PASADENA (CNS) – Will Howard threw three touchdown passes in the first half as Ohio State defeated previously undefeated Oregon, 41-21, Wednesday in a Rose Bowl game played under heavy security after at least 15 people were killed when a truck was intentionally driven into a crowd of holiday revelers in New Orleans.
The victory in the third of four quarterfinals in the first season of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff advanced the eighth-seeded Buckeyes (12-2) into a semifinal against fifth-seeded Texas (13-2) in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10. The Longhorns defeated fourth-seeded Arizona State, 39- 31, in a double-overtime thriller in Wednesday’s Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
The attack prompted postponement of Wednesday’s Sugar Bowl in New Orleans between second-seeded Georgia and seventh-seeded Notre Dame until Thursday.
Freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith was selected as the Offensive Player of the Game for catching seven passes for a game-high 187 yards and two touchdowns. Smith caught a 45-yard pass from Howard one minute into the game to open the scoring and a 43-yard touchdown pass from Howard in the second quarter.
Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon was selected as the Defensive Player of the Game for making a game-high 11 tackles, including three solo tackles for losses.
The Buckeyes scored the first 34 points. After being forced to punt on its second possession, Ohio State scored on five consecutive possessions — a 42-yard pass from Howard to Emeka Egbuka, a 46-yard field goal by Jayden Fielding, a 43-yard pass from Howard to Smith, a 66-yard run by TreVeyon Henderson and Fielding’s 36-yard field goal.
The Ducks (13-1) ended the Buckeyes’ bid for the first Rose Bowl shutout since Washington’s 28-0 victory over Iowa on Jan. 1, 1982 on Dillon Gabriel’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Traeshon Holden as time expired in the second quarter. Gabriel followed with a 2-point conversion pass to Justius Lowe.
Oregon also scored on its first possession of the second half, driving 75 yards on 11 plays, with Noah Whittington running two yards for the touchdown, cutting Ohio State’s lead to 34-15.
Henderson ran eight yards for a touchdown with 2:24 left in the third quarter.
Gabriel threw a 27-yard pass to Holden with 10:06 remaining for the fourth quarter’s lone touchdown.
Howard completed 17 of 26 passes for 319 yards and was not sacked.
Gabriel completed 29 of 41 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns, as he concluded his six-season college career with 155, matching Case Keenum’s Football Bowl Subdivision record.
Gabriel added to two FBS records he held entering the game — total touchdowns with 189 and 64 starts, the most among FBS quarterbacks.
Gabriel was sacked eight times.
The Buckeyes’ eight sacks were one short of the Rose Bowl record of nine set by USC in its 28-14 victory over Michigan on Jan. 1, 2004.
With the Ducks losing 56 yards on the sacks and those plays considered rushes, Oregon’s minus-23 rushing yards on 28 carries were the least in Rose Bowl history, erasing the previous record of minus-5 by Stanford in its 17- 9 loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 1, 2000.
Neither team committed a turnover.
The Buckeyes outgained the Ducks 500 yards to 276, led 20-15 in first downs but trailed 30:55-29:05 in time of possession in front of a crowd announced at 90,732.
“They clicked tonight and we didn’t and I didn’t get our team prepared,” Ducks coach Dan Lanning said. “When you play a great team like Ohio State, you can’t not be clicking on all cylinders and they were.”
The game was a rematch of Oregon’s 32-31 victory over Ohio State on Oct. 12 at Eugene, Oregon, when Atticus Sappington kicked the go-ahead field goal with one minute, 47 seconds to play in a game with eight lead changes.
“That was obviously one of our let-down games for our defense,” Simon said. The Ducks had Ohio State opponent season highs in passing yards (341) and total offensive yards (496), the second-most rushing yards (155), and scored four of five times in the red zone.
“One of the biggest things we changed is just our attitude, our mentality. There’s a lot of plays in the game we weren’t aligned or ready to go. With an offense like that for Oregon, they thrive on that stuff.
” For us, it was just that mentality we had to change. We went through a lot of tough conversations after that game and a lot of changes we had to make, but I think we’re better for it now.”
The Buckeyes’ fifth consecutive Rose Bowl victory improved their record in college football’s oldest bowl game to 10-7. Ohio State’s 17 Rose Bowl appearances are third-most all-time behind USC (34) and Michigan (21).
Oregon fell to 4-5 in the Rose Bowl Game as its three-game Rose Bowl winning streak was snapped.
Ohio State increased its lead in the series, 10-2, after back-to-back losses. The Buckeyes have outscored the Ducks, 94-13, in the first quarter in the series.
Oregon earned the top seed in the playoff and a first-round bye with a 45-37 victory over Penn State in the Big Ten championship game Dec. 7, remaining as the lone undefeated FBS team.
Ohio State advanced to the game with a 42-17 victory over ninth-seeded Tennessee in a first-round game Dec. 21 in Columbus, Ohio.
The Buckeyes entered Wednesday’s play first among FBS teams in scoring defense, allowing an average of 11.4 points per game, total defense, allowing 242.2 yards per game, passing defense, allowing 141.2 yards per game, and red zone defense, allowing opponents to score 59.4% of the time.
The Ducks entered the game as the only FBS team in the top 15 for scoring offense (13th, averaging 35.9 points per game), total offense (13th, averaging 449.8 yards per game), scoring defense (12th, allowing 17.8 points per game) and total defense (ninth, allowing 301.8 yards per game).
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