The National Championship between the Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes started with Oregon winning the coin toss and taking the opening kickoff. The fifteenth game of the season was underway for the Oregon Ducks. Oregon started early with Thomas Tyner picking up big chunks of yards before a non-turnover call happened. Mariota was brought down and the ball was stripped, but his knee was down as was shown on replays. The drive would continue.
Keanon Lowe would get Oregon on the board with the first score from Mariota, who now has a touchdown pass in all forty-one of his career games.. Tyner had a big role in the first drive for Oregon assisting with twenty-eight yards on the ground. The Ducks did not have a third down on the opening drive. Ohio State would have their first chance as Cardale Jones brought the Buckeyes Offense onto the field.
Jan 12, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones (12) throws a pass during the fourth quarter against the Oregon Ducks in the 2015 CFP National Championship Game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Ohio State would get two first downs on their opening drive before Reggie Daniels stopped Cardale Jones short of a first down on third and seven forcing a Buckeyes punt. Oregon would again have the ball.
Oregon’s second drive would start with a big play by Keanon Lowe but would end with a missed catch by Charles Nelson leading to a punt to within the five yard line where Ohio State would start their second drive.
Jones would get out of his own endzone with back to back twenty-six yard gains. After that it was again third down for Ohio State and Jones would not get the first down with his feet, but would go for it on fourth and three. The Buckeyes would appear to be short. A measurement was a first down for Ohio State. Ezekiel Elliott would burst past the Oregon Defense into the endzone for thirty-three yards. It was a ten play, ninety seven play drive for the Buckeyes.
Oregon would pick up some positive yardage before th Ohio State Defense forced a big third and long. Mariota threw a long pass to a wide open Dwayne Stanford who dropped the ball inside the Ohio State fifty-yard line. The Ducks would punt. It was the second dropped pass for Oregon in the game.
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A pass interference play on Oregon Ducks Safety Troy Hill would allow the Buckeyes to score. Zeke Elliott would rush twenty-three yards to the one yard line and Jones would find Tight End Nick Vanett for the score giving the Buckeyes a 14-7 lead on Oregon.
The Ducks would end up with another stalled drive with an eventual three and out, but would lose Tight End Evan Baylis to an injury. He would walk off the field under his own power. Mariota threw a third down pass to Byron Marshall that could have been called for pass interference. Oregon would punt.
Ohio State looked like they were heading for another score on the next drive but a bad handoff from Jones to Elliott would give the Ducks back the ball off a turnover. Evan Baylis would make the catch in his return to the game as Mariota and Oregon went back to work on Offense. Mariota would throw a big pass to Byron Marshall for a first down. Ohio State would keep Mariota and the Ducks out of the endzone for three consecutive plays setting up fourth down. Ohio State would hold to keep Oregon out of the endzone.
Ezekiel Elliott would again burst through the Oregon Defense to get the ball to the thirty yard line putting the Buckeyes in business again. Corey Smith would catch a fifty yard pass from Jones before Troy Hill would come through with the second big defensive play of the game for Oregon forcing a fumble and the Ducks would recover. The Oregon Offense would again take the field with an opportunity.
Ohio State was ready. Mariota and Oregon would go nowhere after a busted run play and the Oregon Ducks Signal caller would be a victim of the forty-fifth sack of the season on third down as Mark Helfrich and his team were again forced to punt.
Oregon would hold Jones and Ohio State to third down, but Donovan Smith had other ideas and hauled in a forty-five yard catch. The Ohio State QB would call his own number two plays later giving Ohio State a 14 point lead on Oregon.
The Oregon Ducks would get down the field again thanks to a Mariota pass to Stanford for 28 yards on third down. The drive would stall again inside the ten yard line on third and goal. Aiden Schneider gave Oregon three points and the Buckeyes would try to run out the clock. The Ducks would use all three of their timeouts and get the ball back with fourteen seconds to go in the first half.
Oregon would be unable to get to field goal range as the first half came to an end. The Ducks would be two for eight on third down and zero for one on fourth down. The battle in the trenches would have to shift in the second half as Ohio State would start with the ball.
