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For decades, New Orleans and the Superdome were beloved by Dabo Swinney.
That's where he came as a kid to watch his Alabama team play. That's where he reached the pinnacle with the Crimson Tide when they won the 1992 national title with a shocking dismantling of Miami.
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Safe to say the Big Easy has moved down his list of favorite spots in recent years.
The nightmare against Alabama three years ago in the CFP semifinal.
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Another nightmare a year ago in LSU's national championship home game.
And now this.
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This meltdown when the better bet going in seemed to be Clemson rocking and rolling out of here and to Miami for another showdown with Alabama.
And against those hated dudes in the silver helmets, no less.
Until further notice, this place will be regarded as The Big Queasy by Swinney and Clemson faithful.
Ohio State was No. 11 on Swinney's coaches' poll ballot, but No. 1 (Justin Fields) went right through Clemson's heart in a savage 49-28 CFP semifinal thrashing.
The Buckeyes spent a year waiting to get back at the Tigers after a 29-23 defeat in the 2019 semifinal.
And then Swinney gave them some extra juice by ranking them No. 11 by virtue of their six-win body of work.
Swinney stood on principle in that ranking, saying it wasn't fair for others to have to survive and advance through 10 and 11 games while Ohio State played five regular-season games before outlasting Northwestern in the Big Ten title game.
And while his premise was and is defensible, there's now no stopping a flood of second-guessing after his touchdown-favorite Tigers were ambushed by Ryan Day's seething Buckeyes.
Ohio State didn't just take care of unfinished business. It gave Clemson the business, going up and down the field on Brent Venables' defense while harassing Trevor Lawrence in what was likely his last game in a Clemson uniform.
Ohio State piled up 639 yards. It out-rushed Clemson 254-44. It reinforced the lesson that when you're better on the line of scrimmage you'll probably be better on the scoreboard.
Trey Sermon rushed for 193 yards on 31 carries as the Buckeyes did just about whatever they wanted and created the safest place for an injured Fields to go unharmed and untouched: the pocket.
A brisk opening touchdown drive by the Tigers, with Tony Elliott back home in isolation after a positive COVID test, made it seem like things would be easy. A quick three-and-out by Ohio State signaled that the avalanche was coming.
Turned out it came from the other direction. Ohio State had five straight touchdown drives after that opening punt, and not even a debilitating injury could keep Fields from having a field day in this rematch with his old quarterback pal from Georgia.
This was the playoff stage where Lawrence shined brightest two years ago as a freshman, terrorizing Notre Dame and Alabama. It was where he rose above everyone else in a game for the ages in the semifinal last year, willing himself and his team to that six-point victory in Glendale.
But now it was Fields' turn, even after he was speared in the side by James Skalski late in the first half to bring Skalski's ejection.
Fields finished with 385 yards passing and six touchdowns on 22-of-28 passing. It was a performance for the ages, particularly given his injury.
Even when Fields looked like he couldn't walk, the Buckeyes' offensive line plowed the way on a 12-play, 80-yard drive at the end of the first half that put Clemson in a 35-14 halftime hole.
Fields found Jeremy Ruckert with a perfect pass over the hands of Andrew Booth for a 12-yard score with 11 seconds left.
And then in the second half he was healthy enough to turn and uncork moon-shot touchdowns of 56 and 45 yards to Chris Olave and Jameson Williams to put the Buckeyes up 49-21.
Lawrence threw for 400 yards and two touchdowns on a 33-of-48 clip, but he had three fumbles (losing one) and threw a late interception. Travis Etienne ran for 32 yards on 10 carries in another sour trip back to his home state.
The week was dominated by talk of Swinney's ranking, and of insinuations that Clemson's defense was stealing signs.
The Buckeyes stole something in this brutal beating: the Tigers' manhood.
Swinney, his staff and the rest of the program will have a long time to figure out what went wrong.
But they know this:
They'd prefer never to come back to this place.
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