Ducks and Bucks to duel in Texas for ’ship

After six months of blood, sweat and tears on the gridiron, we’re finally at the college football championship game: It’s the No. 2-ranked Oregon Ducks and No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes in the NCAA title game on Monday.

Statistically, the teams match up well. Oregon is second in the nation in points per game at 47.2, while Ohio State is fifth at 45.0. The two teams’ defensive averages are also similar.

It’s an interesting match-up because both teams have suffered key injuries and have still been dominating on the field.

The Buckeyes had to fight through one of their players, Kosta Karageorge committing suicide in late November. They have kept winning even after their first and second-string quarterbacks have gone down with injuries. Braxton Miller injured his shoulder before the season even started. J.T. Barrett replaced Miller and actually played very well, throwing for 34 touchdowns in 12 games. Unfortunately, on Nov. 29 against Michigan, Barrett fractured his ankle.

Now, Ohio State relies on sophomore Cardale Jones. One wouldn’t expect a third-stringer to have such an impact, but he has shined. In just his second start, he led the Buckeyes to a surprising Sugar Bowl win over No. 1 Alabama, 42-35, throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown.

At (13-1, 8-0 Big-10 Conference), the Buckeyes had one mess-up game, losing to Virginia Tech, 35-21, in early September. Since then, they have nearly unstoppable. Same goes for the Ducks at (13-1, 8-1 Pac-12 Conference) losing to Arizona, 31-24, on Oct. 2.

For OSU, sophomore running back Ezikiel Elliot has come up huge. He rushed for a Sugar Bowl record 230 yards and two touchdowns against the talented ’Bama defense that had allowed only 88.7 rushing yards a game in 2014. He was the first player to rush for over 200 yards against Alabama in a game since 2003.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer certainly knows what it takes to win. He won two national championships at Florida (2006, 2008) and since taking over at OSU has a record of 37-3. I have a lot of respect for him because he took over a program that was sanctioned for a one-year bowl ban due to players accepting cash and tattoos in exchange for jerseys, rings and other team memorabilia. All he did was lead OSU to a 12-0 season that year.

While the Ducks aren’t down to their third-string quarterback, they still faced numerous injuries this season.

Oregon’s best defensive player, All-American senior cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olumu, injured his knee before the Rose Bowl and is done for the playoffs. The Ducks’ top returning receiver, junior Bralon Addison, tore his ACL before the season started and missed the whole year – as did Tyler Johnstone, junior starting left tackle. Junior star tight end Pharaoh Brown tore up his knee against Utah. And against No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, freshman wide receiver Devon Allen hurt his knee on the opening kickoff and is now doubtful for Monday’s game.

Senior center Hroniss Grasu and sophomore running back Thomas Tyner also missed games this season, but both are back now. Tyner had a strong game against the Seminoles, running for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.

Oregon-Florida State was hyped up mostly because it was last year’s Heisman winner, FSU quarterback Jameis Winston, vs. this year’s winner, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. The result showed that it wasn’t a great showdown, after all. It looked like Oregon just came more prepared. Florida State had issues keeping up with the Ducks’ fast-paced, no-huddle offense. Even the refs couldn’t keep up at times. After a close first half, Oregon set a record for most points scored, 59, in a Rose Bowl history that dates back to 1902.

Five Seminole turnovers were killers, especially Winston’s epic fumble, caused by himself, which led to Oregon’s senior linebacker Tony Washington Jr. scooping up the ball and running it 58 yards for a score. That bizarre play has been on highlights all week and inspired Winston-themed Internet memes loaded with irony and sarcasm. Winston is obviously a talented football player and will be a top-10 pick in this year’s NFL draft but he is immature and needs to grow up. He has the physical traits to be good, but mentally has some things to work on, and it showed in the Rose Bowl.

I don’t expect the Ducks to dismantle the Buckeyes like that, though. Ohio State is solid and is led by an elite coach. Its defense has also played consistently and even had a pick-6 in the Sugar Bowl.

Oregon does have some redemption to gain, after losing the national title game in 2011 to the Auburn Tigers, 22-19. Oregon and Ohio State actually met in the 2010 Rose Bowl a year earlier, with the Buckeyes winning, 26-17. They also met in the 1958 Rose Bowl, with OSU winning, 10-7. (On the other hand, Oregon beat OSU, 46-33, in the first-ever NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament title game.)

I predict a tight battle on Monday. But, with Oregon’s nearly unstoppable offense and the play of Mariota, I expect the Ducks to come home with their first football championship.

If Oregon plays as well as they did against Arizona in the Pac-12 title game (a 51-13 win) and the 59-20 Rose Bowl beat down, no team in college football can beat them. Prediction: 45-37, Oregon.

Advocate Staff