Ohio State-Oregon National Championship Uniforms Revealed
January 5, 2015Buckeyes on the Bayou: One Alum’s Account of the Sugar Bowl
January 5, 2015Back in August, 128 NCAA FBS teams began a quest to be among the four teams selected to compete in the inaugural College Football Playoff. On December 7, that dream officially died for 124 teams as the selection committee announced their picks. Miraculously, after losing two Heisman candidates and being forced to start their third choice quarterback in the Big Ten Championship Game, the Ohio State Buckeyes found themselves amongst that final four, sneaking in past TCU and Baylor thanks to a 59-0 shellacking of Wisconsin in Cardale Jones’s first start. Now, after slaying the college football behemoth that is Alabama, they are one of just two teams left standing. Next Monday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Urban Meyer’s team will seek Ohio State’s eighth football national championship as they face Oregon in the first College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Ohio State may not be David, but Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide have surely been Goliath in recent years. Luckily, the Buckeyes were armed with a bit more than a slingshot. Cardale’s arm was a shotgun, Ezekiel Elliott had pistons for legs, Michael Thomas’s hands were like tractor beams, and Evan Spencer was a Swiss Army knife on offense. Defensively, Darron Lee was a heat-seeking missile, Michael Bennett a battering ram, and space cowboy Steve Miller stealthily dropped into coverage to pick off a Blake Sims pass before turning on the afterburners to take it all the way back for a touchdown. The Buckeyes had the full arsenal working against the Crimson Tide, and it took every bit of their firepower to finish off Saban’s team.
Ohio State may not be David, but Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide have surely been Goliath.
A large factor in the Buckeyes falling behind early was their failure to score touchdowns after big plays put them in the red zone. On both occasions when the offense settled for field goals in the first quarter, play calling did them no favors. In the first quarter, Ohio State ran six plays in goal-to-go situations (not including the two field goals). Elliott got the ball on zero of those plays. In fact, Zeke didn’t get his first carry until the Buckeyes’ tenth goal-to-go snap of the game. That carry went for three yards. The next play also went to EZE, who plunged for another three yards into the end zone to pull Ohio State within eight at 21-13. With a few more touches early on for Elliott, the Bucks may not have been forced to claw their way back into the game.
A massive reason that Ohio State was able to stay in the game was their defense. The Silver Bullets earned that moniker in New Orleans, forcing Alabama’s new explosive offense into four three-and-outs and seven total punts. With the exception of Joey Bosa, who had an unusually quiet evening and looked much slower than Buckeyes fans have become accustomed to this year,2 pretty much every Ohio State defender played a stellar game. Michael Bennett was a handful for the Alabama offensive line and again represented the late Kosta Karageorge’s number 53 jersey well. Darron Lee won defensive MVP honors thanks to his seven tackles, including three for loss and two sacks. Miller had the aforementioned pick six.
The secondary deserves special commendation. Doran Grant was expected to see most of the matchup against Alabama’s stud receiver Amari Cooper, but the Tide moved him around often to get a matchup with Eli Apple, the Buckeyes’ young field cornerback. Apple held up well against the nation’s best pass catcher, limiting him to just 71 yards on nine catches. Although he did have two touchdowns, the work of Apple, Grant, and safety Vonn Bell (who added a key fourth quarter interception) did not allow Cooper any big plays, as his longest reception went for just 15 yards. Tyvis Powell got in on the act as well, picking off Sims’s Hail Mary on the game’s final play – although many fans, including myself, wish he would have just knocked it down or at least taken a knee in the end zone.
Special teams got in on the act as well. Sean Nuernberger was perfect on his two short field goals and four extra points. Kyle Clinton was spectacular on kickoffs, consistently lofting them high and just in front of the goal line, forcing returns that were repeatedly stopped deep in Alabama territory. Corey Thomas was instrumental in coverage delivering at least three monster hits to Christion Jones on kickoffs. Punter Cameron Johnston was overshadowed by the magnificent performance of Alabama’s JK Scott, but he still averaged 46.5 yards on six punts and downed two inside the Bama 20. He did deliver one shank that gave the Tide excellent field position in the fourth quarter, but that was largely not his fault, as multiple penalties left the ball inside the Buckeyes’ 5 yard line, giving him no room to work his rugby style kick. Evan Spencer, who may have been Ohio State’s player of the game, will certainly get more plaudits for his beautiful touchdown pass to Michael Thomas on a reverse or his crushing block on a Crimson Tide linebacker to spring Elliott’s 85-yard touchdown run, but his most impressive play may have come when he skied to high-point Alabama’s late onside kick, snatching it out of the grasp of a hard-charging Alabama player.
And all of that is before you get to the Buckeyes backfield combo of Jones and Elliott, both of whom have grown immeasurably throughout the year. Elliott’s progress has been a more gradual build, but in the second half of the season he has been every bit as good as Big Ten backs like Melvin Gordon, Tevin Coleman, and Ameer Abdullah who still overshadow him in the national media. In this game he was again an afterthought to Alabama’s T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry. All he’s done in the last two games is put up a total of 470 yards and four touchdowns on 40 carries while outshining first Gordon, and then Yeldon and Henry. His offensive MVP award was well earned in New Orleans.
And what can you say about Cardale Jones? All he’s done is demolish Wisconsin and beat Alabama. Apart from one horrible interception and a few plays where he held the ball a bit too long in a futile attempt to make something happen, Jones was again flawless against the Tide. He made the throws that were needed, ran like a freight train when called upon, and, perhaps most importantly, threw the ball away when he saw nothing. The questions of who will start next season must be answered, but that is not today’s concern. In the past two games, Jones has answered the one question right now and showed that the Buckeyes can win a national championship with him taking the snaps. On January 12, Ohio State will go Duck hunting with a “12 Gauge” backed by the full confidence of Buckeye Nation.
- Who has already accepted the head coaching position at Houston) was trying to throw the game in the fourth quarter by calling for so many passes. In the postgame press conference, Meyer admitted that the decision to throw at least on the final Buckeyes possession was his. [↩]
- Bosa did produce some good pressure on Sims late in the game, but he was neutralized for much of the contest. [↩]
4 Comments
I honestly think Meyer took the fall for the late game passing attempts in order to deflect criticism from Herman. That’s just good leadership.
This year’s team has quickly become one of my favorites of all time.
They are young, hungry, full of confidence, and without a doubt carry the best nicknames ever.
12 Guage, Eazy-E, Chef Raekwon, Yung Dontre, Space Cowboy and of course: ¯_(ツ)_/¯
http://imgick.cleveland.com/home/cleve-media/width620/img/osu_impact/photo/2014-college-football-playoff-bracket-128-teams-73d04b4fc17118eb.png
3 starts for Cardale Jones after next week
1: Win Big10 Championship 59-0
2: Win 1st ever Sugar Bowl playoff game by scoring 42 points against Bama
3: Play Ducks for National Championship
That’s a decent resume.