Ohio State Beats Oregon for National Title

Ohio State won the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship on January 12th with a decisive 42-20 victory over Oregon in Arlington, Texas. The Buckeyes were the Number 4 seed in this first post season playoff at the Division I level, and detractors mentioned TCU and Baylor as more appropriate teams for the four team playoff. But Ohio State proved to be very much worthy, beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day to secure the Buckeye’s chance to play for the national title.

Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott was a beast on the field, rushing for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns. Buckeye quarterback Cardale Jones began the season third on the depth chart, and was pressed into service when J.T. Barrett went down with an injury in the November 29th victory over Michigan (original #1 QB Braxton Miller suffered a season ending injury in training camp). All Jones did was lead the Buckeyes to victory in the Big Ten Championship game, the Sugar Bowl, and the National Championship game.

The Big Ten has been much maligned in recent years, with its teams losing more often than winning against high profile opponents from other conferences in bowl games. This is also the conference’s first national football champion since Ohio State won the title in the previous championship incarnation, the BCS championship, back in 2002.

There was also a shift away from dominance by the Southeast Conference. While SEC teams were 7-5 in bowls, the losses by Alabama, Mississippi State, Mississippi, LSU, and Auburn—many of the SEC’s better teams this year—put a damper on things; plus there was no national champion from the SEC for the second straight year after the conference won seven straight titles. The Big Ten was 6-5 in the post season, with quality wins by Michigan State (over Baylor) and Wisconsin (over Auburn) to go with Ohio State’s success. The Pacific 12 did quite well overall also, despite Oregon’s loss to Ohio State. The Ducks won the Rose Bowl over Florida State on the way to the championship game, and Pac-12 teams were 6-3 overall.