Welcome to The Hodgepodge.
I can’t say it’s totally surprising Ohio State beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl. The manner in which it happened, though, is one that totally caught me off-guard. Ohio State took a commanding 34-0 lead on the No. 1, lone undefeated team in the country and the contest was essentially over before Dan Lanning and company could make halftime adjustments. I can neither confirm nor deny whether OSU served their players halftime meals or not, but if they did, it’s all but certain roasted Duck was on the menu.
Jeremiah Smith was unstoppable, regardless of who or how many Oregon defensive backs were guarding him. He’s nearing unguardable status and increasing his already fast-growing legend at Ohio State as a true freshman.
Will Howard was equally impressive, delivering his second straight 300-yard passing game and making his best throw of the day to Emeka Egbuka in the first half for Ohio State’s second touchdown of the game. For someone who was labeled as a big question mark before the season started, Howard is playing like a star through two playoff games.
A much-maligned offensive line kept Howard clean most of the day, opened running lanes, and made two deadly Oregon pass rushers nearly nonexistent.
The defense also did a complete 180 from the first meeting. OSU brought a tenacious pass rush (more on that later), had Cody Simon and Caleb Downs flying everywhere around the field, and Denzel Burke, who was embarrassed by his first performance against Oregon, didn’t allow a single catch this time around.
In short, what could go right did go right for Ohio State in The Granddaddy of Them All. Leading up to the kickoff against Tennessee in December, there was little belief in the Buckeyes from a national perspective and only some belief in them even locally from fans and media alike. Now, the script is flipped, and no one is doubting these Buckeyes now as the clear overwhelming favorite to win a national championship this season.
When the bracket was announced, we estimated Ryan Day would have to beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and whoever emerged from the other side of the bracket to silence critics and win a national title. We also added a run like that should earn him a statue in Columbus.
Well, he’s halfway there, and already bested the best team (on paper) he’ll have to get through to hoist the trophy.
Texas has its warts on the field of late, but is no slouch from a talent perspective and will be playing essentially in its backyard on the Cotton Bowl. The Ohio State bandwagon is quickly filling up, but the Buckeyes can’t stop playing at the level they’re brought the past two games if they want to keep it rolling.
Before we get into the rest, we have to take a quick moment to give Oregon some flowers. The Ducks were the only FBS team to have a perfect regular season, would have been in the national championship game if we were in the BCS era and likely would have played for a national title if the four-team playoff were still around. But this is the inaugural year of the 12-team field, so their dreams will have to wait at least another year. You also can’t help but feel a little bit bad that an undefeated team’s reward in its first playoff game is a matchup with the best roster in football, but we’re aware we’ve beaten the CFP-seeding-is-messed-up horse to death lately.
Now, none of that changes the fact that Ohio State beat their ass 10 ways to Sunday on both sides of the ball, nor should Ohio State feel the need to apologize for the win. Oregon proved to be a quality team throughout the year, the Buckeyes just finally played to their potential everyone knew was there and were much better Wednesday.
But based on recent recruiting trends, Oregon isn’t likely going to experience a fall-off any time soon. And not for nothing, the actions of the Ducks’ players and coaching staff following the defeat proved they’re worth rooting for when they’re not playing your favorite team.
Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson congratulated Howard following the game and told him he respects him and wants him to win a national title. The Ducks’ wide receivers coach Junior Adams found Smith and lauded his performance. I spotted many other Oregon Ducks hugging OSU players and telling them something along the lines of they’re rooting for them the rest of the way.
It’s now two down, two to go for Ohio State. But it sure feels like something special is brewing.
Ohio State spotlight of the week: Pass rush
It’s really quite astonishing how effective the Buckeyes’ pass rush was against Oregon. OSU couldn’t sack Dillon Gabriel at all in the teams’ first meeting in mid-October. In their past 11 games, the Ducks’ offensive line had only allowed six sacks. Ohio State racked up eight on Wednesday, teeing off on Oregon’s interior offensive line and tackles once the Buckeyes went up multiple scores since the Ducks were purely one-dimensional. It was the story of the game on defense, and it was why OSU halted any comeback attempt prematurely. Not that I’m fond of sacks counting against a team’s rushing total, but it also led to the Buckeyes holding the Ducks to an astoundingly low minus-23 rushing yards.
