Diagnosis: Clemson

"There's nothing that cleanses the soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."

- Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes

On December 28, 2019, the Ohio State Buckeyes will face the Clemson Tigers for the fourth time. The Tigers are one of only two teams (Florida State being the other) that the Buckeyes have played at least three times but never defeated. But while Ohio State's history against Clemson has been enormously frustrating, no opponent, with the possible exception of our hated rivals to the north, has been as instrumental in exposing the Buckeyes' flaws and inspiring them to take drastic corrective action. Here is a brief summary of each of Ohio State's historic losses to Clemson, the underlying problem brought to light in the process, and how the scarlet and gray used the lesson their advantage.

1978 Gator Bowl: #7 Clemson 17 - #20 Ohio State 15
Diagnosis: The Head Coach Is Unstable

You all know the story here. Late in the 4th quarter, driving into field goal range, Ohio State QB Art Schlichter threw an ill-advised interception to Clemson D-lineman Charlie Bauman, who was rewarded for his efforts with a swift punch to the throat from Woody himself. The Buckeyes lost and Woody was fired the next day.

Woody was a deservedly beloved Ohio State institution both on and off the field, but assaulting an opposing player was the final blow in what had been a series of outbursts by the increasingly unstable coach. Woody tore up the yard markers on the Michigan Stadium sidelines in 1971, shoved a camera into a news photographer's face before the 1973 Rose Bowl, and punched a cameraman late in the 1977 installment of The Game. Woody was replaced with the more even-keeled Earle Bruce, who took Ohio State to an undefeated regular season, a win over that team up north for the first time in 4 tries, and came within one point of a national championship in the Rose Bowl. The coach was steady, and the results were steady (exactly 3 losses a year for the next 7 years, not quite as good as Ohio States' performance during the 10-year war but still best in the Big Ten over that period). Even more importantly, Bruce briefly oversaw the brief development of two young assistant coaches, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer, who would lead the Buckeyes to even greater heights in the years to come.

2014 Orange Bowl: #12 Clemson 40 - #7 Ohio State 35
Diagnosis: The Pass Defense is Nonexistent

To be fair, not all of the credit for this discovery belongs to Clemson. The Buckeyes were playing the Tigers in the Orange Bowl rather than heading to Pasadena to face their other invincible foe, the Florida State Seminoles, in the final BCS National Championship, because of a poor showing on defense in their immediate preceding game. In the 2013 Big Ten Championship, the undefeated and #2 ranked Buckeyes found themselves in an early 17-0 hole thanks to an uninspired first half performance by the secondary, and after fighting back to take a 24-17 lead, collapsed late to fall to the Spartans 34-24. The loss broke the Buckeyes' 24 game win streak to open Urban Meyer's tenure, a streak that had again been seriously threatened the week prior in a 42-41 win over 6-6 Michigan. In that game, Wolverine QB Devin Gardner passed for an absurd 451 yards and came within a 2-point conversion of a stunning upset.

Back to the Orange Bowl. Ohio State's already shaky pass defense got dealt a couple of blows: top corner Bradley Roby suffered a knee injury against MSU and would finish his career on the sidelines, and top pass rusher Noah Spence was suspended for violating the Big Ten's substance policies. The Buckeye offense put up 5 TDs but the defense was several steps behind all game, giving up 3 late scores as Tajh Boyd racked up 378 passing yards on the day, 227 of them going to Sammy Watkins. To this day, 35 points remains the most scored in a Buckeye defeat.

As the Buckeyes moved into the offseason something of a minor miracle occurred. Co-DC and safeties coach Everett Withers left to take the head job at James Madison and was replaced by Chris Ash, who installed an aggressive quarters coverage scheme similar to Pat Narduzzi's "No Fly Zone" at Michigan State. D-line coach Mike Vrabel left to follow departing Penn State coach Bill O'Brien to the Houston Texans, and in the wake of O'Brien leaving Penn State, the Lions' legendary D-line coach Larry Johnson jumped ship and landed with the Buckeyes.

You know what happened next. The offense weathered the departure of Carlos Hyde and darn near the entire starting O-line, as well as the preseason injury to Braxton Miller, and the pass defense engineered a remarkable turnaround, from 112th in the nation in pass defense in 2013 to 29th in 2014, enough to secure the Buckeyes' most recent national championship. And the D continued to perform at an elite level until the last year of Urban's tenure.

2016 Fiesta Bowl: #2 Clemson 31 - #3 Ohio State 0
Diagnosis: The Passing Attack Isn't a Credible Threat

Urban Meyer's teams have always been built on spread-to-run. During his coaching career up through the 2014 championship season, Urban had enjoyed success with talented quarterbacks like Alex Smith, Chris Leak, Tim Tebow, Braxton Miller, and JT Barrett, but his most effective offensive game plans prominently featured the run game. Unfortunately, after OC Tom Herman's departure following Ohio State's 2014 national championship, the offense began to sputter, particularly through the air. Cardale Jones, who just the prior season had quarterbacked Ohio State during perhaps their greatest three-game stretch in program history, was puzzlingly ineffective in 2015. In frustration, the coaches restored JT Barrett to the starting job but he didn't fare a great deal better, culminating in an embarrassing 17-14 loss to Michigan State that featured 132 total yards of offense from the Buckeyes, 46 of which came through the air. But that was late loss to a great defense via a last-second field goal. And Ohio State didn't lose again over its next 14 games outside of a fluky dropped game to Penn State on a blocked field goal. The Buckeyes even earned a second trip to the playoff the next year, as the passing game showed signs of mild improvement in 2016.

Then disaster struck.

The Buckeyes, despite being 3.5 point favorites over the #2 Clemson Tigers, amassed a total of 215 yards, 127 of which came through the air, on their way to their first shutout loss since 1993. JT threw 2 interceptions in Clemson territory and posted a paltry QBR of 15.2 as the Tigers loaded up to stop the run but Ohio State's anemic passing attack could not take advantage.

Once more, the loss to Clemson spurred the Buckeyes into action. Co-offensive coordinators Ed Warinner and Tim Beck scurried off to Minnesota and Texas and were replaced by former Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson and some NFL quarterbacks coach named Ryan Day. JT went on to eclipse his stellar freshman season in his farewell tour, and Dwayne Haskins stepped in the following year and obliterated every Ohio State passing record on the way to finishing 3rd in the Heisman voting. This season, we've seen transfer QB Justin Fields step into Day's/Wilson's system and find even more immediate success, placing 3rd in the Heisman voting despite rarely accumulating many meaningful second half reps.

Ohio State's perfect season and appearance in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl are the culmination of plans that were put in place years ago in response to lessons learned at the hands of the Clemson Tigers. Let's hope that, for once, the Buckeyes can play the role of the diagnostic and send Clemson home with their own list of needed improvements.