MY THOUGHTS.....COTTON BOWL

 

              Two teams who were snubbed for the playoff were slotted in the Cotton Bowl, a battle of B1G and PAC12 blue bloods.  Ohio State’s defensive line was the story line of the game, as they dominated from start to finish, garnering a whopping 14 TFL and four turnovers in a 24-7 victory in which the score was much closer than the game really was.  As it turned out, the tenacious effort by the defense allowed Ohio State’s offense to operate at a pedestrian pace throughout the second half, ending up with a mere 277 yards of total offense, the fewest in a victory by an Urban Meyer Ohio State team.  As I mentioned before, the Ohio State defensive line was the star of the game.  Among the 14 TFLs were eight sacks of USC QB Sam Darnold.  All of the defensive linemen had at least one sack, led by Sam Hubbard with 3.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks.  In addition to frustrating Darnold all night, they held star tailback Ronald Jones to 64 yards and 3.4 yards per carry.  The Trojans managed to outgain Ohio State by 136 yards and the Buckeye pass defense showed some cracks, allowing Darnold to throw for 356 yards, but the defense forced a season-high four turnovers, which directly led to the three Ohio State touchdowns (one of them, a pick-six by Damon Webb).  USC’s offense had more success moving the ball down the field than Ohio State, finishing the game with 413 yards, but the Trojans were unable to finish more than one drive with points, in part because of the Buckeyes’ ability to make plays on the ball, as they forced their final two takeaways – both on strip sacks of USC quarterback Sam Darnold – inside their own 30-yard line.  Although Ohio State’s defense allowed more than 300 passing yards for the fourth time season, the four turnovers forced and only seven points allowed made it a good night for the Buckeyes defense against one of the best offenses they faced all year. Making matters even more challenging, the Buckeyes were without one of their best defensive players, junior cornerback Denzel Ward.

In his final game at Ohio State, quarterback J.T. Barrett completed 11 of 17 passes for 117 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns and was named the Outstanding Offensive Player of the Cotton Bowl.  In the third quarter, Barrett became the Big Ten’s all-time leader in total yardage, surpassing Drew Bree’s career total of 12,692 yards.  He also set new high OSU single-season marks in total offense and touchdowns.  Aside from these efforts, the Ohio State offense looked offensive at times.  Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins were hardly a factor, combining for just 57 yards and the wide receivers combined for just six catches for 58 yards.  The offensive line was pushed backward at times, most notably on several third-and-short situations Aside from Barrett and his running; I noted the fine play of Austin Mack, who stood out as a bright spot.  His three catches for 56 yards was basically half of the team’s passing yardage and was highlighted by an outstanding 33-yard catch on an up-and-go route, and later on the same drive, a 15-yard grab.  This led to Sean Nurenberger’s field goal in the second quarter.  Mack also had a great downfield block that paved the way for Barrett’s 28-yard scoring run.

 

But, the bottom line is, while Ohio State’s offense was pedestrian, they took care of the ball and did not make mistakes (the fumbled punt by K.J. Hill was the only thing that really made a difference as it led to a short field for USC’s touchdowns) and the defense dominated a high-powered USC offense and forced them into mistakes.  That’s what wins games.