PASADENA, Calif. — For most of the regular season, Oregon looked like the best team in the country.
It took them a few games to get the hang of it, but once the Ducks clicked, it was a frightening sight. With an explosive offense capable of scoring at will, it seemed like they were destined to win their first national championship and finally solidify themselves as a football power.
Even after Ohio State routed Tennessee for the right to play Oregon in the bowl of rosesthe feeling on both sides was far from similar: Oregon had bulldozed its way into the Big Ten in its first season in the conference; Ohio State fans largely hadn’t gotten over the loss to Michigan. If the Buckeyes If another mistake happened, the “crazy fringe” — as Kirk Herbstreit described Ohio State’s most fanatical fans — was ready to fire coach Ryan Day before the clock hit zero.
So as a stealth bomber flew over the Pasadena sky moments before kickoff, the green side of the stadium felt optimistic about its first playoff appearance in a decade, while the scarlet and gray side prepared his pitchforks again.
But on New Year’s Day, it was the Ducks who laid an egg.
Oregon couldn’t replicate its magic and was heavily beaten by the Buckeyesending a dream season in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.
It didn’t really make sense. Oregon was coming off a Big Ten championship game where it scored 45 points against a good Penn State defense. He was facing an Ohio State team he was capable of attacking in a thrilling win more than two months ago. Instead, the Rose Bowl Game ended before halftime.
What happened?
“Sometimes it’s not your day. I think it was today. It wasn’t our day today,” coach Dan Lanning said.
A quarter was all Ohio State Really We had to prove it was better than Oregon. The Buckeyes already led 7-0 after the first minute and the Ducks had three straight takedowns to start. At the end of the first 15 minutes, Ohio State led 14-0 and the Buckeyes found every opportunity to make a big play while Oregon couldn’t move the ball.
When it got to 34-0 in the second quarter, there was nothing Oregon could do to come back.
“We really didn’t have the ability to stop them, and we didn’t have the ability to get anything going for us on offense,” Lanning said. “We just played a great team and we didn’t play our best.”
What killed Oregon was big plays. Ohio State’s first four touchdowns were all scores of at least 40 yards, absolutely crushing the spirit of a defense that ranked in the top 15 in several statistical categories. Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith was producing highlight after highlight and quarterback Will Howard was fooling the defense to find open guys.
Lanning, the Ducks’ third-year coach, took responsibility for the loss. He said the coaches didn’t have a good enough plan and when things started to deteriorate, adjustments weren’t made quickly enough to stabilize the team. The Buckeyes did a good job putting their receivers in favorable one-on-one matchups, leading to big gains.
“They did a good job of taking shots early,” senior linebacker Jeffrey Bassa said. “They were firing on all cylinders. Thanks to them.
Concern about the new College Football Playoff format?
Several college football players are monitoring how the first 12-team College Football Playoff unfolds. It’s safe to say that changes will likely be made to this in the near future.
Over the course of three quarterfinal matches, the three teams that had to play a first-round match advanced to the semifinals, while the three teams that received a first-round bye did not. are one.
Did the long absence hurt the conference champions who had to face teams with dynamism?
“I think it’s an excuse,” Lanning said. “I thought our guys prepared well before the game. Obviously they had a better plan than us, but that’s an excuse.”
Almost immediately after the table was revealed, it was clear that the Ducks weren’t really being rewarded for having a perfect regular season. They were going to have a tough opponent in the quarterfinals, while other teams like Penn State were seen as having an easier path to a title run.
This sparked debate over whether the conference champions should get a guaranteed spot among the top four seeds and a first-round bye, or whether the lowest remaining seed should get the The No. 1 team — which would have prevented Oregon from facing Ohio State.
But Lanning isn’t upset about the situation. He said his team should have faced great teams regardless of which round they did so.
“We had an opportunity. We did not take advantage of the opportunity. I’m not going to make excuses for the opportunity,” Lanning said. “Nothing wrong with us having that opportunity. (Ohio State) took advantage of it and we didn’t.
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: Oregon rocked by Ohio State in Rose Bowl. What happened to the Ducks?
