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The Rose Bowl won’t get a Big Ten vs. Pac-12 anymore, but this Midwest vs. West Coast meeting in the CFP quarterfinal has a similar spirit. The Buckeyes lost the first time these new Big Ten foes met but are a small favorite for the rematch in Pasadena.
How to watch Oregon vs. Ohio State
Oregon is the lone remaining undefeated team in the country and beat OSU 32-31 in a nailbiter on Oct. 12 in Eugene. This game will be on a neutral field. If the rematch is as exciting as the first contest, it could help college football fans overcome the malaise created by uninteresting first-round games.
There were questions about Ohio State after an inexplicable home loss to Michigan closed its regular season. In previous years, that would have knocked the Buckeyes out of CFP contention, but this year, it just cost them a spot in the Big Ten title game. Coach Ryan Day was firmly on the hot seat going into OSU’s first-round game against Tennessee, and his team responded by producing arguably the best Ohio State performance in the past couple of seasons.
If the Buckeyes play as they did against Tennessee — a 42-17 romp that felt over in the first quarter and was definitively decided before the end of the third — they are capable of beating Oregon. The Ducks haven’t been tested much since that game. Oregon had a 16-13 clunker at Wisconsin but hasn’t had any other close games in the second half of the season. Even the Big Ten title game against Penn State was only somewhat close.
The first time these teams played, both showed off talented (and expensive) rosters capable of winning a national title. OSU’s Will Howard and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel completed more than two-thirds of their passes, passed for two touchdowns and more than 300 yards and didn’t throw an interception. OSU’s TreVeyon Henderson and Oregon’s Jordan James had solid games on the ground. The game’s top receivers, Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka for OSU and Evan Stewart and Tez Johnson for Oregon, had several catches and a touchdown each.
All the stars showed up. How will the coaching staffs adjust in the rematch?
The Buckeyes lead the head-to-head series 9-2, winning the first nine meetings but losing the last two. Oregon also won in Columbus in 2021. These teams met in the Rose Bowl twice, in 1958 and 2010, with OSU winning both. Their last postseason meeting was in the 2015 national title game in AT&T Stadium, a 42-20 OSU win.
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