For the second straight playoff game, the Ohio State
Buckeyes got off to a fast start and never looked back, rolling over the top
seed and previous undefeated Oregon Ducks 41-21. The Buckeyes were so dominant, they rolled to
an unbelievable 34-0 lead late in the second quarter.
Quarterback Will Howard completed 17 of 26 passes for 319
yards and three touchdowns, two of them to the unstoppable freshman of the
year, Jeremiah Smith. His two scoring
catches were part of his seven receptions for 187 yards. Emeka Egbuka contributed with five catches
for 72 yards and a touchdown grab while in double coverage. On the ground, the duo of TreVeyon Henderson
and Quinshon Judkins hammered the Ducks with a combined 179 yards and two
touchdowns. Just as important, the
revamped Ohio State offensive line had their second straight exceptional game,
keeping Will Howard free from a sack and giving him plenty of time to pick
apart the Oregon secondary. Jayden
Fielding redeemed himself from the awful outing at the end of the regular
season by nailing two field goals, including a 46-yarder.
The Ohio State defense was lights-out, not allowing Oregon
into the red zone until late in the first half as quarterback Dillon Gabriel
was pressured constantly and dumped seven times. Cody Simon played perhaps the best game of
his career with 11 tackles and two sacks.
Lathan Ransom and Jordan Hancock had exceptional games in the secondary
with seven and five tackles respectively.
Ransom also had a sack. J.T.
Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer led the way for the front seven. Tuimoloau had three stops, all three were for
a loss and two of those were sacks and Sawyer had two tackles, but both were
sacks.
Ohio State now moves on to the “final four”, taking on Texas
in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
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