This past Monday, the sports world got to see the inaugural NCAA College Football Playoff Championship game. The 13-2 Oregon Ducks (Pac 12) took on the 14-1 Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten) at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Gametime was 8:30 PM ET and it was seen on ESPN TV. Let’s recap how the Buckeyes took over this game.
The Ohio State Buckeyes surprised most with their 42-20 win over the Oregon Ducks. And the incredible display of running talent from Buckeyes RB Elliott who scored 4 touchdowns in the game, and accounted for almost 50% of the offensive yardage for Ohio State, with his 246 yards gained on his 36 carries.
The Buckeyes had 28-1st downs with some 538 total offensive yards, with 242 passing and 296 rushing with 4 turnovers, and ball possession for 37:29 minutes. On the other side the Ducks had 20-1st downs on 465 total offensive yards, with 333 passing and 132 rushing, with 1 turnover, and ball possession for 22:31 minutes of the game.
The offensive leaders for the Oregon Ducks in the game, was QB Mariota who completed 24 of his 37 passes for 333 yards, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. RB Tyler & QB Mariota combined for 22 carries for 101 yards and no touchdowns. Receivers Marshall and Stanford combined for 12 receptions for 230 yards with Marshall scoring 1 TD.
Leading offensively for the Ohio State Buckeyes was QB Jones, who completed 16 of his 23 pass attempts for 242 yards, with 1 TD and 1 interception. RB Elliot and QB Jones combined for 57 carries for 284 yards with Elliot scoring 4 touchdowns and Jones scoring 1 TD. Receivers Smith & Thomas combined for 6 receptions for 129 yards and no touchdowns.
The Ohio State 3rd string QB Jones had another amazing game, but the star of the game was MVP Ezekiel Elliot who rushed some 36 times in the game and scored 4 touchdowns, and Elliot only lost yardage on one of his 36 carries. His coach Myers said Elliot is one of the best post-contact players I’ve ever seen. In the second half of the game, he was the difference as he scored 3 times as he averaged 6.8 yards per carry.
The unmentioned phase of the game was the Buckeyes dazzling defense that only allowed the Ducks to only gain a 1st down on 2 of their12 third downs, and that was against a team that during the season converted some 52 percent of their 3rd downs.
So football fans, who bet on college football at SBG Global, what happened in this game for the Oregon Ducks, was that the Ohio State Buckeyes simply outplayed, out executed, and outmuscled the Ducks as the Buckeyes were much more physical in this inaugural playoff game. That topped with the Oregon defense that allowed the Buckeyes to gain 538 offensive yards, and an offense that struggled, even after they got the ball back on four of Ohio States turnovers.