Ohio State Falls to No. 3 Oregon, 32-31

By Dan Hope on October 12, 2024 at 10:59 pm
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Ohio State came up short in its first big test of the season.

Ohio State suffered a 32-31 loss to No. 3 Oregon at Autzen Stadium, dropping to 5-1 in its final game of the first half of the season.

Needing a stop to preserve a two-point lead in the game’s final minutes, the Buckeyes allowed the Ducks to drive 75 yards to a go-ahead field goal. Ohio State was unable to score on its final possession.

Oregon finished the game with 496 yards of offense as Ohio State’s defense struggled to get stops throughout the night.

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  
#2 Ohio State 7 14 7 3 31
#3 OREGON 6 16 0 10 32
OCT. 12, 2024 • Autzen STADIUM • EUGENE, OREGON

The game got off to an ideal start for Ohio State as the Buckeyes drove 75 yards in 10 plays for an opening-drive touchdown. Will Howard got away with a near-interception on a 32-yard completion over the middle to Will Kacmarek but went 5-of-6 for 65 yards on the first possession and capped off the drive with his fifth rushing touchdown in as many games.

Ohio State’s defense forced a punt on its opening series, but the Ducks got the ball back at Ohio State’s 28-yard line when Oregon defensive tackle Derrick Harmon wrestled the ball out of Quinshon Judkins’ hands for a takeaway. The home team needed just two plays to score from there as Jordan James ran for a 25-yard gain and followed it up with a 3-yard touchdown run. A botched extra point attempt kept Ohio State in front by one point.

The Buckeyes committed three pre-snap penalties on their third possession, forcing them to punt from their own 17-yard line. Oregon quickly moved back into Ohio State territory with a 28-yard pass from Dillon Gabriel to Evan Stewart. The Ducks ended up leaving the field without points, however, as they had to settle for a 44-yard field goal attempt, which Atticus Sappington missed, after an incompletion on a gimmicky third-down call.

TreVeyon Henderson rapidly got the Buckeyes to Oregon’s 4-yard line with runs of 17 and 53 yards, and Judkins finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown to make it 14-6 38 seconds into the second quarter.

Stewart burned Denzel Burke for a 69-yard catch on the opening play of Oregon’s next possession to get the Ducks inside Ohio State’s 10-yard line. Two plays later, Stewart beat Burke for a 10-yard touchdown catch. Oregon attempted to tie the game with a 2-point conversion but was unsuccessful, keeping Ohio State in front by two.

Oregon got the ball right back, however, as a surprise onside kick went off of Caleb Downs’ hands and was recovered by the Ducks. Gabriel connected with Traeshon Holden for 32 yards on the first play of the ensuing possession, but the Ducks immediately lost 15 yards and Holden was ejected from the game for spitting on Davison Igbinosun. The Ducks settled for a 27-yard field goal, which Sappington converted to give Oregon its first lead of the game, 15-14.

Despite losing left tackle Josh Simmons to a knee injury on its next drive, Ohio State retook the lead – 21-15 with 3:53 to play before halftime – with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that included a 4th-and-2 conversion runs by Judkins and finished with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Howard to Emeka Egbuka.

Oregon retook the lead, 22-21 with 1:17 to play before halftime, when Tez Johnson beat Burke for a 48-yard catch. The Ducks finished the first half with 285 yards of offense.

Ohio State started the second half the same way it started the first half as the Buckeyes drove down the field for a go-ahead touchdown after their defense forced a punt to begin the third quarter. Jeremiah Smith made an impressive catch over coverage for a 38-yard gain to get Ohio State into Oregon territory and capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown catch.

Oregon drove to Ohio State’s 2-yard line on its second drive of the half, but left another scoring opportunity on the field as Gabriel’s 4th-and-goal pass attempt hit Cody Simon and fell incomplete.

The Ducks didn’t squander their next opportunity when the Buckeyes were forced to punt from their own 17-yard line afer a dropped third-down snap by Howard on their next possession. Oregon needed just five plays to drive 60 yards as Gabriel made several Ohio State defenders miss on a 27-yard touchdown run that put the Ducks ahead by one with 13:20 to play.

Ohio State moved back in front, 31-29 with six minutes to play, with a 40-yard Jayden Fielding field goal on its next possession.

Ohio State allowed Oregon to drive to the 1-yard line on its subsequent possession, but held the Ducks to a field goal, giving the Buckeyes ball back down by only one point with 1:47 to play.

The Buckeyes got into Oregon territory with 34 seconds to play on a 26-yard pass from Howard to Egbuka. An offensive pass interference penalty against Smith, however, pushed the Buckeyes back to the 43-yard line. Oregon gave five yards back on an illegal substitution penalty, but the clock ran out on a Howard run on the final play of the game.

Team Stats

OHIO STATE        OREGON 
467 TOTAL YARDS 496
141 RUSHING YARDS 155
33 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 31
4.3 AVERAGE PER RUSH 5.0
2 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 2
326 PASSING YARDS 341
28-35 COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS 23-34
11.6 YARDS PER COMPLETION 14.8
2 PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 2
22 1st DOWNS 18
68 TOTAL PLAYS 65
6.9 YARDS PER PLAY 7.6
4-12 3RD DOWNS 6-14
8-70 PENALTIES 3-25
33:09 POSSESSION 26:51
1 TURNOVERS 0

Game Notes

  • Former Ohio State football players Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Dre’Mont Jones were in attendance with their Seattle Seahawks teammate Geno Smith, whose cousin is Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
  • All of Ohio State’s scholarship players were available for the game. Oregon’s top defensive end, Jordan Burch, did not play.
  • Tegra Tshabola was replaced at right guard by Austin Siereveld for the entire second quarter after leaving the game with an injury on the final play of the first quarter, but returned for the second half.
  • Zen Michalski replaced Josh Simmons at left tackle after Simmons left the game in the second quarter with an apparent knee injury that required him to be carted back to the locker room. Simmons did not return to the game. 
  • Ohio State switched kickoff returners for the fifth game in a row, deploying Emeka Egbuka deep rather than Brandon Inniss.
  • The game broke an Autzen Stadium attendance record as 60,129 people attended the game.
  • Jeremiah Smith has now caught touchdown passes in each of his first six games as a Buckeye. With seven total touchdown catches, he’s just one away from tying Cris Carter’s record for the most touchdown receptions by an Ohio State freshman.

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