No. 8 seed Ohio State handed No. 1 Oregon its first loss in dominant fashion Wednesday, winning 41-21 in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl.
The Buckeyes jumped out to a shocking 34-0 first-half lead thanks to four touchdowns of more than 40 yards in the first 22 minutes. Though Oregon scored on the last drive of the second quarter and first drive of the third quarter to cut the lead to 34-15, the Buckeyes slammed the door shut on any hopes of a massive Ducks comeback and won by 20 points.
Oregon (13-1), which was trying to become college football’s first new national champion since Florida in 1996, instead heads home early with a lopsided loss to a team it beat in the regular season. Ohio State (12-2) moves on to face No. 5 seed Texas in a Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 with a spot in the Jan. 20 national championship up for grabs after the Longhorns topped Arizona State in double overtime in the Peach Bowl.
GO DEEPER
Ohio State defense gets its revenge by shutting down Oregon in Rose Bowl
Ohio State’s scoring barrage started with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Will Howard to Jeremiah Smith on the third play of the game. Smith, a freshman who was the top-ranked recruit in the Class of 2024, looked like the best player on the field and finished with seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns. Emeka Egbuka also caught a 42-yard touchdown from Howard, and TreVeyon Henderson broke off a 66-yard touchdown run.
JEREMIAH SMITH IS UNREAL‼️
HE FINDS THE END ZONE AGAIN 🔥 pic.twitter.com/N8J1f9giQF
— ESPN (@espn) January 1, 2025
The Buckeyes, who lost to the Ducks 32-31 on the road in October, racked up 390 total yards in the first two quarters alone Wednesday against an Oregon defense that entered the day ranked 10th in the FBS in allowing just 301.8 total yards per game. In total, Ohio State outgained Oregon 500 yards to 276.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Ohio State is the best team in the Playoff
It’s time to move on from Ohio State’s upset loss to Michigan.
We can acknowledge that was a bad loss without using it in an argument against this Ohio State team’s national championship chances, because in its past two games, Ohio State has shown it’s the best team in the country.
After the Playoff bracket was released, it looked like the eighth-seeded Buckeyes were given the hardest road to a national championship with Tennessee and Oregon followed by a potential game against Texas in the Longhorns’ home state at the Cotton Bowl. All they’ve done through two games is dominate their opponents, including the previously unbeaten Ducks, and now they have to feel good about their chances against Texas.
Ohio State has outscored Oregon and Tennessee 83-38 and outgained them 973-532, leaving no doubt when the scoreboard hit zero in either game. Against the Ducks, Ohio State finished with eight sacks after failing to record one against Gabriel in October. Oregon allowed a total of just 13 sacks in its first 13 games.
GO DEEPER
Ohio State showed in Rose Bowl it’s best team in country — and only gaining steam
Meanwhile, an Ohio State offense that struggled with consistency during the season has now turned into one of the nation’s most explosive. Howard completed 17 of 26 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns, and the Buckeyes averaged 8.8 yards per play — their most against a Power 4 opponent.
According to The Athletic’s updated projections model, Ohio State has a 58 percent chance of beating Texas and the best odds of winning the national title at 39 percent.
Many have believed since the offseason that Ohio State is the most talented team in the country. It’s finally showing it and living up to its potential. — Cameron Teague Robinson
Oregon shows how hard it is to go unbeaten
The Ducks should and will feel awful after this loss. And amid the rage cycle over Playoff seeding and fairness, the truth is Oregon was out-classed, out-schemed and out-managed for most of its Playoff quarterfinal in Pasadena.
In this era of college football with the bracket expanding to 12 teams, it’s going to take an all-time team to finish a season 16-0. Oregon will not be that team after its defense was a sieve in the first half against an Ohio State offense that picked up where it left off against Tennessee.
This is undoubtedly one of the best teams in Oregon football history. It won the Big Ten in its first year in the conference and entered this quarterfinal the last unblemished team in the country. But for all the wins they stacked up in the 2024 season, the Ducks rarely looked like the dominant force an unbeaten No. 1 team usually is.
The Ducks eked by Ohio State at home. Same with Boise State. They survived scares from teams like Idaho in the opener and on the road at Wisconsin. And in the win vs. Penn State in the Big Ten title game, the Ducks defense was exposed on the ground, allowing 270 yards. Against the Buckeyes on Wednesday, the Ducks’ passing defense was nowhere to be found for most of the first half.
As fans learn to evolve with the changing landscape of the sport with the expansion of the Playoff, Oregon’s loss felt somewhat like a No. 1 team in the NCAA Tournament being ousted early in March. This exit joins the lengthening list of painful big-stage exits for the Ducks, too. The 22-19 loss to Auburn in the 2010 BCS national title game was as close as the Ducks have come to hoisting a national title trophy. They returned to the championship game stage again in the 2014 season — against Ohio State — where they were manhandled 42-20.
The climb to college football immortality is as hard as ever now. The 2024 Oregon Ducks became the prime example of why. — Christopher Kamrani
GO DEEPER
Oregon’s crushing Rose Bowl defeat once again leaves Ducks on the outside looking in
Ohio State, Texas should get familiar with each other
For all the similarities between Texas and Ohio State, the iconic brands have met only three times in their storied histories. All three were top-10 encounters, but none of them approach what will take place Jan. 10, in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.
The nation’s top two scoring defenses will collide in what, on paper, looks like an even matchup in many respects, with little variance in most statistical categories on both sides of the ball — though Ohio State may be peaking at the right time.
There are two areas that stand out for each team. Entering its quarterfinal win against Arizona State, Texas allowed 30 sacks. Ohio State gave up just 12. But in explosive plays of 20 more yards, the Longhorns had 95 on offense while the Buckeyes produced 62.
The best individual matchup could come down to Texas All-American cornerback Jahdae Barron, who has five interceptions, against Smith, Ohio State’s freshman All-American receiver. And then there’s the quarterback matchup between Texas’ Quinn Ewers, a former five-star recruit who began his career at Ohio State, and the Buckeyes’ Howard, a transfer who lost in overtime to the Longhorns while at Kansas State in 2023.
The Buckeyes and Longhorns last met in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, where Texas rallied for a 24-21 victory. They also split a two-game regular-season series in 2005 and 2006. The Longhorns’ 25-22 win in 2005 at Columbus propelled them to a national championship. The Buckeyes’ revenge trip to Austin with a 24-7 victory launched them to the No. 1 spot, which they held until losing the BCS championship game.
And after deciding a spot in the first 12-team CFP title game this month, these teams will meet again in their 2025 season opener on Aug. 30 in Columbus. — Scott Dochterman
GO DEEPER
An Ohio State vs. Penn State finale? Big Ten powers proving that identity still matters
Required reading
(Top photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)