Why last year’s Fiesta Bowl shouldn’t scare Ohio State football fans

When you read the headline, you think “Ohio State didn’t play in the Fiesta Bowl!”. And you’re right, they didn’t. The Ohio State football team beat Utah in the Rose Bowl just a few hours after the Fiesta Bowl ended. But the game does matter for Buckeye fans in more ways than one.

First off, it was a game that featured Oklahoma State and Notre Dame. It was the first game in which Marcus Freeman coached the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame is Ohio State’s first opponent for this season. In that game, Notre Dame scored 28 points in the first half against the Cowboys.

That’s significant because Oklahoma State was still running the same defense that they had been all season under Jim Knowles even though Knowles was now with the Ohio State football program. Giving up that many points in a half might concern Buckeye fans because the same scheme will now be used here.

That game result shouldn’t worry Buckeye fans. In fact, it should leave them encouraged. Oklahoma State didn’t have Knowles there to call the plays. It wasn’t until the second half that they finally settled down. That won’t be an issue with the Buckeyes.

Freeman also ended up blowing the game after taking a 28-7 lead at one point. That should give Ohio State fans some happiness knowing he didn’t know how to handle things right away. The hope is that the same thing holds true on September 3rd.

The Fiesta Bowl gave an early glimpse of what Ohio State’s defense could look like against Notre Dame, just with better players for the Buckeyes. Because they have more talent, it should be a different result. That’s especially true in the first half of the game.

This game is one of the premier non-conference matchups we will get in this college football season. It’s going to be fun.