arizona, brother’ and he was ‘All right, let’s get it,” Barrett said.
Junior defensive end Tyquan Lewis said he watched the announcement with his roommate.
“We was just hyped in the room together. Then we went down the hall to [junior linebacker] Raekwon [McMillan’s] room,” Lewis said. “Everybody came over, was just enjoying the moment.”
Some wondered if the loss to the eventual conference champs and the failure to win the Big Ten title, or even compete in the championship game Saturday, would be enough to bump the Buckeyes from the top four, but a 3-1 record against teams in the current CFP rankings was a big factor in the selection committee’s decision to include them.
“All along I believed we were one of the best four teams in the country,” Lewis said.
“When you think about our games, the competition we played, I thought as far as our whole season, I thought that said a lot for us. So I wasn’t really nervous, just excited where we was going to be placed,” said Barrett, who has been saying for weeks he believed the Buckeyes belonged in the final four.
The Buckeyes defeated No. 7 Oklahoma by 21 points on the road, beat No. 8 Wisconsin in overtime and No. 6 Michigan in double overtime. Ohio State also defeated Nebraska, 62-3, when the Cornhuskers were ranked No. 10 by the CFP committee.
Ten Big Ten teams were selected for bowl competition and the players though competing in the tough conference helped them earn their top 3 ranking and prepared them to play in high-stakes games to come.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re becoming a really good team, ’cause when the going gets rough, we tend to get better,” Barrett said. “We played in some tight ballgames. With that, I think that helps you when it comes to games like this. We really all know it’s not [going to be] a blowout game, everybody is going to fight still the bitter end.”
Big Ten champion Penn State was ranked fifth and will play USC in the Rose Bowl. Michigan, finishing sixth in the rankings, will face Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Wisconsin will meet Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl.
Ohio State is 0-2 against Clemson. Three years ago in the Discover Orange Bowl, the Tigers won 40-35 and beat Ohio State, 17-15, in the 1978 Gator Bowl in what would be legendary coach Woody Hayes’ final game as coach.