Oregon vs. Ohio State: Overlooked Moments in College Football Championship 2015
These things don’t even happen in sports movies because the plot wouldn’t be believable.
Ohio State’s 42-20 national championship beatdown of the Oregon Ducks came after superstar quarterback Braxton Miller was lost for the season before the first game even kicked off.
It came after his backup, J.T. Barrett, who was smack in the middle of the Heisman Trophy discussion in November, was lost for the season with an injury in the second half of the Michigan game.
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It came after star defensive lineman Noah Spence was suspended for the entire season and playmaker Dontre Wilson broke his foot against Michigan State in the biggest regular-season win of the year.
All it took to get through that incredible amount of adversity was a third-string quarterback in Cardale Jones who was most famous for an ill-advised tweet before this run, a monster of a running back in Ezekiel Elliott who once seemed like a lock to attend Missouri until coach Urban Meyer worked his recruiting magic and a dominant defensive line that kept Heisman winner Marcus Mariota in check.
Meyer put it best, via SportsCenter:
While plenty of well-deserved attention will be placed upon Meyer for his third title and Elliott for his 246 rushing yards and four touchdowns, there were also some moments that may have been overlooked in the grand scheme of things that helped the Buckeyes win the title.
Here are a few of them.
Missed Safety Chance
While it may be hard to remember considering Ohio State more than doubled Oregon’s point total, there was a time when the Ducks had a 7-0 lead and all the momentum in the first quarter. That momentum would have been astronomical had the Ducks taken Jones down in the end zone for a safety on Ohio State’s second drive of the game.
The Buckeyes were pinned at their own 3-yard line on that second drive, and Jones dropped back into the end zone on second down. An Oregon defender came hurtling toward him and appeared to have him in his grasp.
Instead of a safety, though, the 6’5”, 250-pound Jones shrugged the defender off and threw the ball away.
Rather than a 9-0 Oregon lead, Ohio State kept possession and ended its 97-yard, game-tying drive with this, via ESPN College Football:
Holding Marcus Mariota to a Field Goal
While the Buckeyes controlled most of the game, there was a moment in the third quarter when it looked like everything was falling apart.
The Buckeyes had a 21-10 lead and were once again marching right down the field when Jalin Marshall let a perfect pass ricochet off his stomach and into the waiting hands of Danny Mattingly. Oregon took a whopping 10 seconds on the ensuing drive to find the end zone with a 70-yard touchdown strike from Mariota to Byron Marshall.
This is what happened on Ohio State’s next drive, via ESPN College Football:
Suddenly, it was 21-17 in favor of the Buckeyes, and Oregon had the ball at Ohio State’s 23-yard line. Instead of wilting under the pressure and momentum, Ohio State’s defense stood tall and held the Ducks to a field goal. The score could have been 24-21 Oregon, but the Buckeyes held the lead at 21-20 and responded on the next drive with a critical touchdown.
Perhaps the Buckeyes don’t finish the game on a 21-0 run if Oregon took the lead and overwhelming momentum late in the third quarter with a touchdown.
Cameron Johnston’s Punting
Punters are accustomed to getting overlooked on the field unless they mess up, but Ohio State’s Cameron Johnston made the most of his limited opportunities.
He only punted three times, but they went for an average of 42 yards per punt with two inside the 20-yard line. Pinning the high-octane Ducks offense back is one way to keep it in check, and that is exactly what Johnston did.
One of those punts that landed inside the 20 happened with just more than four minutes remaining in the game and helped virtually seal the victory for the Buckeyes.
Now it is time for Ohio State to look ahead to the 2015 season, where it will attempt to defend its crown.
While it is impossible to get a complete picture of the 2015 Buckeyes until the quarterback situation between Miller, Barrett and Jones is decided, Meyer’s squad will be loaded once again thanks to the returns of Elliott, Michael Thomas, Joey Bosa, Eli Apple, Vonn Bell, Darron Lee and Raekwon McMillan, among others.
Martin Rickman of Sports Illustrated discussed what that means for the rest of college football: “The Big Ten—and college football, by and large—needed Ohio State to be an elite program again. That happened. The only problem for the rest of the league? It has to keep playing the increasingly dangerous Buckeyes, year in and year out.”
Buckle up, Columbus. It’s going to be an incredible ride.
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