The Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes won their respective college football semifinal games to set up a meeting for the national championship on January 12th in Arlington, Texas. Oregon took down the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles 59-20, while Ohio State upset the top ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 42-35.
Ohio State started slowly on the scoreboard, turning the ball over twice, which led to a 21-6 2nd quarter deficit. However, 2 late touchdown drives cut the lead to 1 point at halftime. In fact, the Buckeyes were dominating the first half, other than their 2 turnovers, nearly tripling the total yards for Alabama in the first 2 quarters.
The Buckeyes continued their momentum in the 3rd quarter, scoring 2 more touchdowns. The first was on a 47-yard pass from quarterback Cardale Jones to Devin Smith, and the other on a 41-yard interception return by Steve Miller. With the 28 straight points by Ohio State, they led 34-21, with 3:21 left in the 3rd quarter.
Alabama responded with an 84-yard drive, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run by their quarterback Blake Sims. But they wouldn’t get any closer. An 85-yard touchdown run by Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott basically ended the game, with 3:24 remaining, giving the Buckeyes a 14-point lead, after the successful 2-point conversion.
The Crimson Tide scored a late touchdown, but Ohio State held on for the 7-point win in the Sugar Bowl. The 4th seeded Buckeyes, thought by some, including me, not to have deserved to qualify for the inaugural college football playoff, sure showed that they belonged. A possible 8th national championship for the Buckeyes is looming against Oregon on January 12th.
Oregon clobbered Florida State in the Rose Bowl, the first of the semifinal college football playoff games. The game was close in the first half, but turned ugly fast in the 3rd quarter. An 18-13 Oregon halftime lead, turned into a 45-20 lead before the 3rd quarter was over. 34 points off turnovers is a recipe for disaster, and was the recipe that Florida State followed.
The play that basically ended any chance for a Seminole comeback occurred when their quarterback, 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, nearly did the splits while trying to evade the rush, then coughed up the ball. Tony Washington then picked it up and ran 58 yards for a touchdown, giving the Ducks a 25 point lead.
While Winston’s statistics look respectable, he was badly outplayed by the reigning Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. Mariota threw for 338 yards on 26 of 36 passing, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, along with 62 yards rushing, while Winston was 29 of 45 for 338, with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, plus the fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
This loss ended a 29 game winning streak for Florida State, including winning the national championship last year. The 59 points scored by Oregon is a new Rose Bowl record, beating the previous high by 10 points. While scoring that many points against the Seminoles is a little surprising, the Oregon defense holding the Seminoles to only 20 points, not to mention forcing 5 turnovers, was a bigger surprise.
Oregon will be playing for their first national championship on January 12th. While Ohio State was impressive in their Sugar Bowl win, I don’t see them keeping up with the Ducks in the national championship game. Mariota is not Sims. The Buckeyes will be facing a much better quarterback, and a much more explosive offense, then they did with Alabama. Oregon’s defense has played a lot better as the season progressed also. It should be a great game, but looked for Oregon to beat Ohio State to win the first ever college football playoff. Now let’s change it to an 8-team playoff as soon as possible.
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