Buckeyes batter top-ranked Ducks

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF QUARTERFINAL >> OHIO STATE 41, OREGON 21

Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith (4) races away from Oregon’s Kobe Savage en route to a second-quarter touchdown Wednesday in Pasadena, Calif. RONALD MARTINEZ — GETTY IMAGES

Image

By Greg Beacham

Asssociated Press

PASADENA, Calif. >> Jeremiah Smith caught two of Will Howard’s three long touchdown passes during Ohio State’s sensational 34-point first half, and the No. 6 Buckeyes roared into the College Football Playoff semifinals with a 41-21 victory over No. 1 Oregon in the 111th Rose Bowl Game on Wednesday night.

Howard passed for 319 yards, Emeka Egbuka also caught a long TD pass and TreVeyon Henderson made a 66-yard touchdown run in a redemptive Rose Bowl for the Buckeyes (12-2, CFP No. 8 seed), whose big-game execution sometimes hasn’t matched their formidable talent this season.“You can see the potential of where we’re at, when we play in all three phases the way we did,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said.

After painful regular-season losses to Oregon and Michigan, Ohio State has seized the second chances created by the first 12-team CFP. Facing the tournament’s No. 1 seed in the Granddaddy of Them All, the Buckeyes scored on six of their first seven drives to take a 34-0 lead late in the second quarter on the nation’s only remaining unbeaten team — and Henderson’s second TD run late in the third essentially put it away.

Ohio State is headed to the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 to face No. 4 Texas for a berth in the national title game. The Longhorns barely advanced earlier Wednesday, holding off Arizona State 39-31 in a double-overtime Peach Bowl.

“I’m proud of the resilience of these guys,” Day said. “Still got a lot of football ahead of us.”

Dillon Gabriel passed for 299 yards and hit Traeshon Holden for two touchdowns for the Ducks (13-1, CFP No. 1 seed), whose dreams of their first national title were flattened on the famed Rose Bowl turf. Oregon’s 14-game winning streak also ended.

Eleven days after routing Tennessee to open the Playoff, Ohio State dominated this rematch of these Big Ten teams’ regular-season thriller, won 32-31 by the Ducks in Eugene on Oct. 12. The Ohio State defense that couldn’t sack Gabriel in the teams’ first meeting dropped the Heisman Trophy finalist eight times in the rematch.

Smith, the Buckeyes’ standout freshman playmaker, had a remarkable bowl debut with seven receptions for 187 yards — including five catches for 161 yards in the first half alone, hauling in scoring passes of 45 and 43 yards.

Ohio State turned the CFP’s most anticipated quarterfinal matchup into a long celebration at the Rose Bowl, which has hosted several thrilling, close games in recent Januaries. This one pitted two powerhouse programs widely considered to have the top two teams left in the inaugural 12-team Playoff, but the Buckeyes scored early and often at the Rose Bowl.

The Big Ten champion Ducks couldn’t make any offensive headway until they trailed by 34 points, failing to create any of the big plays that carried the Ducks to victory in Eugene.

After the usual pregame pageantry in 70-degree sunshine at the venerable stadium in Arroyo Seco, Ohio State needed just three plays and 49 seconds to strike first. Howard threw a short play-action screen pass to Smith, who motored through Oregon’s secondary for a 45-yard score.

On the Buckeyes’ third drive, Howard feathered an exceptional long pass over three Ducks to the sprinting Egbuka for a 42-yard TD. Howard finished the first quarter with a career-best 212 yards passing, surpassing his 160 yards during Ohio State’s hot start against Tennessee.