Despite committing four turnovers, Ohio State rode another punishing performance by Ezekiel Elliott and a clutch effort by the Silver Bullets to capture the school's eighth national title with a convincing 42-20 victory over Oregon in the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship game.
Entering their third straight game as an underdog, Urban Meyer's squad jumped out to a 21-10 halftime lead and scored the game's final 21 points, leaving no doubt about their status as national champs.
On its third quarterback of the season, Ohio State still managed to dump Oregon and its Heisman Trophy winning quarterback on the heels of defeating Alabama and Heisman finalist Amari Cooper, and a Wisconsin team led by the stiff arm's runner up, Melvin Gordon, over the last five weeks outscoring the trio of teams by a combined score of 143-55.
With an astonishing run to the national championship in the books, we look at Five Things from last night's historic win over the Ducks.
GREAT VENGEANCE AND FURIOUS ANGER
Ezekiel Elliott is the MVP of this football team. Not J.T. Barrett, not Cardale Jones, not Darron Lee, not anybody but Ezekiel Elliott. That's not a slight to anyone on this star-studded roster, it's just reality.
For the third straight outing, Elliott put the Buckeyes on his back and the result was another record setting performance as he churned out a national championship game best 246 rushing yards on 6.8 yards per carry with four touchdowns.
The performance capped a three game blitzkrieg in which he amassed 696 yards rushing on 9.2 yards per carry with eight touchdowns in wins over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon.
Elliott saved his best for last as he, after a 98 rushing yard, one touchdown effort in the 1st half, cranked out 148 yards on 25 carries with three touchdowns in the 2nd half to carry Ohio State to the winner's circle.
The true sophomore got the Buckeyes on the board early with a 33-yard scamper before a 17-yard tote set up Ohio State's 2nd score of the night to claim a 14-7 lead.
In the 2nd half, he ripped off a 9-yard run on the final play of the 3rd quarter to put Ohio State in front, 28-20, helping the Buckeyes regain control after Cardale Jones lost his mind, fumbling the ball deep on OSU territory, gift wrapping three points that trimmed the lead to 21-20 midway through the 3rd quarter.
On the next possession, EZE capped a nine play, 76 yard drive with a 2-yard plunge giving OSU a definitive 35-20 lead with 9:44 left in the game. With Oregon desperate to get the ball and score quickly, Elliott carried the rock on seven of Ohio State's final nine plays to salt away the bulk of the final seven minutes in a truly remarkable performance.
The 246-yard effort gave Elliott three straight career-high nights and three straight game records (B1G championship, Sugar Bowl, Nat'l Championship). In 15 games, he chewed up 1,878 rushing yards, good for the 2nd-most single-season rushing yards in Buckeye history, on 125.8 yards per game and 18 touchdowns.
STONES OF STEEL
Cardale Jones was already a cult hero before the CFP championship game thanks to his exploits as a 3rd-stringer-turned-starter against Wisconsin and Alabama. Last night, Jones showed signs of potentially being engulfed by the moment, most notably when he Jameis'd on a 1st and 10 play at midfield as he scrambled backward before fumbling the ball, giving Oregon possession at the Buckeye 23 yard line just minutes after a long Mariota touchdown toss had trimmed OSU's lead to 21-17 early in the 3rd quarter.
The Ducks would go on to kick a field goal cutting Ohio State's lead to 21-20 with 6:39 left in the 3rd quarter but to his credit, Cardale not only didn't collapse under the pressure, he embraced it and was lights out over the next two possessions, leading the Buckeyes to back-to-back touchdown drives and a commanding 35-20 lead.
On his first pass following the fumble, Jones found Michael Thomas for 17 yards. Right after, he hit Curtis Samuel for eight yards over the middle then converted a crucial 3rd and 3 as he bulldozed for just enough to move the chains. He would then hit Jalin Marshall for four yards making him 4/4 for 29 yards on the drive before Elliott raced nine yards to paydirt giving OSU the 28-20 cushion.
On the next possession, Jones found Thomas again, this time for 23 yards on an out route before connecting with Marshall over the middle on a great read converting a 3rd and 5 with a 19-yard strike. Three plays later, Elliott was end zone dancing with Ohio State leading 35-20 with under 10 minutes left in the season.
