Ohio State earns vengeance at the Rose Bowl, rolling over top-ranked Oregon

2 years ago

Defensive back Jabbar Muhammad of the Oregon Ducks is called for a facemask against running back Quinshon Judkins #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half of the 111th Rose Bowl in the CFP quarterfinal game in Pasadena on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — Long before the swirls of pink descended over the San Gabriel Mountains, a wave of green swelled and crashed upon the population of Pasadena, buoyed by liquid courage and the dream of an undefeated Oregon season that had taken college football by storm.

Their Ducks, after all, were the darlings of college football. They took the turf at the Rose Bowl for warm-ups on Saturday with chrome helmets, glinting under the sun’s rays, the Phil Knight-backed flash that had placed No. 1-seeded Oregon at the forefront of the Big Ten conversation ever since they showed up at July’s conference media days in Indianapolis with a massive Duck floatie christening the White River. And for every Ohio State fan that walked the concourse at the Rose Bowl, this New Year’s Day, there were legions of Grinch-green Ducks, erupting in a shared call-and-response. Go! Ducks! Go! Ducks!

They were raucous and rowdy to begin this 41-21 Ohio State win, Oregon’s players flapping their arms in glee to their loyal legions before kickoff in Wednesday’s titanic rematch, and then Will Howard dropped back a minute later on Ohio State’s third play of the afternoon and floated a dump-off to a streaking Jeremiah Smith.

Smith, the 19-year-old who’d issued a public warning to Oregon to avoid playing him in man coverage, saw daylight. He went 45 yards, sprint slowing to a stroll by the time he hit the end zone, not a minute of game-clock in. The freshman superstar turned to the sea of green in the Rose Bowl stands, lifted his finger, and placed it to his visor.

Shush.

And the rampage began.

They were raucous, and rowdy, yes, and then this wave of green stood shell-shocked for the better part of two quarters. Oregon’s undefeated run came to a brutal end in Wednesday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the hands of Smith, who burst free in open fields and snared balls through double-coverage and walked away with Ohio State’s single-game freshman record for receiving yards with 187. It ended at the hands of Howard, who attacked one-on-one matchups with glee. It ended at the hands of offensive coordinator and ex-UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who schemed his Buckeyes to a 34-0 lead against his former Ducks at his former Rose Bowl home; it ended as Ryan Day continued to shrug the big-game monkey off his back, now with back-to-back wins over no. 7 Tennessee and top-ranked Oregon.

And it ended with powerhouse Ohio State making good, fully, on the weight of expectation placed on them since the season began, rolling into the CFP semifinal as the odds-on favorite in a wide-open field.

The first half came as redemption, too, for every area of Ohio State’s program, expunging the memory of a grueling 32-31 loss to Oregon in Autzen two months earlier. Gone was Howard’s too-late slide as that October clock hit zeroes. Gone was Smith’s costly pass-interference call. Gone was the distant memory of a defense that couldn’t stop Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

From kickoff, Howard whipped out a six-shooter and gunned a slew of shots deep in Oregon’s secondary, launching a 42-yard first-quarter bomb down the sideline to a streaking Emeka Egbuka for a quick two-touchdown lead.

Smith lit up the Rose Bowl in a ridiculous 161-yard first-half, springing home free in the second quarter for a 43-yard score and leaping into Christiano Ronaldo’s famed “SIUUU” celebration in the end zone with a 24-0 lead.

And a different-look Ohio State defense — a unit that hadn’t allowed 20 points in any game since that October loss — completely stifled Gabriel and Oregon’s offense, holding them to a cycle of ineffectual screens and bottled-up handoffs in a goose egg for 29 minutes.

The Ducks, though, got moving with an end-of-half score. Gabriel darted in and out of pockets within the pocket on an opening second-half drive, wheeling and connecting on a 25-yard strike to tight end Terrance Ferguson, setting up a short touchdown plunge by Noah Whittington to cut Ohio State’s lead to 34-15.

Smith, though, refused to be denied, capping off a generational performance for a kid who hadn’t even lived for a generation. Needing a spark as the third quarter waned, Smith caught a first-down slant from Howard and then straightened his 6-foot-3 frame for a fingertip 16-yard grab to continue the Buckeyes’ drive.

“Throw the ball to me, to my area,” Smith told reporters this week, “I’m going to find a way to make a play.”

Two plays later, Ohio State back TreVeyon Henderson scampered into the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown, the Buckeyes’ defense pummeled Gabriel with seven second-half sacks, and the Buckeyes walked out of Pasadena born anew.

Howard finished 17 of 26 for 319 yards and three touchdowns in front of an announced crowd of 90,732 at the Rose Bowl. Gabriel was 29 of 41 passing for 299 yards and two touchdowns. Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer totaled two sacks, two tackles for loss and three pass breakups in a dominant performance.

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