Fiesta Bowl will be won not in trenches but on the outside

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — For Clemson co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Jeff Scott, preparations for the Fiesta Bowl began with an examination of Ohio State’s defense, a process that mirrored the coaching staff’s groundwork for each opponent during the regular season.

And then things changed. Eventually, an offensive coordinator rolling through game film will find one weak link in the chain — a defender who can be exploited in certain matchups, for example, or a defensive formation that might suit his system’s approach.

“What I look for when I turn on video is who we can pick on,” he said, specifically within the Tigers’ greatest strength: a deep, talented and varied receiver corps that suits the All-America talents of junior quarterback Deshaun Watson.

He didn’t find one at Ohio State.

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“I watched the entire season of Ohio State,” Scott said. “You don’t see that. Overall, speed is what shows up, speed and technique.”

A similar moment of painful clarity occurred at Ohio State. Even when co-defensive coordinator Greg Schiano sees an opposing receiver make a great play on film, he might think: Well, they’re not going to get it on us. Our guys will make that play.

Well, not with the Tigers.

“They’re as good as we’ve seen,” Schiano said.

They say defenses win championships. That games are won along the line of scrimmage. But the Fiesta Bowl may be decided on the outside, in matchups pitting Clemson’s strength, a gifted and eclectic group of wide receivers, with the Buckeyes’ greatest defensive asset, a collection of defensive backs that ranks as the nation’s best.

“We’ve definitely got to be on our jobs,” said Ohio State linebacker Raekwon McMillan, who will be one of several defenders tasked with containing Clemson tight end Jordan Leggett. “We can’t take a play off, because a play off turns into touchdowns. When they get rolling, man, they’re hard to stop.”

Within the bigger game — a Fiesta Bowl pairing with a shot at the national title on the line — is a smaller contest, one that pits some of the nation’s best players at their respective positions.

Clemson’s passing game, keyed by Watson, rolls through a sextet of pass-catchers. The best — and the one who strikes the most fear into Ohio State’s defensive game plan – is Mike Williams, a lanky and high-jumping junior who lead the team in receptions (84), receiving yards (1,171) and touchdowns (10) one year after a neck injury cost him all but a few snaps of the 2015 season.

Beyond Williams, the Tigers lean on Leggett, junior Artavis Scott and sophomores Hunter Renfrow, Deon Cain and Ray-Ray McCloud, which each filling one specific role inside the greater framework of Clemson’s offensive attack.

“If they have one great player, it’s like basketball — you can take one great guy out of the game, or at least try to,” Schiano said. “But when you have multiple talented receivers, now they make you play even up.”

Despite the Tigers’ much-publicized battles with turnovers during the regular season, no one team was able to slow down this receiver corps, let alone put a cork on the group’s productivity. But if any collection of defenders can — or if any unit has the required degree of athleticism, length and ball skills — it’s the Ohio State secondary.

Much has changed since the last time these two teams met, in the 2014 Orange Bowl, when the Tigers ripped through Ohio State for 378 passing yards and five touchdowns. Urban Meyer overhauled the Buckeyes’ approach to pass defense in the aftermath of that loss, hiring current Rutgers head coach Chris Ash as his co-coordinator and implementing a new approach: more press alignments, meaning cornerbacks who stick to receivers at line of scrimmage, and more man-to-man coverage schemes.

Ohio State has seen this shift pay off, in the form of the nation’s most productive secondary. The Buckeyes lead the Football Bowl Subdivision in pass-efficiency defense, are tied for first in yards allowed per attempt and rank third in opponents’ completion and fifth in yards allowed per game.

There are simply no soft spots. Sophomore cornerback Marshon Lattimore has “exceptional ball skills,” to the point where he’d be one of Ohio State’s best receivers, Schiano said. Junior cornerback Gareon Conley is the team’s most versatile defensive back. Sophomore Denzel Ward, the Buckeyes’ third cornerback, is “the most twitched up of them all in terms of explosiveness,” Schiano said.

And then there’s sophomore safety Malik Hooker, whose sideline-to-sideline speed and intuitiveness led Schiano to compare him to former Miami (Fla.) safety Ed Reed. Clemson has depth, experience and versatility at wide receiver; so does Ohio State at defensive back.

“Nobody’s going to be really running wide open in this game,” Leggett said. “They’re probably the most athletic people we’ve seen all this year. It’ll be interesting to see.”

It’ll be a challenge for Clemson, said Scott, but that was to be expected — and “they get excited about challenges,” he said of the receiver corps. And the Tigers’ talent level will test the Buckeyes’ theme of complementary defense, where each cog in the machine is equally crucial to the unit’s overall success.

The Tigers might borrow from the blueprint Northwestern used in its narrow, four-point loss in late October, which placed star receiver Austin Carr in the slot across from reserve cornerback Damon Arnette, a freshman. After Carr’s 158-yard performance, Meyer and the Buckeyes decided to slide either Lattimore or Conley into the slot, a move that plastered over one potential defensive Achilles’ heel.

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Yet that would leave the Buckeyes open to another concern: While Conley, for example, might be able to smother Renfrow or Cain in the slot, what if Williams gets loose in a mismatch on the outside? Then again, that worry runs both ways. What if Ohio State effectively shuts down the Tigers’ downfield passing game; where would that leave the offense?

There’s no doubt that both teams feel up for the challenge, even if, as Leggett suggested, it may take the opening quarter — if not more — for each to find its footing against a premier opponent.

“I like our odds, I like our odds a lot,” Hooker said. “I don’t doubt any guy on our team. We’re capable of making plays at any moment.” Added Williams, “We’re going to do what we’re going to do.”

Which is how it should be. Given the elite programs and the high stakes at play, it’s only fitting that the Fiesta Bowl might be decided on equal terms: with strength meeting strength.

“It’s going to kind of be like a heavyweight fight,” Scott said. “It’s going to be a great matchup to watch.”

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