10 Observations: Buckeyes Roast the Ducks in the Rose Bowl

Ohio State continued its red hot play on Wednesday evening, dismantling Oregon 41-21 to win the Rose Bowl and advance to the College Football Playoff Semifinals.

Lets get right to it…

1. Maybe the most dominant performance from an Ohio State in a big game since the 2014 Big Ten championship win over Wisconsin and that’s a funny thing to say coming a week and a half after the Buckeyes dismantled Tennessee in the first round. The offense was obviously tremendous, but the defense imposed their will physically like I haven’t seen in a while.

2. Jeremiah Smith. Nothing more I can say here.

3. There are so many players responsible for Ohio State getting to this point, but Donovan Jackson has to be right at the top of the list. Making the move to left tackle mid-season is such a difficult thing to do and impacts not only the most important position on the offensive line, but the entire chemistry of the line as a whole. His leadership and adaptability saved Ohio State’s season and I believe the individual reward for that will be an increase in his draft stock in April.

4. There were questions, including from myself, whether this staff would continue to let it hang out or if some old habits would be revisited. Those questions were answered early in the game. Ryan Day and Chip Kelly threw to setup the run, took shots, and played to the strengths of the team. Larry Johnson kept his deep rotation going. Jim Knowles used his linebackers to help bring extra pressure and force Dillon Gabriel into uncomfortable situations. A-plus effort from the coaching staff in this game.

5. Cody Simon is picking a great time to play the best football of his career. What a game for him. He was physical, he played fast and he was disciplined. Playing at an All-American level.

6. The stats from the defensive line were great but what really jumped out to me was how well the front seven maintained its lane discipline. There were several instances that won’t show up in the box score with a sack or a TFL where Ohio State was able to box Gabriel in and force a throw away or an incompletion. Making him make plays from the pocket and not allowing those back-breaking scrambles was a huge part of the defensive success.

7. I’ve talked a lot about the grind and physical toll that a potential four-game playoff run could take. Ohio State exits this game as fresh as you could possibly be after two playoff games. They haven’t had to load up the running backs with carries. Will Howard hasn’t had to be a real part of the run game and has been kept upright on his drop backs. Just an ideal situation right now on the rest/rust factor.

8. Ohio State and Oregon seem destined to do this for a long time. I see a lot of high stakes matchups between these two programs in the future and I thought Dan Lanning gave classy responses in his post game press conference afterwards. For a real rivalry to form, two teams have to take something from each other. These two teams have each taken something from the other this season. All of the makings are here for a Georgia-Alabama type of rivalry.

9. Again, if you’re not enjoying the CFP, you need to find a new hobby. An iconic old school Big Ten/Pac-12 type of vibe in the Rose Bowl and now The Quinn Ewers Game in the semifinals. How fun is this?

10. The challenge now is to keep the backs-against-the-wall/underdog mentality. Every pundit went from bashing this team and its coaching staff to predicting them to win it all. Keep the same edge at all costs.

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