Ohio State had the game where it wanted it. Up 14-0 early in the second quarter, then still in front 14-3 when Oregon rolled the dice with a brilliant fake punt on 4th-and-10 from its own 30-yard line.
That’s where everything turned. From there, the Buckeyes unraveled and never recovered in a 41-28 loss in Columbus.
The collapse was immediate and brutal. After that fake punt, Oregon ripped off 38 unanswered points and built a 38-14 lead with 12:02 left in the game. It was the first time Ohio State had given up 38 straight points since Oct. 2, 1999, when the Buckeyes lost at Wisconsin, 42-17.
What followed was a stretch of total control by the Ducks, especially in the middle eight. Oregon put together three straight touchdown drives, each under two minutes, and each one pushed the game further out of Ohio State’s reach.
The first cut the lead to 14-10: nine plays, 70 yards, 1:41.
The next gave Oregon a 17-14 lead: eight plays, 59 yards, 1:06.
Then came the knockout blow to make it 24-14: five plays, 75 yards, 1:49.
By early in the third quarter, the numbers told the whole story. Since the fake punt, Oregon had piled up 189 yards and 21 points, while Ohio State had minus-8 yards after that play changed the game’s direction. The Buckeyes had only one drive in that stretch, and it ended with an interception by Luke Fahey.
Ohio State’s offense never found its footing again after a strong opening quarter. The Buckeyes managed 19 plays for 174 yards in the first, a sharp 9.2 yards per play.
But in the second quarter, that dropped to 12 plays for 17 yards, or 1.4 yards per play. In the third, it was 15 plays for 22 yards, just 1.5 yards per play.
The ground game was just as rough. A week after Ohio State ran for 204 yards in a loss at USC, the Buckeyes finished with 21 carries for 53 yards against Oregon, a 2.5-yard average.
They had 12 carries for 48 yards in the first half, but 42 of those yards came on seven carries in the opening quarter. In the second half, Ohio State had nine carries for five yards.
Bo Jackson led the Buckeyes with 11 carries for 48 yards and two touchdowns. Legend Bey added one carry for 12 yards, and Isaiah West had two carries for 10 yards.
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Urban Meyer Just Added Fuel To Indianas CFP Debate
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Indianas rsum has been strong enough to keep it firmly in the conversation, with an 8-1 record and wins over Michigan and Nebraska. Still, Meyer pointed out that the Hoosiers do not have a victory over a ranked opponent, which only sharpened the debate over how much weight the committee is giving different parts of the schedule. For Ohio State, the issue is less about needing outside validation and more about whether the rankings are reflecting what happened when the two teams actually met. [Read more 🡒]