After being the No. 1 team in the preseason, Ohio State is proving why the games aren’t played on paper.
The Buckeyes, 12th in the College Football Playoff rankings, were touchdown favorites against No. 23 Oregon but were dominated, 41-28, for their second loss in as many weeks.
It looked like all Buckeyes early, as they got out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter sans Julian Sayin, but someone lit a fire under Oregon’s you-know-what, and they responded with 38 unanswered points.
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The Buckeyes were two-and-a-half minutes away from going into the locker room with at least a 14-3 lead, but the Ducks faked a punt on 4th and 10, which apparently was the turning point. Five plays later, they found the end zone to cut the deficit to four, and then Luke Fahey threw an interception near midfield, which Oregon turned into a 17-14 lead right as the first half ended.
The bleeding did not stop, as momentum, and the ball, was all in Oregon’s hands to start the second half. Dierre Hill Jr. took a 48-yard scamper to the house to go up two possessions, and the Buckeyes were stumped. After a three-and-out in their first drive of the second half, their next four drives resulted in turnovers on downs, all while Oregon managed to put up two more touchdowns to go up 38-14.
Jeremiah Smith had a 57-yard reception in garbage time to make his stats pretty (seven receptions for 133 yards), but let his emotions out on the field as he may have watched his Heisman chances slip away. He was held to just four catches through three quarters, three of them in the first half.
The Buckeyes had been the first team out of the first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, and they unquestionably now face an uphill battle to play in the postseason.
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This defeat is off the heels of last week’s 30-18 loss to USC as the second-ranked team in the AP poll. Thus, the team is 0-2 without Sayin, who many had in the Heisman conversation at the start of the season.
Nine Ducks caught at least one pass from Dylan Raiola (25-for-40, 257 yards, two touchdowns). Dakorien Moore and Brandon Smith combined for 10 catches for 108 yards, each with a score, while Hill scored twice on his 13 carries for 75 yards.
Now needing a lot of help, Ohio State will host Northwestern next week before a trip to Nebraska and then finishing the season hosting Michigan.
Oregon, meanwhile, is now hoping to backdoor its way into the playoff — they wrap up their campaign with Michigan, Michigan State and Washington the rest of the way.