Or was Tennessee outgunned and Ohio State able to take advantage of cold weather and home field?
Unbeaten top seed Oregon promised a true test in the Rose Bowl/CFP quarterfinal and the answer would come early from Ohio State, who scored the first thirty-four points of the game and cruised to a 41-21 win over the Ducks, which advanced them to the semi-finals next Friday in Dallas against the Texas Longhorns.
Will Howard threw for over three hundred yards and three touchdowns, two to Jeremiah Smith, who finished with seven catches and one hundred eighty-seven yards.
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1) Jeremiah Smith had posted on social media for Oregon to play man coverage, he would make the Ducks pay and he did just that.
Smith's first half was flawless and left no doubt that as good as Smith was when the two teams played earlier this season, his progression has shown such improvement that he's almost a different player and that says a lot!
2) What Ohio State managed to do in the Rose Bowl that they didn't dodge in their other big games (Oregon, Penn State, and Michigan) was the big turnover at the wrong time.
Ohio State never turned the ball over and committed only two penalties for fourteen yards.
When you have the talent that Ohio State possesses, most games are decided by not handing the opponent easy ways to stay close.
3) I do feel bad for Oregon and their fans, having to face the one team that had the best chance to beat them in the quarterfinals due to the CFP's decision not to re-seed following each round.
Considering the draw involved Oregon would have been better suited to lose the Big Ten title game to draw SMU at home and a rematch against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl as Penn State did than winning the game only to face Ohio State.
It wasn't fair to Oregon after their singular undefeated season and hopefully, it will be corrected in future playoffs.
4) The Buckeye pass rush never reached Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the first matchup but the Ohio State defense never stopped harassing Gabriel, finishing with eight sacks.
Even Gabriel made something happen for the Ducks, it was on the run, avoiding charging defenders and throwing the ball, hoping for the best.
5) The voters for the defensive player of the game had an extremely difficult choice between Cody Simon and Jack Sawyer.
Simon finished with seven solo tackles, a tackle for loss, two sacks, and a pass defended while Sawyer sacked Gabriel twice, two of his three solo tackles were for losses and Sawyer batted down three passes.
Simon won the award but I thought Sawyer would have also been a solid choice.
6) Ohio State struggled to run the ball in the first game but even in the second half with the Ducks expecting the run, Ohio State still ran the ball well.
TreVeyon Henderson ran for two touchdowns, including a sixty-six-yard jaunt, and Quinshon Judkins pounded his way to eighty-five yards.
Ohio State averaged 5.8 yards per rush.
7) Give the oft-criticized Ryan Day and Chip Kelly credit for learning from their conservatism in the Michigan loss.
Day has always been better as an aggressive coach than a passive one and the way Ohio State has attacked both Tennessee and Oregon put both teams in reverse from the start, building a lead that was impossible to lose.
Hopefully, Day and Kelly will continue this aggressiveness against Texas next Friday night.
8) Jeremiah Smith's yardage set an OSU record for a freshman in a game, breaking a record held by Cris Carter in the 1985 Rose Bowl against USC.
Yet another erasing of Cris Carter from the Ohio State record book.
9) The offensive line was a topic discussed often during the waning weeks of the regular season but they played very well against Oregon as the Ducks were held without a sack.
Combine that with the running game and the offensive line quietly did their job after so many were concerned by season's end.
10) So it's onto Dallas and the Texas Longhorns, which doesn't seem fair but it is what it is.
From what I saw of both teams, Texas looks awfully beaten up physically and I'm not sure they can deal with the OSU speed.
Still, don't take the Horns lightly, they are more than capable of winning should Ohio State slip up.
Enjoy the Holiday and Go Bucks as Ohio State attempts to avenge their defeat to Oregon!
