Urban Meyer’s offense in the Fiesta Bowl had the worst performance of his coaching career by not running the Urban Meyer offense. Although Clemson defensive coordinator Brett Venables is known for blitzing, he largely eschewed such aggressive tactics against the Buckeyes.

Instead, he took a page from what other defenses have done to limit the Ohio State offense. He primarily played zone coverage (mostly cover 6 but also cover 3), to take away deep throws, force the Buckeyes to execute a timing-based passing game, and allow his defensive backs and outside linebackers to aggressively play downhill against horizontal action.

In response, Ohio State largely abandoned their spread run option offense. The Buckeyes did not use their most consistent plays this season, such as lead outside zone, power read, or bash. Instead, Meyer’s staff called for passes on 24 of 27 first half plays. According to Chad Peltier, the Buckeyes threw on 61-percent of standard downs (compared to running nearly 65-percent of the time on such downs during the regular season).

This was all the more curious because the one area where Ohio State had an advantage was its run offense against the Tigers’ run defense. By contrast, Clemson’s primary advantage was its pass defense against a mediocre Buckeye throw game. So it should come as no surprise that Ohio State throwing every down played into the Tigers’ hands.

J.T. Barrett has his strengths as a runner and in executing the read option game. But asking him to drop back every down, analyze zone coverage, and throw into tight windows is something he cannot do. Against Clemson, the Buckeye offensive line provided adequate pass protection early. But – as he has in previous games – Barrett often held the football too long, not throwing with anticipation or the accuracy to fit the football into tight windows.