Jan. 2—PASADENA, Calif. — Will Howard said Ohio State played angry but the Buckeyes were smiling after stunning No. 1-ranked Oregon 41-21 in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal Wednesday in the Rose Bowl to earn a spot in the playoff semifinals.
OSU will play Texas at 7:30 p.m. EST on January 10 in the Cotton Bowl in that semifinal.
The Buckeyes dominated the first half beyond the wildest imagination of almost everyone when they jumped out to a 34-0 lead in the game’s first 27 minutes.
Oregon scored touchdowns on its last possession of the first half and the first time it had the ball in the second half to cut the lead to 34-15. But when OSU got an 8-yard touchdown run from TreVeyon Henderson with 2:19 left in the third quarter to make it 41-15, the Ducks faced a hill too steep to climb.
Howard completed 17 of 26 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. Jeremiah Smith caught two of the touchdown passes and had 7 catches for 187 yards. Henderson was OSU’s leading rusher with 96 yards on 8 carries and Quinshon Judkins had 85 yards on 17 carries.
“They played well tonight and we didn’t. That’s a great team. And when you play a great team like Ohio State you can’t be not hitting on all cylinders. They were and we weren’t. We didn’t have the ability to stop them and we didn’t have the ability to get something going on offense,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day said, “I think we believe when we’re executing at a high level we can play with anyone in the country.”
OSU’s first score came one minute into the game when Howard connected with Smith on a 45-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead.
The lead grew to 14-0 on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Howard to Emeka Egbuka with 7:31 left in the first quarter.
Jayden Fielding’s 46-yard field goal in the first minute of the second quarter made it a 17-0 game and was followed by a 43-yard Howard to Smith touchdown pass, a 66-yard touchdown run by Henderson and a 36-yard field goal by Fielding to make it 34-0 with 2:59 left in the first half.
“Will does a great job of trusting us and throwing the ball out there. We tell him just throw it out there we’ll make a play for him,” Smith said.
Lanning was very impressed with OSU’s freshman receiver. “He’s strong. He attacks the ball in the air as well as anyone I’ve seen. He’s NFL-ready. He’s that talented. He’s very special. Will Howard did a great job of getting the ball to him. He’s got all the tools,” he said.
When Oregon and Ohio State played in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 match-up in October the Ducks came away with a 32-31 win and that game added extra incentives for the Buckeyes on Wednesday.
“After that game, we had a bad taste in our mouth,” Smith said.
Linebacker Cody Simon called the first meeting of the two teams “a letdown game” for OSU’s defense and said, “There were a lot of plays in the first game where we weren’t ready to go. We went through a lot of tough conversations after that game and a lot of changes were made but we’re better for it now.”
After Ohio State’s offense was AWOE (Absent Without Explanation) in a shocking 13-10 loss to Michigan, its newfound aggressiveness in the way it plays and in the offensive game plan has been in the spotlight. But the defense also played a huge role in the one-sided score in the rematch.
After failing to get a sack of Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in October, OSU had eight of them and 13 tackles for losses. Jack Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau and Simon all had two sacks and Lathan Ransom and Caden Curry had one each.
Day said, “I can’t say enough about Jack Sawyer as a leader and a person. He’s the heart and soul of our defensive front.”
“At the end of the day, we wanted to win a national championship. The way we got here wasn’t the way we expected. In this game of football, there are ups and downs along the way. You just hang in there and keep swinging,” he said.
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