NEW ORLEANS – The Buckeyes heard plenty of reasons why they shouldn't be in the College Football Playoff, why they could not compete with Clemson and why the Big Ten really should just step aside and let the SEC and ACC play championship level football.

Well, Ohio State was not having any of that and took out 42 years of frustration with Clemson out on Trevor Lawrence and Dabo Swinney as the Buckeyes rolled the Tigers, 49-28 and punched a ticket to play Alabama in the College Football Championship Game in just 10 days.

A battered and bruised (more on that later) Justin Fields set not only a Sugar Bowl passing record for touchdowns but also an Ohio State record with his six passing scores as part of a 22 for 28 night for 385 yards. Trey Sermon had 193 yards rushing and Ohio State had three touchdown passes to its tight ends and five receptions in total.

All-in-all, it was a complete effort for the Buckeyes, but not without some tense moments.

On the other side, Lawrence was prolific with the stats with 33 for 48 and 400 yards and X scores and Travis Etienne had 96 all-purpose yards and one score, but only had 32 yards on the ground as Clemson had 44 as a team.

Not bad for a team that Swinney had voted No. 11 on his Amway Coaches Poll ballot.

The Buckeyes would rack up 639 yards of total offense compared to Clemson's 444 yards and would possess the ball at an eight-minute advantage.

Clemson got off to a quick start and Ohio State fans started to have flashbacks to the second half of the 2019 edition of this game. The Tigers would march down the field on their first drive and Lawrence would run off the right edge from two yards out and put the Tigers up first, 7-0. That drive was set up with a connection between Lawrence and Cornell Powell for 27 yards on a play where Sevyn Banks was unable to do much of anything.

The Buckeyes would go three-and-out on their first series and people worried that this one was going to get away quickly but the Ohio State defense would rise up and force its own three-and-out and the Buckeyes would get the ball back quickly and finally start to find some rhythm on offense.

It would take Ohio State only three plays and 72 seconds to get on the board as Sermon would hit a big hole and take it home for a 32-yard rushing strike. Sermon would account for 66 of the 77 yards on that drive.

Clemson would come right back, as it so often does. A seven-play, 75-yard drive would see Etienne bust into the end zone on a three-yard drive and the Tigers would go back up by a score, 14-7. There was question if it would be sustainable for the Buckeyes if the defense would not be able to break serve a couple of times.

Then again, it also was predicated on the Ohio State offense scoring some points. Points would be scored as Ohio State would score on every first half drive after that first empty series of the game.

The first of Ohio State's tight end touchdowns would come on that next series as Fields would find Luke Farrell from eight yards out on a 3rd-and-goal. That capped off the six-play drive and Ohio State would draw even once again.

The Tigers would punt three more times in the half and would run 10 offensive plays for 32 yards.

Jeremy Ruckert would get into the mix of things, this time with Fields finding him from 17-yards out on a nine-play drive, putting Ohio State up 21-14, the first Buckeye lead of the night.

Ohio State would get a scare when Fields was knocked to the field on a vicious tackle by James Skalski. While nothing was called on the field, replay buzzed down after reviewing a tackle that seemed to have the Clemson defender leading with the crown of his helmet and injuring Fields. It was a bang-bang play and reminded a lot of people of a similar situation in the previous game, where Shaun Wade was tossed from a game where there was not much that he could do to prevent what happened.

Skalski was disqualified from the game and Fields spent some time being attended to on the field before having to leave for a play. The Ohio State quarterback only missed one play as required for players requiring medical attention. On Fields' first play back in the game, he would find Olave for a nine-yard touchdown and the Buckeyes would be up by two scores.

It was obvious that Fields was in a great deal of discomfort but he was not going to exit on this stage and the Buckeyes would get one more chance to put points up in the first half as Ohio State would have 80 yards to go with three minutes and change on the clock. It would take the Buckeyes almost all of that time to cover that ground on a 12-play drive that was capped off by a second touchdown to Ruckert, this one from 12 yards out with just 11 seconds left in the half. Ohio State would take a 35-14 lead to the locker room and knew they were getting the ball to start the second half.

The Buckeyes did not get the start that they wanted to start off the second half however. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Buckeyes would march down the field but Fields would have a pass tipped by Myles Murphy and it would be intercepted by Mike Jones, Jr.

The Tigers would start off the second half much like the first half and would move the ball with relative ease down the field against the Ohio State defense. Lawrence would find Powell again, this time from 10-yards out. Clemson would cut the lead to 14 points.

And Ohio State had an answer, just like in the first half, this time marching 91-yards down the field, getting a 56-yard touchdown from Fields to Olave.

It was not all good news as Wyatt Davis was hurt on the play and had to go to the injury tent. The Buckeyes are already down two guards with Harry Miller and Enokk Vimahi both not with the team after being named to the unavailable list. But good news is that Davis would not miss an offensive play.

Clemson was starting to move the ball down the field once again on the ensuing drive, but a Lawrence fumble was recovered by Justin Hilliard and the drive was stalled. The Buckeyes were unable to do anything on that series but were able to pin the Tigers with a Drue Chrisman punt to the Clemson 14-yard-line and more importantly, take valuable time off the clock with Clemson getting back to offense with just 1:07 left in the 3rd.

Ohio State would deliver the fatal blow early in the 4th quarter with a 45-yard strike between Fields and Jameson Williams. That would put the Buckeyes up 49-21.

Clemson would not give up, and nobody expected the Tigers to. Powell would haul in his second touchdown of the night, this time a 26-yarder to get the Tigers back within 21 points with 10:42 left in the game.

Ohio State could not get back on the board again as penalties would slow down any momentum that the Buckeyes started to gather but more importantly, time ticked off the clock, and while Clemson was able to move the ball, there was not enough time as the Buckeyes closed the door with a Sevyn Banks interception of Lawrence in the end zone with less than two minutes left in the game.

Attention will now turn to the quick turnaround with Alabama in the wings, we will have plenty more on that in the coming days.