Ohio State would start the second half where they left off in the first half with Ezekiel Elliott taking it twenty-two yards. It would end with Danny Mattingly giving Oregon their third turnover of the game and the Oregon Offense a chance to get back into this game.
On the first play for the Oregon Offense in the second half Mariota threw a seventy yard pass to Byron Marshall for a touchdown. Oregon was back in the game at 21-17. Could Ohio State answer?
The Oregon Defense would keep Ohio State honest and hold on third down. The Buckeyes would go for it on fourth down and Elliott would come through in the clutch for a first down.On the next play Jones would go to throw the ball and lose it to the turf and Oregon would recover. It would be Ohio State’s fourth turnover of the game.
Oregon would settle for a field goal pulling to within one of Ohio State 21-20. Oregon would retake the lead for total yards in the game three-hundred seventy nine to three-hundred fifty six. The Oregon Ducks Defense would need another stop and contain Ezekiel Elliott.
Ohio State would start from the twenty yardline after a touch back. Cardale Jones would again take the Buckeyes down the field with a healthy dose of Ezekiel Elliott. Jones also had key plays on third down to pick up first downs on the drive. The third quarter would come to an end with the Oregon Defense gasping for breath and Elliott taking it into the endzone for a touchdown for the Buckeyes.
Elliott would enter the fourth quarter with two-hundred yards on the night.
Oregon would find themselves down eight points entering the final fifteen minutes of the season. How would the team respond?
They would not. It was a quick three and out for the Oregon Ducks as Ohio State and Ezekiel Elliott would get the ball back turning attention to an Oregon Defense that had been burned for big plays all night.
Jan 12, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) runs the ball against the Oregon Ducks during the fourth quarter in the 2015 CFP National Championship Game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Ohio State would again get down field with Elliott and on second and five Elliott would pick up a first and goal. Elliott would score again extending the Buckeyes lead to 35-20 with 9:44 to go. For the first time since October the Oregon Ducks could hear ticking. The ticking of the clock, the ticking of their season coming to an end.
Oregon would have 9:32 to go to get something done. Could they get past the adversity they have faced all night and get back into the game again? Thomas Tyner would get it started with a first down run. On the next play Joey Bosa would hit Mariota hard who would get up slowly after landing hard on his throwing shoulder. Jeff Lockie would come in for Mariota for one play.
Marcus would return for third and twenty-seven. He would complete the pass short of the first down, and the Oregon Ducks would punt. Time was running out for Oregon.
The Oregon Ducks Defense would hold the Buckeyes and get the ball back with just over four minutes to go till the end of the game. Fifteen points seemed a lot to overcome for Oregon. Passes on the Oregon final drive would be caught, but holding penalties would be costly.
In the end it was not a good night for Oregon. They were outplayed not only in the trenches, but everywhere else on the field. Ohio State Sophomore Quarterback Cordale Jones threw for over two-hundred yards and got the hard ones with his feet on third and fourth down runs when he needed to. When it wasn’t Jones, it was Ezekiel Elliott who had over two-hundred yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Oregon could not stop the run all night and the pass plays they gave up were enough to allow the Buckeyes to keep their distance.
Oregon is not a good ‘play from behind’ team. They did their best to improvise with Mariota doing his best to find Wide Receivers, but Ohio State kept the Ducks one dimensional for most of the night not allowing the Oregon Running Game to really get going all night. They got their yards, but nothing like what Elliott did on the night. He would add a third touchdown on the night. The final score Ohio State 42, Oregon 20.
Ohio State had two-hundred ninety six yards on the ground to go with five touchdowns, four from Elliott, one from Jones. Elliott had 246 yards. Oregon Running Back Thomas Tyner, the Ducks leading rusher had 62.
For Oregon there are now plenty of questions. The biggest surrounding Quarterback Marcus Mariota. What will he decide to do? The day to declare for the NFL Draft is not far from now. January 15th.
The Oregon Ducks season comes to an end with a record of 13-2.