Earlier reports proved to be correct as the No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes will travel to Miami to face the 12th-ranked Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl on Friday Jan. 3rd.
The game will be played nearly 35 years to the day from when former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson linebacker Charlie Bauman in the Gator Bowl, leading to Hayes' dismissal, following 28 years and 205 wins at Ohio State. That game, won by Clemson 17-15, is the only meeting between the two schools.
This will be Ohio State's second trip to the Orange Bowl. In 1977, Hayes' Big Ten champion Buckeyes defeated the Big Eight champion Colorado Buffalos, 27-10, after falling behind early 10-0.
This will be Ohio State's 10th BCS bowl appearance, which leads all programs. Officially, however, the Buckeyes are 5-3 in BCS bowl games, with Ohio State's 31-26 win over Arkansas in the 2011 Allstate Sugar Bowl vacated. The five wins are tied for most among all programs with USC and Florida. With those two schools not playing in BCS bowl games this season, a win would leave the Buckeyes alone at the top with six.
Clemson has appeared in the Orange Bowl as a BCS bowl once before, in 2012. It did not go well for them.
Urban Meyer's teams are 7-1 all-time in bowl games, including 4-0 in BCS bowl games. His only loss came at the end of the 2007 season when the hated Wolverines topped his Gators, 41-35, in the 2008 Capital One Bowl.
The Orange Bowl will represent a trip home for several Buckeyes that are from the state of Florida. Linebacker Ryan Shazier and running back Carlos Hyde are two of five Ohio State football players from the state of Florida. Four of them will start in the game: Joining Shazier and Hyde are freshman DE Joey Bosa and junior TE Jeff Heuerman.
“I haven’t thought that much about the bowl game yet, but I do know we have to finish out strong and get this 13th win for our seniors,” Shazier said. “We have to do whatever we can in this game to go out with a win.
“And it will be really cool to be able to play Clemson in Florida in the Orange Bowl game … in front of my family and friends. It will be nice to be able to play the last game of the season in my home state. It will mean a lot.”
Both schools will receive 17,500 tickets for the game. Information on a public sale is forthcoming.
The Buckeyes will be the home team in the game.
You can follow the Orange Bowl on Twitter for all of your bowl-related updates, @OrangeBowl, and we'll have more shortly, as Urban Meyer and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney will join a teleconference later this evening.
