Fast Starting Buckeyes Set The Tone

PASADENA, Calif. – A college football season is about playing the long game, but a single game can be all about delivering the quick knockout blow.

The Buckeyes have not allowed either of their past two games to go to the scorecards, delivering the haymaker in the first round before the other fighter has had a chance to get their legs under them.

Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks found themselves in a multi-touchdown hole before the first quarter ended, much like Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers. But it is more than Ohio State putting up big points, the Ohio State defense closed the vice grips and made the deficit feel 10 times worse.

“We didn’t have the ability to get something going for us on offense,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said after the game. “We haven’t faced a lot of moments like this all year. It’s an unbelievable team. Coach (Ryan) Day and his staff have done an unbelievable job there.”

The numbers are staggering when you look at Ohio State’s offensive efficiency and the opponent’s inability to do anything. Over the course of the past two first quarters, Ohio State has not only scored a combined 35 points but also:

• Held opponents to a combined four first downs
• Held opponents to a combined 53 yards of total offense
• Held opponents to a combined 23 rushing yards
• Held opponents to a combined 26 total plays
• Forced a combined four three-and-outs
• Combined for 438 yards of total offense
• Started a combined 18-24 throwing the ball
• Scored points on six of eight drives that started in the first quarter

Day’s Buckeyes had not exactly been quick starters this season, more importantly in the second half of the season. The combined 35 first quarter points is more than what Ohio State put up in its previous seven regular season games, dating back through the first match-up between the Buckeyes and the Ducks.

“We knew we had to get the ball to the perimeter, take shots and just win one-on-one matchups,” Ohio State freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith said. “And that’s what we did today.”

A quick start against the upcoming opponent will be important as the Texas Longhorns are another quick starting team, scoring 129 points in the first quarter, through 15 games this season. Of course, there will be time to see if those numbers are a product of consistent first quarter scoring or a result of going against lesser non-conference schedule at skewing the actual story.

The Horns also have held opponents to just 27 points in first quarter action, that breaks down to just 1.8 points per game, so even only recording a safety and nothing else would be above the average.

But this Ohio State team that the Horns are facing and that the Ducks and Vols have faced is no ordinary team, at least not right now.

“When we’re executing at a high level,” Day said. “We can play with anybody in the country.”

With just two rounds of the College Football Playoffs standing between the Buckeyes and their first national championship since the 2014 season, the margin for error is beyond slim.

Unless the Buckeyes roar out to more big leads and end things before, they ever get a chance to star out. This story continues in Dallas in less than 10 days with everything still left on the line.

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