No one can stand in Ohio State’s way if the Buckeyes keep playing like this.
The No. 8 Buckeyes absolutely throttled No. 1 Oregon in the first half on the way to a 41-21 Rose Bowl win on Wednesday while earning a matchup with No. 5 Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Ohio State led 31-0 midway through the second quarter as Oregon was simply overmatched. It was a remarkable sight; Oregon was the only team in college football to end the regular season without a loss and beat three playoff teams — including Ohio State in October — on the way to a Big Ten title.
But the Buckeyes’ offense continued the masterful form it found over a week ago against Tennessee in the first round. And freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith was a big reason why. Smith took a short pass on the third play of the game for a 45-yard TD and a 7-0 lead just a minute in.
The lead was quickly two touchdowns when Emeka Egbuka made a fantastic catch between two defenders halfway through the first quarter.
And Smith gave Ohio State a 24-0 lead less than five minutes into the second quarter when he was somehow wide open near the end zone for a 43-yard TD. Oregon’s defense was confused as soon as Ohio State went in motion at the snap, and that led to Smith being passed off to a safety who was all alone in the middle of the field. That didn’t work so well. Just look how far Oregon’s defenders were from him.
Smith warned during the week that Ohio State was going to take shots against Oregon’s defense if it saw man coverage. That TD came against a zone look, but Smith beat man coverage plenty of times, too. He was nearly unstoppable and has a claim to be the best wide receiver in the country despite playing high school football just 12 months ago.
And if Oregon didn’t have enough problems trying to defend Ohio State’s pass game, the Buckeyes cut through the Ducks on the ground, too. TreVeyon Henderson made the lead 31-0 when he rushed 66 yards for a score. Henderson’s TD came with 8:47 left in the second quarter.
As Ohio State was piling up the yards and points, Oregon was stuck in mud offensively. The Ducks had 139 yards of offense in the first half and 75 of those came on the final drive of the second quarter as Oregon got a TD right before halftime.
The Ducks also found themselves shorthanded during the first half. Leading rusher Jordan James walked to the locker room and was unable to return, while WR Evan Stewart couldn’t play after suffering an apparent injury in pregame warmups. Leading receiver Tez Johnson — who missed time late in the season because of a shoulder injury — was also seen on the sideline getting treatment in the second quarter.
Ohio State had 390 total yards by halftime. QB Will Howard threw for 269 yards over the first 30 minutes as he was 11-of-18 with three scores. It was the best half of football Howard had played in an Ohio State uniform and more than made up for his late slide as time expired during the Buckeyes’ 32-31 loss in Eugene.
Oregon flirted with making it a game with a TD to start the third quarter, cutting the lead to 34-15, followed by a stop of the Buckeyes on their first possession. But Ohio State’s defense stepped up and Henderson’s second TD of the day with 2:19 to go in the third made the rest of the game a formality.
The Ohio State defense ended up with seven sacks of Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks finished with minus-7 rushing yards.
A second straight postseason trip to Texas
Ohio State finds itself in the Cotton Bowl for the second straight season. And this time, the stakes are vastly different. A year ago, Ohio State’s playoff hopes were dashed with a loss to Michigan at the end of the regular season. As Michigan won the Big Ten and went on to win the national title, Ohio State missed the four-team College Football Playoff entirely and instead went to the Cotton Bowl, where it lost 14-3 to Missouri.
The appearance in that game after the loss to Michigan was the impetus for the push for 2024. Before the bowl game, 2023 starter Kyle McCord entered the transfer portal and the inept offensive showing in Dallas made it clear that Ohio State needed a new quarterback on the roster for 2024.
Howard became that guy after transferring from Kansas State. The Buckeyes added Alabama DB Caleb Downs and Ole Miss RB Quinshon Judkins while bringing back most of a defense that was one of the best in college football. Throw in the addition of Smith as a five-star recruit, and you can understand why the Buckeyes were the favorite to win the national championship before the season began.
But Ohio State hasn’t looked like this juggernaut until now. The regular season was filled with far too much inconsistency — and those pesky losses to Oregon and Michigan — to view the Buckeyes like many did before the season. But we now have two postseason games of proof why Ohio State can be the best team in the country. And the Buckeyes need two more wins to be able to stake that claim.
