Rematch With Oregon Not About ‘Vengeance’ For Denzel Burke

The last time Ohio State and Oregon were on the field together, senior Buckeye cornerback Denzel Burke had arguably the worst game of his career. A four-year starter for OSU, Burke gave up eight catches on eight targets, including a pair of scores.

Ohio State lost the game 32-31, and Burke was shown in highlights on repeat for the rest of the weekend.

For the game, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 341 yards, which is a season-high against FBS opponents. It was also a season-high given up by the Buckeyes, whose second-highest passing total allowed this year (201) came against Northwestern.

Oregon receivers Evan Stewart and Tez Johnson combined for 14 catches for 224 yards and two touchdowns. They had receptions of 28, 48, and 69 yards in that game.

To put those numbers in perspective, Ohio State has only allowed six passing plays of 30 yards or more this season. Four of those six plays came against the Ducks.

What made them so effective?

“Honestly, us,” Stewart said. “Making plays. Me, Tez, DG seeing it through. O line holding up their blocks. It was just us doing our jobs that we do every day in practice.”

Gabriel saw it the same way from his vantage point.

“I think in that particular game, guys did a really good job of winning vertically,” he said. “But I think it was a mix and match. There were a lot of combinations that happened, but for the most part it’s winning and creating plays down the field. Our receivers did a good job of that.”

The loss was difficult to get over for the Buckeyes, especially with a bye week immediately afterward. There was no next game to move on to, so it stuck with the team a little longer.

But they also knew leaving the field in Eugene, Oregon that they’d likely see the Ducks again.

“Always want a second chance and here we are now,” Burke said. “Now it’s just take advantage of the opportunity. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.”

And Burke is definitely seeing this as an opportunity. When asked if he was looking at this game as a chance for vengeance, he said he was taking a different approach.

“I’ve been trying to stay away from that word ‘vengeance.’ Just go out there and be me and have fun,” he said.

Based on the results the first time around, it is easy to imagine that Oregon comes in as the more confident team, especially on the offensive side of the ball. They’ve already seen what success looks like against this Ohio State defense, and the Buckeye defense has yet to experience that same kind of success.

“Confidence comes from your preparation,” Tez Johnson said. “So every Tuesday we’ve played this game already. So when we go out there on January 1^st, we’ve just got to rehearse it for the fans. This game has been played a million times already. So I mean, when we get out there, let’s go showcase it for the fans. Let’s give them something to cheer about.”

For his part, Burke has replayed the previous game in his mind a million times as well. He will play them one final time on New Year’s Day, and he is definitely looking forward to it.

“Oh yeah, for sure. I’m really happy to be able to play them again,” he said. “Kind of left a little bad taste in our mouth that last game. But here we are now in the Rose Bowl and now we just look forward to playing hard and having fun.”

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