3 Key Advantages for Clemson Over Ohio State

The Clemson Tigers are back in the College Football Playoff for the fifth straight year. The team is 5-2 in the playoff and is the defending national champion. The Tigers enter this year as the No. 3 overall seed and take on Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Tigers and Buckeyes are both undefeated, setting up a long-awaited matchup of two of the best teams in the country. Here are some obvious advantages Clemson has over OSU.

3. Dabo Swinney Has Been Here Before

Dabo Swinney has had Clemson on this big stage before. / Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Dabo Swinney has led Clemson to two of the past three national championships and his team has not lost a game since the 2017 season. This is Ryan Day's first full season as a head coach and while he has had success, the playoff is a whole new world for him. Any worries Day has will not be held by Swinney, who expects to be on this stage every year.

2. Trevor Lawrence Avoids Taking Sacks

Trevor Lawrence avoids negative plays. / Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Trevor Lawrence has only been sacked 12 times this season. All the talk ahead of the game centers around the impact Ohio State's Chase Young can have. That impact will be limited if Lawrence gets rid of the ball quickly and takes off for runs instead of waiting in the backfield too long. He has done this all season and has only lost 95 yards via sacks in 13 games.

1. Travis Etienne's Big-Play Ability

Travis Etienne is one of the best running backs in college football. / Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Trevor Lawrence's dominance makes it easy to forget that Travis Etienne has an even 1,500 rushing yards this season. He leads the nation with an average of 8.2 yards-per-carry and has done all this without ever getting more than 17 carries in a single game. He has 17 touchdowns on only 182 rushing attempts and needs to be accounted for every time he is on the field.