The Buckeyes are in Miami to take on the Clemson tonight in the Orange Bowl.

Ohio State may be disappointed in the fact that they lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship and are not playing in the National Championship Monday night, but they must be motivated and bring their top-notch game tonight. The Tigers are not only a very good team, but Ohio State is still in a BCS bowl; something only a few teams can say every year.

The Buckeyes offense will most likely have to put up a lot of points if they want to beat the Tigers. During the season, Ohio State averaged 46.3 points/game (3rd), 200.9 pass yards/game (91st), and 317.5 rush yards/game (3rd). They allowed 17 sacks this year and threw 7 interceptions. To go along with that, the Buckeyes had 16 fumbles during the season (8 lost). Also, they converted on 57 of their 60 (95%) red-zone opportunities (50 touchdowns, 7 field goals).

Ohio State’s defense must be on their A-game tonight. During the season, they allowed 21.3 points/game (22nd), 259.5 pass yards/game, and 102.6 rush yards/game. They had 40 sacks on the season to go along with forcing 16 fumbles (8 recovered). Also, they had 14 interceptions during the season. The Buckeyes allowed their opponents to convert on 31 of their 39 (79%) red-zone opportunities (26 touchdowns, 5 field goals).

Unfortunately, Ohio State’s defense will be without Noah Spence (led team with 8 sacks this year) and top cornerback Bradley Roby tonight. Spence has been suspended 3 games (use of an unapproved dietary supplement) and Roby is out with an injury (bone bruise in left knee).

The defense has struggled for most of the season and losing those 2 players is not good, especially going against an offense as explosive as Clemson’s is, as I explained in yesterday’s scouting report. Outside of Ryan Shazier, who has led the defense all year, a lot of players will have to step up on the defensive side of the ball in order for the Buckeyes to come away with a victory.

Buckeyes kicker, Drew Basil made 9 of his 10 field goal attempts during the season, with a long of 45 yards.

With two explosive offenses, tonight’s game will be a high scoring shootout.

I predict that Ohio State will beat Clemson, 41-38.

Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.