Ohio State earns vengeance at the Rose Bowl, rolling over No. 1 Oregon

No. 8 seed Ohio State was buoyed by a monster performance from freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who set the Buckeyes' single-game freshman receiving record in Pasadena.

Jan 2, 2025 - 06:00

Ohio State earns vengeance at the Rose Bowl, rolling over No. 1 Oregon

Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts as he is given the Leishman Trophy after defeating the Oregon Ducks 41-21 to win the 111th Rose Bowl and CFP quarterfinal game in Pasadena on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

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PASADENA — He held the Rose Bowl trophy to the Pasadena night sky, under raindrops of red-and-white confetti, and just the faintest hint of a smile crossed Ryan Day’s lips. More the suggestion of a smile, really. This was business. This was what was meant to happen.

And yet the road to Wednesday’s 41-21 win over Oregon had been exhausting, and emotional, filled with thorns that poked at Ohio State’s status as a college football power and questions about whether Day could win in the biggest moments. There was the end to 2022, the Buckeyes’ disappointment in the Peach Bowl at the hands of Georgia. There was the end to 2023, the Buckeyes’ disappointment in the Cotton Bowl at the hands of Missouri. There was October’s loss to Oregon, and then November’s loss to Michigan, each a douse of kerosene to the kindling under Day’s seat.

Here, still he stood, his program beaten and bruised and yet perhaps the strongest it’s ever been, jumping all over Oregon from kickoff in a New Year’s Day rematch that established the Ohio State as the undisputed favorite in the remaining College Football Playoff field.

After Day had taken the postgame stage at midfield, after he’d raised the trophy, ESPN’s Rece Davis asked him a question over the Rose Bowl loudspeaker about how his program had played such a dominant first half. Day leaned in. He got a few words out. He was cut off. A handful of Buckeyes snuck up behind him in glee, upending a bucket of roses on his head.

And Day’s suggestion of a smile became a full grin, a baptism of petals washing over him, the big-game monkey on his back lost — for now — under a sea of red.

“Every game here is important,” Day said postgame. “So when you lose, you’ve got to figure out how to move forward.”

“But when you recruit great people with high character who care about each other,” Day continued, “when you go through difficult times, you stick together. You don’t splinter.”

They could have splintered back on that October night in Autzen, when quarterback Will Howard slid too late for one last field-goal try in a brutal 32-31 loss. They could have splintered after another loss to Michigan, in late November. Instead, Ohio State regrouped with a first-round College Football Playoff drubbing of Tennessee — and made mincemeat of No. 1 Oregon in jumping out to a 34-0 first-half lead.

Day, for one, earned his redemption. So did Howard, who gunned shot after shot downfield against an Oregon secondary that looked both overwhelmed and often out of position, the senior transfer quarterback finished a pristine 17 of 26 for 319 yards. So did Ohio State’s defense, a unit that was shredded in October by Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, but completely shut down the Ducks’ offense for 29 first-half minutes.

“We went through a lot of tough conversations after that game and a lot of changes we had to make,” said linebacker Cody Simon, named the game’s defensive MVP after racking up 11 tackles and two sacks. “But I think we’re better for it now.”

The true star of the afternoon was Ohio State true freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith, a kid who hadn’t even lived a generation, but authored a generational performance. He shattered Ohio State’s single-game record for receiving yards by a freshman, finishing with seven catches for 187 yards and a pair of touchdowns, as Davis asked him on the postgame podium if anyone could stop him.

“No,” Smith responded, simply.

Long before the swirls of pink descended over the San Gabriel Mountains Wednesday night, a wave of green swelled and crashed upon the population of Pasadena, buoyed by liquid courage and the dream of an undefeated Ducks season that had taken college football by storm. For every Ohio State fan that walked the concourse at the Rose Bowl, this New Year’s Day, there were legions of Grinch-green Ducks, erupting in a shared call-and-response. Go! Ducks! Go! Ducks!

They were raucous, and they were gleeful, and then Howard dropped back on Ohio State’s third play of the afternoon and floated a dump-off to Smith in open space. He went 45 yards, sprint slowing to a stroll by the time he hit the end zone.

Smith turned to the Oregon stands, lifted his finger, and placed it to his visor.

Shush.

And the rampage began.

He racked up first-quarter grabs, to follow, of 29 and 12 and 32 yards. And as the second quarter dawned, already up 17-0 after a 42-yard touchdown dime from Howard to Ohio State senior Emeka Egbuka, Smith broke off a deep route and waited patiently as a 43-yard toss from Howard floated into his arms in the end zone.

“He’s strong — attacks the ball in the air as well as any receiver I’ve seen,” Ducks head coach Dan Lanning said of Smith postgame. “The guy is NFL-ready. He’s that talented, and that special.”

A 66-yard touchdown run by TreVeyon Henderson and a field goal left Ohio State up 34-0 as the second quarter waned, the game seeming thoroughly and incomprehensibly over.

“We really didn’t have the ability to stop them,” Lanning said postgame, “and we didn’t have the ability to get something going for us on offense.”

They did, finally, at the end of the first half and start of the second, Gabriel darting inside and outside of pockets in the pocket to lead a couple touchdown drives. But Howard led another late third-quarter touchdown drive to respond, with Henderson running for his second score of the day. And Oregon’s offense was stifled from there, save for a fourth-quarter touchdown strike from Gabriel to receiver Traeshon Holden, Ohio State’s defense pummeling Gabriel to the tune of seven second-half sacks.

As Ohio State moved to the CFP semifinal, the Ducks’ dream season grinding to a rough end in Pasadena.

“Obviously that’s a team, I think,” Lanning said of Ohio State postgame, “that has the ability to go win it all.”