ESPN.com · Jan 1, 2017
Bring on Bama: Clemson gets rematch after Fiesta blowout
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- When last year’s national championship game ended, Ben Boulware, Clemson’s vicious linebacker, sat in the locker room and sobbed.
“Cried like a baby,” Boulware said. “And it still hurts.”
On Saturday, Boulware and his team marched from that same locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium, took the field against a favored Ohio State team, and won a shot at redemption.
For four quarters of the College Football Playoff semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Clemson annihilated the Buckeyes’ offensive line, tormented quarterback J.T. Barrett, scratched, clawed and grabbed in search of a way to get back to that championship game and get another shot at mighty Alabama.