By Patrick Weider
Ohio State and Ryan Day probably had the most impressive win of the 1st weekend of the College Football Playoff when they beat Tennessee 42-17. They dominated the entire game and played their best game of the year. Next up is a re-match against Oregon. Below are five keys to victory for the Buckeyes against Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
1) Ohio State Cornerbacks need to play great
Denzel Burke came into this year trying to cement himself as a solid NFL draft pick, but in his 1st game against Oregon, he got torched. Burke gave up eight catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns against Oregon. Not a great showing for the top cornerback at Ohio State, but he has played better since that game. Davison Igbinosun is the other starting cornerback for the Buckeyes, and he has also had his struggles this season. He is a physical cornerback, who sometimes takes it too far and draws penalties. Against Indiana early he had two defensive pass interference penalties.
If Ohio State wins this game, they need both to play their best game of the year because Dillon Gabriel is a talented quarterback who torched the Buckeyes, and Oregon has two elite wide receivers, Tez Johnson and Evan Stewart. They must play well and hold up when Oregon takes deep shots against the Buckeyes.
2) Will Howard has to play the best game of his career
Will Howard was tremendous in the win against Tennessee when he was 24-29 for 311 yards and two touchdowns. If you go back earlier this season, he was incredible against Oregon as well for the most part. He threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns. However, Howard ended the game by sliding with no time left to cost them a chance at a game-winning field goal.
In this re-match against Oregon, Howard will need to continue his stellar play. I also think Ohio State might need to dig in and run him more. They have not used him a ton in the run game, but in a tight game against Oregon I can see Howard getting over 10 carries in the game. No matter what, he needs to play well if they want any chance in this game.
More Sports News
3) The Buckeyes need to pressure Dillon Gabriel
In the 1st match-up, Ohio State could not put any pressure on Dillon Gabriel. Part of it was Ohio State’s scheme because Jim Knowles refused to blitz or do any twisting or stunts up-front. Also, Oregon’s offensive line is excellent with two of the best offensive tackles in College Football. Josh Conerly and Ajani Cornelius are excellent offensive tackles, and they locked down Ohio State defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau. If Ohio State is going to win, they need to be exotic up front and they must get pressure on Gabriel. In the 1st game, they got zero sacks on him. If that happens again, they will surely lose this game.
4) The run game continues to stay hot
After having a subpar run game for multiple weeks, Ohio State was able to run the ball very well against Tennessee. They ran for 156 on 33 carries, good for 4.7 yards per carry. The offensive line did better and TreVeyon Henderson ran extremely well, rushing 10 times for 80 yards and two touchdowns.
The other big difference was the play calling. Ohio State no longer just run zone schemes. The Buckeyes have largely been a zone-heavy team, but in this game, they went to a gap scheme. They essentially started to pull and move their lineman around. That along with the offensive line improved play helped Ohio State run the ball well. They will face another good Oregon front seven, so it will be imperative to run the ball well.
5) Special teams need to play well
Against Tennessee, Special Teams play didn’t matter because it was a blowout win for the Buckeyes, but against an undefeated team in Oregon I expect a tight game, so Special Teams need to play well. Embattled kicker Jayden Fielding scored all his extra points but missed a 56-yarder at the end of the half. That kick was clearly out of his range, but Fielding needs to be able to make anything from 45 yards in. The punter Joe McGuire has been up and down and having his best punting game of the year would go a long way towards success. Plus cracking a good return for the punt team or the kickoff teams could help turn the tide in this game.
Finally, against Ohio State in the 1st game, Dan Lanning had a successful onside kick, and it hit off a Buckeye to set up a good field position for the Ducks. Ohio State needs to be ready for it, and be bold during this game, by maybe trying a fake on a special team or kicking a surprise onside kick. If Ohio State special teams can be up for the task it go a long way to getting the victory.