Post fumble, Jones was a perfect 6/6 throwing the football for 71 yards as the Buckeyes scored touchdowns on consecutive drives to put the game out of reach.
For the game, Jones hit on 16 of 23 throws for 242 yards and a touchdown with an interception that was really Marshall's fault though Cardale did lose two fumbles.
Still, his response to adversity was hugely important to Ohio State winning it all and his three-game stat line of 46/75 (61%) for 742 yards with five touchdown passes against two interceptions will go down in Buckeye lore.
BULLETS MAKE ST8MENT
Ezekiel Elliott stole the show but the Buckeye defense more than lived up to their end of the bargain as they stopped Oregon's high-octane offense 10 of 12 times on 3rd down, holding Mariota to just 3/10 passing on the critical down for 61 yards.
Their impact on 3rd down furthered a dominance they showed against Alabama but they sweetened the pot this time around as they yielded just 13 points in Oregon's four trips to the red zone while limiting them to 10 points off four Buckeye turnovers.
The group surrendered just 465 total yards compared to Oregon's season average of 552 yards per game and they gave up only 20 points, or 27 fewer than the Ducks averaged during their 13-2 season.
Oregon even punted three times in the 1st quarter – something they hadn't done since 2009.
Sugar Bowl defensive MVP Darron Lee was again a beast with eight stops and a pass breakup while Tyvis Powell finished with nine tackles and Eli Apple added seven stops and an interception on the game's final play.
A FITTING END
Redshirt junior tight end Nick Vannett has spent much of his career in the shadow of his more celebrated teammate, Jeff Heuerman.
Last night, it was Vannett who seized the moment though it might have been hard to notice thanks to the position he plays.
The most obvious contribution from Vannett came as he hauled in a 1-yard toss from Jones to put the Buckeyes in front by a score of 14-7 late in the 1st quarter. That grab, and one other on the night, gave the Westerville product 19 receptions on the year for 220 yards. Those numbers obviously don't jump off the page with the yardage tied for sixth on the team but it should be noted his five touchdown grabs are good for fourth on the team with all his receiving numbers bettering those of Heuerman.
Beyond the touchdown catch, Vannett was a boss run blocking for Elliott throughout the night. He helped spring Elliott's 33-yard jaunt to tie the game at seven apiece with a perfectly executed seal and he keyed two other chunk runs by Elliott with similar blocks including one on a 10-yard Elliott burst to help set up EZE's 9-yard touchdown run putting OSU in front 28-20 at the end of three quarters.
The performance could definitely serve as a springboard for the talented Vannett as he enters his senior season.
THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS
Urban Meyer, ladies and gentlemen.
I still can't believe the sequence of events that brought Meyer to Columbus or how lucky Ohio State is to have him leading the program.
With last night's magic carpet ride in the books, Meyer is:
- 38-3 at Ohio State
- The leader of a program with the nation's longest winning streak (13)
- 3-0 all-time in national championship games
- 40-3 in games in which he has more than a week to prepare
- 10-3 versus teams ranked in the Top 5
That's about as bossy as it gets and it feels like he's just getting started. The thought was that the Buckeyes were a year ahead of schedule despite losing two Heisman candidates during the season and he's such a closer he picked up a handful of verbal commitments while he was busy willing his team to victory.
And not only is he a top two recruiter in the game, he's built a staff featuring the likes of Tom Herman (hat tip to you, kind sir), the best offensive line coach in college football in Ed Warriner, a force in his own right leading the defensive line in Larry Johnson and the guy he brought in to reconstruct the pass defense, Chris Ash, seems to have a pretty good idea of what he's doing. Of course, you also have to mention Luke Fickell as he completes his redemption tour, Stan Drayton, who has developed some downright nasty running backs and Kerry Coombs and Zach Smith who has done some impressive work with the receiving corps this season. And Pantoni's a beast, and of course Marotti is someone Urban won't do without.
It feels pretty damn good to not only win a national title in convincing fashion despite adversity but to also take stock of the program and feel like this is just the beginning which is a testament to the machine that is Urban Frank Meyer.
