There's going to be a lot of praise heaved at the Buckeyes in the introduction to this week's stock report.
As Ryan Day and his players pointed out numerous times this past weekend, past success guarantees nothing in the future. There are no banners being hung in the Horseshoe for the Buckeyes being national title favorites (-110 to win it all on DraftKings) with two rounds of the College Football Playoff remaining.
All that being said, as the Oregon game is concerned, the Bucks are flying high after charbroiling the No. 1 Ducks 41-21 in the CFP quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl. The pass game looked incredible. The run game surged as the game progressed. The defense collected eight sacks against Dillon Gabriel and held Oregon in a vice grip early as Ohio State cruised out to a 34-0 lead.
The Buckeyes' special teams did their job. Nitpicks are few and far between. Two games in, Ohio State is playing its best football of the season these playoffs.
Stock Up
Jeremiah Smith
Speak of the physical gifts all you want. Smith might be a tier above the rest at wide receiver physically, but it's also his advanced technical prowess and receiving skills that have made him explode on the scene in 2024. Below is Smith's final catch of the day, which gave him seven receptions for 187 yards and two touchdowns to break Cris Carter's Ohio State freshman single-game receiving record.
Smith follows a crisp route with a perfect high-point of the football and excellent body control to snare it in-bounds and get a foot down, flexing strong hands as he fell out of bounds. It's almost frustrating how easy Smith makes it all look.
Will Howard
Howard's had three 300-yard passing games this season and two were against the Ducks. His accuracy, chemistry with receivers and decision-making were at their best and brightest in the Rose Bowl, as he threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns on a gaudy 12.3 yards per pass attempt. One of those scores was a 42-yard strike to Emeka Egbuka that might be among the best passes in college football this season.
This Will Howard-Emeka Egbuka connection was pic.twitter.com/IBzAiUenJ1
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) January 1, 2025
Coverage and Rush
I want to start this section by talking about Ohio State's secondary. People might look at the number of sacks (eight) for the Buckeyes' defense against Oregon and think to themselves, 'Oh, the defensive line had a great game.'
They'd be absolutely correct. But plenty of those pass rushes don't get home without the defensive backfield forcing Dillon Gabriel to pat the ball an extra time or two. There were plenty of coverage sacks vs. the Ducks, as defensive coordinator Jim Knowles expressed afterward. Ohio State didn't opt for many blitzes either.
"I think we just created more looks for the quarterback and changed up some looks that had him hold the ball," Knowles said. "It wasn't (blitzing) – you're not going to see a high pressure rate or anything because (Gabriel) is a scrambler and he's good at it and you've got to be careful. They got real speed. So I think we just changed up the looks enough to be able to give our guys a chance to run."
But with the secondary given its due, defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau have combined for 7.5 sacks in two playoff games. That's dominance. Pass rush of the day goes to Sawyer for this combo of violent hands and fantastic feet to whoop second-team All-Big Ten offensive tackle Ajani Cornelius and sack Gabriel. Sawyer celebrated appropriately afterward.
Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams has also been a menace while linebacker Cody Simon grabbed two sacks as a quarterback spy vs. the Ducks. As Knowles' saying goes, coverage and rush were working together.
Cody Simon
Simon earned Rose Bowl Defensive MVP to complement Smith's Offensive MVP. The fifth-year senior has emerged as one of college football's premier linebackers after another performance making plays all over the field while directing Ohio State's defense, collecting a game-high 11 tackles, three tackles for loss, three sacks and a fourth-down pass breakup.
“Cody is, you know, future President of the United States,” Knowles said to a laugh from the media. “He's an unbelievable human being and a great team leader. So when you see guys like that shine and put them in position to make plays, it's a really good feeling.”
The Offensive Line
Texas' defensive front will be one of the best Ohio State has played all year, but its formerly patch work offensive line has gelled across the last two games. Howard connected on several of his downfield throws thanks to his front five's dependability in protection, and the Buckeyes ran the ball at an efficient 5.8 yards per carry.
"All those throws that Will has an opportunity to push down the field, it's because of the protection of the offensive line," Day said. "And so that goes into a lot of work. And sometimes I don't know if the offensive line gets credit for the protection, because in the pass game, it doesn't work if we don't have protection."
Jayden Fielding
Fielding responded fantastically to his 1-of-3 outing against Michigan vs. Oregon, knocking down both of his kicks, including a 46-yarder with tied his season long. Fielding is now 11-of-15 (73.3%) kicking field goals this season, with one of those misses a 56-yard attempt on the last play of the first half vs. Tennessee.
Stock Down
The SEC
No. 5 Texas is the only SEC team left standing in the College Football Playoff after No. 9 Tennessee fell to No. 8 Ohio State in the first round and No. 2 Georgia dropped to No. 7 Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs' beating might not have even been the most embarrassing thing to happen to the conference.
Playing a 7-5 Michigan team (yes, Ohio State also lost to Michigan) comprised of many backups, Alabama – the 9-3 SEC team certain analysts were pining for over Indiana or SMU in the CFP – lost the ReliaQuest Bowl to the Wolverines 19-13. Illinois upset another 9-3 squad from the conference, South Carolina, in the Citrus Bowl 21-17.
Folks out there bragged about the depth of the SEC, but if Ohio State beats the Longhorns on Friday, the league will be remembered as deeply mid this year. It just means more?
Stage Time
I get there's weight limits and it wasn't this poor employee's call, but could someone please let the quarterback of the team on the stage to celebrate a Rose Bowl win? Thank you.
Will Howard cant get on the stage!
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) January 2, 2025
Let Will on the podium. pic.twitter.com/6lEGb5H7US
Holding Calls
A wise man once said you can throw a holding flag on every play if you wanted to, but it doesn't seem to matter how warranted, the Buckeyes' elite defensive line can't draw any holding flags. There hasn't been a single one thrown against their opponents since Week 2. Williams feels it's a bit ridiculous.
“I think our whole D-line gets held every game,” Williams said. “I don’t know what the refs are saying or what’s going on with that. But you turn on the tape and really look at it, we’re held almost every play.”
I agree with much of Williams' sentiments, but I'll add this: How much more impressive is what he, Tuimoloau and Sawyer have done these playoffs given that linemen are sometimes breaking rules and still can't stop them? Oregon rushed for -23 yards against Ohio State. Help from zebras is not wanted or needed.
The Middle Eight
For balance's sake, here's one legitimate nitpick of Ohio State – Oregon did generate a modicum of momentum going into and coming out of the second half. The Ducks climbed back into the game with 15 straight points, then the Buckeyes' first offensive possession of the third quarter went three-and-out to give Oregon the ball back trailing by 19.
Ohio State's defense force a three-and-out in response and the Buckeyes scored a touchdown thereafter to all but put the game away with more than a quarter still to play, but if one is looking for areas to iron out going forward, this is among them. It's the first thing Day reference when explaining why his team didn't play a perfect game.
"We didn't do a great job of handling the middle eight in this past game, so we had to get that fixed," Day said on Friday. "The issues are always there. You come out of a game like this, it's easy to say, 'Well, everything was great.' It wasn't great. There was a lot of things that we got to get better at if we're going to beat Texas."
Friendly Atmospheres
With Georgia now unavailable to play in the National Championship Game in Atlanta, the Cotton Bowl should provide the closest thing the Buckeyes see to a hostile crowd in Arlington, Texas, just a three-hour drive from the Longhorns' campus in Austin. If Ohio State can handle this talented Texas team in the semis before that burnt-orange-leaning crowd, however, it will be one win away from college football's crown.
