The long-awaited rematch is here. The Buckeyes will have a chance to avenge their mid-season loss against the Oregon Ducks, the last undefeated team left in the NCAA.
Win? The Buckeyes get to advance to the Final Four. But lose? Columbus and some of the Buckeye faithful will likely be calling for Ryan Day’s job.
Ryan Day and the Buckeyes have consistently produced great teams, top records and plenty of NFL talent. The issue people are having is Day’s inability to win the “big game” or get over that perpetual hump. Adding in his continued losses to Rival Michigan, his circle of trust is tightening and more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon to begin a new Head Coach search. Urban Meyer left the program in great shape and the popular counterargument for Ryan Day is that his teams at least are always there at the end of the year, and holds an 87% win percentage as head coach. So they are correct we haven’t seen a drastic dip since Meyer’s departure, however only winning the regular season is not for the hearts of the Scarlet and Gray. But anyhow, we can shelve that conversation for another time – and hopefully not later today.
Let’s remind everyone how that last matchup finished. Throughout the game, each team traded punches, but down one after an Oregon FG, Ohio State had a perfect opportunity to drive the field with just under two minutes to win the game. But as the Buckeyes reached past midfield, Ohio State reached the 20-yard line but was called for an OPI, which backed them up to the 43. Two plays later, Oregon took what some said was an Intentional illegal 12 Men on the field penalty (trading a five-yard penalty to burn the clock with only 10 seconds remaining, genius actually). The clock stopped at six seconds and not being in FG range, Will Howard snapped the ball and decided to run up the middle as time expired, even with a timeout in their pocket. The game ended and Oregon broke the hearts of the many who chanted O-H-I-O.
So, on the Dawn of the CFP game two for the Buckeyes, we are optimistic that OH can pull it off. Ohio State is arguably the best team in the nation and by PFF’s measures, they are 2nd ranked overall, 4th offensively and 1st defensively. Oregon has a high-powered offense, scoring just under 38 ppg and only scored under 30 twice. I believe that’s the threshold for this game, holding the ducks to under 30 points- you give yourself a really strong chance to win this game. I look forward to this matchup and I expect a similar game as the first one. This time the home-field advantage won’t help the Ducks.
My final prediction:
Ohio State: 34
Oregon: 27
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