Every time the Buckeyes looked done, they kept getting better, and that was enough to earn themselves a chance to win a championship.
Cardale Jones, Ezekiel Elliott and the Buckeyes won the first College Football Playoff National Championship, 42-20 on Monday night.
Behind its backup quarterback with Jones and the running of Elliott, the Buckeyes completed an in-season turnaround with a leading performance against the Ducks.
“Late August, around camp, everybody counted us out when our Heisman Trophy quarterback went down, and then when the first College Football Playoff rankings came out, we was like No. 16 or 17,” said Jones in an interview on ESPN.com. “Long story short, we weren’t supposed to be here,”
Ohio State began the first major college football playoff as an underdog against both top teams, Alabama and Oregon.
“This will go down as one of the great stories in college football history,” said coach Urban Meyer (ESPN.com).
Even with four Ohio State turnovers, the Ducks were at their lowest point total of the season, four touchdowns less than their average. They went 2-for-12 on third downs, with two dropped passes in the first half.
While Elliott slipped and ran through the Ducks, Jones shook them off. When Jones spun into the end zone with 4:49 left on the clock in the second quarter, it was 21-7 Ohio State. The “O! H! I! O!” tune made the arena in North Texas come alive. The Ducks were facing their largest loss of the season.
The full house at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, washed in Buckeye scarlet and Duck yellow, held a crowd of 85,689.
By the time Elliott went in from two yards out with 9:44 on the clock left in the fourth to make it 35-20, it was clear this night had turned into the Buckeyes’ game. Elliott scored the game’s last three touchdowns, finishing it with a 1-yarder with 28 seconds left.