GLENDALE, Ariz. — Deshaun Watson ran for two touchdowns and threw for one, and No.?2 Clemson crushed No. 3 Ohio State, 31-0, on Saturday night in the Fiesta Bowl to set up a rematch with Alabama for the College Football Playoff national championship.

Tigers coach Dabo Swinney had sold his team on making this a redemptive trip to the desert by winning at the site where they lost to Alabama in the national title game last season. Now Clemson (13-1) gets another crack at the top-ranked Crimson Tide in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 9. The teams that started the season ranked Nos. 1 and 2 will most certainly end it that way, too.

In what will likely be Watson's final college game, he will try to lead Clemson to its first national title since 1981. The junior and Heisman Trophy runner-up passed for 259 yards and ran for 57 against the Buckeyes (11-2), who could not keep Clemson's big and quick defensive line out of their backfield.

An Ohio State offense that averaged 479.5 yards per game managed just 215. The Buckeyes' ground game, ranked ninth nationally (258 yards per game), struggled to get 88 — and 64 came on All-American Curtis Samuel's run to the Clemson 16 early in the fourth quarter.

Freshman Clelin Ferrell made three tackles for loss, including a sack, and Clemson allowed only nine first downs. The Buckeyes were shut out for the first time since 1993 against Michigan and Urban Meyer's team was held scoreless for the first time in 194 games as a coach.

Watson made the score 24-0 with 2:06 left in the third quarter when he faked a pitch, cut through a hole and into the end zone from 7 yards out. He hopped through the back of the end zone and did a little dance in front of the Ohio State section.

The rest of the game was a formality.

Much the way Alabama's defense suffocated Washington in the day's first semifinal, Clemson shut down Ohio State. Quarterback J.T. Barrett threw for 127 yards and was intercepted twice.

Barrett was Ohio State's quarterback throughout the 2014 regular season but was injured in the finale. Cardale Jones took over and led the Buckeyes to three victories and the national championship.

This season was Barrett's chance to do it on his own.

The junior completed 19 of 33 passes for 127 yards and was sacked three times. He carried 11 times for minus-2 yards.

At the beginning of the night, Ohio State did have two chances to score.

Tyler Durbin, who missed two field-goal attempts before making a critical one in a double-overtime win over Michigan, attempted a pair of 47-yarders early in the game. One missed right, the other left.

The announced sellout crowd of 71,279 at University of Phoenix Stadium had far more Ohio State scarlet than Clemson orange at kickoff, but by the halfway point in the fourth quarter Tigers fans mostly had the place to themselves.