Pasadena, CA- Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith put on a show with 187 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 6 Ohio State to a 41-21 win over No 1. Oregon in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
The Buckeyes scored 34 points in the first half and Will Howard passed for 319 yards to give Oregon its first loss of the season. This was a revenge game for Ohio State, who lost to Oregon 32-31 in the regular season.
“I think sometimes in this game coaches get too much attention,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “This is about these guys right here. A lot of good players out there, but they’ve got to make it work. And I thought they really put it on the field and we came out aggressive.”
Ohio State didn’t waste any time getting on the board as Howard connected with Smith for a 45-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead on its opening drive. Howard gave the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead in the first quarter when he hit Emeka Egbuka with a 42-yard touchdown pass.
After Ohio State added a field goal at the beginning of the second quarter, Howard threw his third touchdown of the first half, second to Smith, to give the Buckeyes a 24-0 lead.
“Will does a great job in practice just trusting us, just throwing the ball out there.” Smith said. “We tell him, just throw it out there. We’ll make a play for you.”
Senior running back TreVeyon Henderson took the handoff and raced down the right sideline for a 66-yard touchdown. The Buckeyes added another field goal to take a 34-0 lead. Oregon was able to avoid the first-half shutout with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Dillion Gabriel to Traeshon Holden at the end of the second quarter.
Noah Wittington scored on a 2-yard run to cut the Ohio State lead 34-15 but the Buckeyes extended the lead on Henderson’s second touchdown of the game. Gabriel threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns but their championship hopes ended in Pasadena.
“When you play a great team like Ohio State, you can’t not be playing on all cylinders.And they were. They were clicking on all cylinders,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “We really didn’t have the ability to stop them, and we didn’t have the ability to get something going for us, on offense.”
Ohio State advanced to play No. 4 Texas in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10, with a shot at the national title game. Texas advanced after a double-overtime win over Arizona State in the Peach Bowl.
