Ohio State and the Oregon Ducks will meet as Big Ten Conference opponents for the first time this season in what is now being reported as a night game. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt stated that the two will face off on NBC on October 12th, meaning the game will fill in the 7:30 p.m. slot.
Ohio State will travel to Eugene this year after Oregon came to their house in 2021 and came out with a 35-28 victory over the Bucks. The meeting prior to that one was in the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship game in 2015. That time, Ohio State defeated the Ducks 42-20 in a decisive blowout. I would expect this year’s matchup to be a closer battle than that one and more akin to the 2021 bout.
There isn’t much carryover for the two teams roster-wise from the matchup three years ago. Oregon now even has a different head coach. The previous roster was led by Mario Cristobal, who now coaches the Miami Hurricanes. The Ducks are now commanded by Dan Lanning, who has managed to keep Oregon more consistently in the playoff race recently.
Ohio State was then lead by Ryan Day in their last game and retains some key players from then as well. The four who played the most significant snaps were TreyVeon Henderson, Lathan Ransom, Denzel Burke, and Cody Simon. Emeka Egbuka also received special teams snaps as the kickoff returner, where he did fumble once despite the ball bouncing directly back to him for the recovery.
Henderson played very well with 54 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries. Burke and Ransom both played well and were very sound and disciplined in the defensive backfield. Cody Simon wasn’t technically a starting linebacker, but he played a large percentage of downs and had some very big plays including a pass breakup on third-down late in the fourth quarter.
That game also marked C.J. Stroud’s second career start for Ohio State. He did not disappoint, throwing for 384 yards and three touchdowns to his one interception. Receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson also all each went for over 100 receiving yards. The loss did not come at the fault of the offense.
Defensively, Ohio State struggled tremendously against the Ducks. They were very solid against the pass but were gashed by the rushing attack over and over. Oregon finished with three rushing touchdowns and 269 yards on the ground. Allowing an average of 7.1 yards per carry will almost always result in a loss and that game was no exception. Ohio State constantly took bad angles and was out-schemed by Oregon. They did not adjust and running back C.J. Verdell made them pay repeatedly with three touchdowns himself.
Luckily, Oregon does not return any major skill players from that year. However, unluckily, they seem to have gotten even better since then. They are now led by star quarterback Dillon Gabriel as an off-season transfer portal addition. They did lose their number-one receiver and running back from last year but returned some significant players from both groups. Running back James Jordan is back after a 759-yard year averaging 7.1 yards per carry. They then return their second and third leading receivers, Tez Johnson and Traeshon Holden. Johnson stands out as he went for 1,182 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns in 2023.
This game will undoubtedly be one of the biggest matchups for college football as a whole this season. However, with the College Football Playoff now featuring 12 teams, this game is no longer necessarily do-or-die for the Buckeyes. It will although still be vital to the seeding of the playoff if either team qualifies and wants either the bye or home-field advantage in the first round. Regardless, this will be a tremendous test in the front half of the season for Ryan Day and his roster. Excited Buckeye and college football fans everywhere will all be tuning in to the now primetime matchup.
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