This could be the formula to victory again against Texas. The Longhorns’ running game has a laundry list of problems getting going lately, and if the Buckeyes get ahead early again, it could force Texas and Quinn Ewers to become one-dimensional quickly. While Ewers, once a Buckeye, has all sorts of talent at his disposal both via his arm and his offensive weaponry, he’s far more mistake-prone than Gabriel is.
Northern teams represent three of the four semifinalists
Boise State at least represented the Group of Five well by hanging with Penn State for a majority of the Fiesta Bowl but watching that game was a perfect example of a relatively close game that you never thought the underdog had a prayer of winning.
The Nittany Lions slowed down Ashton Jeanty more than any team could this season (including a now-eliminated Oregon), and Drew Allar made several beautiful throws to lift his team. The size advantage upfront was overwhelming for PSU, too. The only downside was an injury to star pass rusher Abdul Carter, but you’d think he’ll do everything he can to play in the semifinals.
The Sugar Bowl was delayed a day due to tragic circumstances we probably don’t need to relive here. In terms of on-the-field results, Notre Dame overwhelmed what everybody eventually realized turned out to be a massively overrated Georgia team, devouring the Bulldogs defensively and taking advantage of the inexperience of quarterback Gunner Stockton. Just how underwhelming was the effort from Georgia? Well, Notre Dame won despite quarterback Riley Leonard not reaching the 100-yard passing mark, only totaling 244 total yards of offense as a team and having a worse average in yards per play than Georgia.
But Stockton had a costly fumble with less than a minute remaining in the first half, setting up Notre Dame’s lone offensive score of the day, then the Bulldogs allowed a kickoff return touchdown to begin the second half. Just like that, it was pretty much over. Going 2-of-12 on third down didn’t help Georgia either.
Finally, Texas is the lone Southern representative of the sport’s final four teams following a double-overtime win against Arizona State where it can thank its lucky stars it’s not eliminated. From the targeting no-call heard around the world, to Texas converting a prayer on 4th-and-long down by seven in overtime, the Sun Devils had every chance to win this contest. Still, all the kudos in the world to Arizona State considering it was a double-digit underdog and it fell behind 17-3 at halftime yet rallied to force overtime in the first place.
And it’s not entirely fair to label this as a complete horseshoe win for Texas, considering its kicker missed both a go-ahead field goal with less than two minutes remaining and a potential game-winning kick as time expired. Either way, if the Longhorns give that kind of effort against Ohio State on Friday, they’ll lose by 28.
So there, we have our final four set. Texas vs. Ohio State, and Penn State vs. Notre Dame. For all the whining the SEC did about getting a fourth team left out of the playoff, all original members of the league are eliminated from national title contention, with the lone surviving member residing in the Big 12 a year ago.
Assuming Ohio State beats the Longhorns, we’re guaranteed an all-northern final, with a juicy national championship storyline either way. If Penn State beats Notre Dame, we’d have an all-Big Ten final. For all the clamoring the SEC does about how those schools supposedly run the sport, it’s been a pretty successful postseason for the north, hasn’t it?
Picking the semifinals
Only two games of note this week. Where did the season go?
CFP quarterfinal and bowl season record: 5-4
Overall record: 66-55
Penn State at Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 9 on ESPN
Pick: Penn State +1.5
Breakdown: Yeah, I know, I’m picking Big Game James in a Big Game spot. I’m asking for it here. But I just think the Nittany Lions match up well with Notre Dame. PSU’s strength on defense is run defense, which is a perfect counter to the Fighting Irish’s offensive mantra. Drew Allar and Penn State should beware of the vaunted Notre Dame secondary, but in terms of the front seven, they can absolutely run on them. A stout running game with some play action to Tyler Warren sprinkled in, and Big Game James might really be one game away from beating the allegations.
Ohio State at Texas, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 10 on ESPN
Pick: Ohio State -5.5
Breakdown: The way Ohio State is playing (and frankly the way Texas is playing, too), there’s no earthly way I’m picking against the Buckeyes. I’ve forecasted tight, competitive wins in the first two matchups, and each have turned into blowouts. I’m once again expecting the contest to be close considering a likely pro-Texas crowd in Dallas and the Longhorns knowing they’ll need to bring their A-game to have a chance, but Ohio State is playing too well not to ensure it reaches Atlanta.
