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Objections to being considered as underdogs in the first College Football Playoff National Championship game have been voiced by some Buckeye players, but quarterback Cardale Jones appears to have the best idea.
Noting he doesn’t care if the No. 4 Buckeyes are the underdogs or the favorites in tonight’s game with Oregon, Jones added, “We’re going to go out there and play like it’s the the last game of the season.”
This will be the third consecutive game for OSU to be rated as the underdog, and look what happened. It defeated Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, 59-0, and then stemmed No. 1-rated Alabama in the College Football Playoff, 42-35.
Known as the underdog and ending up as the winner in both games means, in my opinion, that underdog’s not a dirty word.
The players should remember the well-known comment by that famous Buckeye, Archie Griffin, the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.”
As this is being written, the No. 2 Ducks are a 6-point favorite.
During a recent press conference, it was noted that OSU teams coached by Buckeye head football coach Urban Meyer had been underdog five times and had won them all. Asked how hard he pushes that button when named as underdog again, Meyer replied, “We don’t do that until it gets close to game time. Our strength coach and I just feel where we’re at. We usually swing a little bit with it.”
Underdog or not, players on both sides undoubtedly are looking forward to the championship game. As Buckeye sophomore wide receiver Michael Thomas, who was a roommate of Jones at Fork Union Military Academy, said, “I’ve always been a big dreamer, and we always talk about playing right away at Ohio State, about contributing and winning winning a national championship. We’re blessed to be in that position and to have the opportunity in front of us.”
The Ducks have quite a few things going for them, notably, quarterback Marcus Mariota, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner who also has received numerous other honors.
Mariota, has passed for 300 or more yards in 16 of 40 career games played, and that’s a record at Oregon. He has received the Most Valuable Player award in all four postseason games of his career, and that includes the 2012 Fiesta Bowl, 2013 Alamo Bowl, 2014 Pac-12 Championship Game and 2015 Rose Bowl.
The Ducks’ offensive speed and tempo also were mentioned by Buckeye sophomore defensive lineman Joey Bosa, the leader in the Big Ten with 20 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks.
Bosa, who is a consensus All-American, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Lombardi, Hendricks and Bednarik finalist, said, in preparing for Oregon’s offense, “I think it’s pretty obvious our biggest challenge will be their speed and tempo. We’ve been doing 16 seconds between plays and have had periods of hurry-ups.”
He added that the players have been focusing on their conditioning, and it’s been tough.
The Ducks’ average margin of victory in games with top 25 teams this season is 26.5, and their average against unranked teams is 24.1.
Entering the game with 12 wins in a row, the longest active streak in the nation, OSU hopes to claim its eighth national championship in school history.
This marks the first time for teams coached by Meyer (37-3 at OSU and 141-26 in his 13th season), and second-year Oregon coach Mark Helfrich, (24-3 at Oregon and overall) to meet. During Helfrich’s first 27 games as a head coach, his teams won 24 of them, and this is the best start by a Pac-12 coach in more than 64 years.
There have been eight previous games between the two teams, and the Buckeyes won each of those match-ups. Their last game was the 2010 Rose Bowl when No. 8 and 10-2 OSU was victorious over No. 7 and 10-2 Oregon. Their first game was the Rose Bowl in 1955 when the Buckeyes prevailed 10-7.
OSU has won seven national championships, the most recent one being in 2002 under Jim Tressel. Woody Hayes coached five of the championship teams, and the first one was coached by Paul Brown.
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BUCKEYE senior receiver Evan Spencer, son of St. Clairsville High School and OSU product Tim Spencer, and his wife, Gilda, has received complimentary comments from two coaches.
Meyer referred to Spencer’s catch of the football in the last game as “unbelievable,” before adding, “He’s the MVP. He’s the MVP of our team. He’s the leader of our team. He’s the guy that at the right time, I’ll probably make an executive decision and make him a captain. He’s a wonderful kid. He’s really what to me, football is all about.”
Bill Livingston of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer recently interviewed Tressel, who said the best catch of the game with the Crimson Tide was “when Evan Spencer leaped high and made a one-handed grab of the high bounce Alabama’s onside kick took in the final minutes.”
THE game at AT&T Stadium is scheduled for 8:31 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN.
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