Ohio State routs Oregon 41-21 in Rose Bowl, will face Texas in CFP semifinal

Ohio State got the rematch it wanted against Oregon in the Rose Bowl, and made the most of its opportunity. 

Will Howard threw three touchdowns, TreVeyon Henderson ran for two and Jeremiah Smith caught two as Ohio State routed Oregon 41-21 on Wednesday during the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl. 

It was a revenge game for the Buckeyes, who lost to the Ducks 32-31 in Eugene earlier in the season. The victory sends Ohio State to the College Football Playoff semifinal at AT&T Stadium against Texas in the Cotton Bowl next Friday. 

For Oregon, which entered the game undefeated at 13-0, the loss was its first of the season, and ended its hopes of winning the first national championship in school history. 

Dillon Gabriel threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns in the senior’s final college football game of his career. Gabriel is expected to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. 

The No. 1 ranked team in the country didn’t know what hit it in the first quarter. The eighth-seeded Buckeyes scored touchdowns on two of their first three drives to start the game. 

Before you could say, “The Granddaddy of Them All,” Ohio State had a 34-0 lead midway through the second quarter. 

Howard, a senior quarterback who transferred this offseason from Kansas State, finished the game 17-for-26 with 319 yards and three touchdowns. 

His favorite target was freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith, who broke the school’s freshman receiving yards record for a single game with seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns. 

The 41 points were the most allowed by Oregon’s defense all season.

The 111th edition of the Rose Bowl, witnessed by 90,732 boisterous fans, was not the rematch between two of College Football’s top heavyweights that everyone expected. Oregon’s defense had shown weaknesses in recent weeks, including allowing 37 points to Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 7.

Oregon’s vaunted rushing attack, which averages more than 125 yards per game, was eradicated by Ohio State. Oregon finished with negative 23 yards in the game. 

Ohio State learned from its loss at Oregon earlier in the season, and did what it didn’t do in that first game. The Buckeyes made it a priority to get the ball to the boundaries, with Howard throwing the ball deep to his explosive receivers on offense. 

Ohio State had four different big-play touchdowns of 40 yards or more in the game, including three receiving touchdowns of 42, 43 and 45 yards, as well as a 66-yard rushing touchdown by Henderson. 

But it was the Buckeyes defense that was the most impressive part of their blowout victory over the best team in the country. Ohio State’s defensive front stymied Gabriel all night long, sacking him a whopping seven times. 

It’s back to the drawing board for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks, as they’ll look to reload for the 2025 season as they seek their first national championship. 

Meanwhile for Ohio State, the preseason favorites to win the title, thanks to the new expanded 12-team College Football Playoff format, its hopes for a ninth national championship are still alive.