Clemson’s Fiesta Bowl win was Ohio State’s (and Urban Meyer’s) worst loss in a LONG time

Clemson will get another shot at Alabama.

The Tigers beat Ohio State in Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl Playoff semifinal in Arizona, 31-0. They took a 17-0 lead by halftime and didn’t give it up. Alabama beat Washington in the Peach Bowl semifinal earlier Saturday, so we’re left with a National Championship rematch from one year ago: Clemson against Bama, for all the marbles. The Tide won last year’s meeting, 45-40, but Clemson put a good scare into them.

Saturday brought the worst loss for an Urban Meyer-coached team since Alabama’s 32-13 win against Meyer’s Florida in the 2009 SEC Championship Game. It was Ohio State’s worst loss in a while, too. Meyer’s now been in Columbus for five seasons, and he’s lost a total of six games. Two of those have come against Clemson, with the first being an Orange Bowl loss to close the 2013 season.

The Buckeyes hadn’t been shut out since a 1993 game against Michigan. Meyer had never been shut out in his head coaching career, over 15 seasons and 193 games entering Saturday. Take your pick of Meyer and Ohio State losses over the last decade or two, and this one will be right near the top, given the stage and the scale of the defeat.

Ohio State seemed off from the outset. Ordinarily reliable kicker Tyler Durbin missed two 47-yard field goals in the game’s first nine minutes. Ohio State’s running game squeezed out 0.7 yards per carry in the first half, and quarterback J.T. Barrett wasn’t anywhere near the top of his game. The Buckeyes picked off Deshaun Watson a couple times, but they couldn’t move the ball enough to keep from falling behind.

Watson ran in for his second touchdown near the end of the third quarter, making the score 24-0. Clemson’s Cordrea Tankersley picked off Barrett on Ohio State’s next possession, and the rout was on. The Buckeyes never got up off the mat.

Some odds and ends: Clemson defensive lineman Christian Wilkins gave Ohio State’s Curtis Samuel a perverse sort of prostate exam on the field, and Clemson punter Andy Teasdall hit a lucky but still gorgeous 67-yard punt. And there was a weird missed Clemson field goal that involved a missed penalty call on Clemson, which would’ve helped the Tigers had it been made. It didn’t ultimately matter.

If you really don’t like Ohio State, we’ve put together some memes for you to use to make fun of what has happened here. Using them is entirely your prerogative.

Clemson took Alabama to the wire in last year’s title game before losing it. That game happened in the same University of Phoenix Stadium that hosts the Fiesta Bowl.

In their return to that stadium, the Tigers found euphoria instead of disappointment. They’re not done yet, of course, and now they’ll have to beat the juggernaut that denied them what they wanted a season ago. Alabama looks as dominant now as seems humanly possible. It’s on Dabo Swinney to somehow find a way to beat what’s so far been an unbeatable team. It won’t be easy, but Clemson’s got a shot.

It’s worth considering the scale of Clemson’s challenge. Alabama casually but precisely devoured Washington in the Peach Bowl semifinal, and the Tide’s best defensive player waxed later about how his team “could have played better.” What’s scary for Clemson’s sake is that the player wasn’t incorrect, and Alabama still held an elite offense to a total of seven points. The Tide are 14-0 for a reason.