Tigers Won’t Be Denied: Fiesta Bowl Rapid Reactions

Wow…. that was something to witness. Two heavyweights throwing one haymaker after another. It’s a shame either team had to lose. That Ohio State team is stout. This one could have easily gone the other way, but it didn’t. The Tigers win 29-23 and will head to New Orleans to face LSU for the national title on Jan 13th.

• 29 wins in a row. That ties an ACC record, breaking held by FSU.
• Nolan Turner!! After having such a rough game, Turner gets the pick to end it.
• Trevor Lawrence cemented his legacy even further tonight. Is there anyone tougher than this kid? He took one hit after another, several being viscous shot, but kept coming. He sets career highs with 16 carries and 107 yards, including a 67 yard TD run that got the Tigers going.
• How many times did they have Fields sacked but flat out miss him?
• That was one of the more physical games I can remember watching in recent years. There was some serious hitting going on out there, especially on the Ohio State side of things.
• Speaking of Fields, that kid has talent. Don’t be surprised to see him again next year.
• Not having played a legit offense all season long, I had questions about how this defensive front would perform against this kind of running game. Outside of two plays they held up well, but both of those times resulted in big gains for JK Dobbins. One went to the house, and the other inside the 5. Take those two away and they held Dobbins to less than 4 YPC.
• The Buckeyes have great corners, that was no secret, and I knew the Tigers receivers would have their hands full. What I didn’t expect was for their corners to win that matchup to the extent that they did. Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross were bottled up most of the night, and not just anyone can do that.
• The Tiger wideouts got the last laugh though. Ross had two very tough catches on that game winning drive. Grown man catches. And did it in obvious pain. Amari Rodgers came up with a huge 38 yard catch on that drive after being a non factor all game, and Tee came down the with 2 point conversion late.
• That Buckeye defense was fantastic. Better than I thought they’d be. They were able to get pressure on Lawrence consistenly, and the Tiger RB’s had just 53 yards rushing.
• Jackson Carman played lights out against Chase Young, when Young was lined up on that side.
• If you’d had told me Travis Etienne would have just 10 carries and 36 yards, I would have never believed it. He made his presence felt catching passes out of the backfield though. 3 catches for 98 yards, and 2 TD’s. A 53 yard TD catch in the 3rd and the game winning 34 yard TD reception late in the 4th, and what a play call on that game winner.
• Can’t say enough about the defense. Yes, they gave up some yards, but it’s about how many points you give up. This group bowed up on 3 different occasions inside the red zone and held Ohio St to FG’s. That was the difference in the game. Tanner Muse tripping up Dobbins on his second long run was the biggest play in the game.
• Last but not least, how about the fight in this team? Down 16-0 with under 3 minutes to go in the 1st half, and had been thoroughly dominated on both sides of the ball. Literally, dominated. They get 2 TD’s in the final 2:45 of the half, and all of a sudden it’s a game. Tigers outscore them 15-7 in that second half, and the rest as they say, is history.