Ohio State picked up its signature win of the season Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif., when it dismantled 13-0, No. 1 Oregon 41-21 at the Rose Bowl to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals against Texas. Here are Buckeye Sports Bulletin’s choices for Buckeye Leaves in the win.
Patrick Engels: Heading into Ohio State’s Rose Bowl matchup against Oregon, true freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith appeared as confident as ever, saying that he feels nobody can guard him and that it would be a mistake for Oregon to defend him in man-to-man defense. That confidence seemed to exude onto the field Wednesday night in Pasadena when the teenager was undoubtedly the most dominant player on the field.
After scoring two long touchdowns against Tennessee in the first round of the CFP, Smith dazzled again with a game-high seven catches for 187 yards and another two scores, while also adding another 5 yards on a rush attempt.
It seemed at one point that Smith was going to contest Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Rose Bowl record of 347 receiving yards when he started the game on a tear, taking his first reception 45 yards to the house on a short drag route on Ohio State’s first possession of the game. The wideout followed that play four drives later with another sensational touchdown where he found himself wide open in the middle of the field for a 43-yard score to put the Buckeyes up front an impressive 24-0.
At that point in the game, Smith had an impressive five catches for 161 yards and two scores, a stat line that cemented him in Rose Bowl lore well before the game reached halftime.
Bobby Gorbett: Quarterback Will Howard continued to play his best football at the perfect time for the Buckeyes during their 41-21 Rose Bowl win over Oregon. After arguably a season-best performance against Tennessee, Howard only improved against Oregon, throwing for 319 yards and three touchdowns while completing 17 of his 26 passes.
Howard’s electrifying performance was highlighted by six completions of 29 yards or more, including a pretty 42-yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Emeka Egbuka. With 7:37 to go in the first quarter, Howard layered a perfectly placed line-drive pass right in stride to the well-covered Egbuka to double the Buckeyes’ lead to 14-0. Howard’s pass was touched by an Oregon defender right before it got to Egbuka, but he maintained his concentration to haul in the pass.
Even after the Ducks created a little momentum during the middle eight, Howard completed four straight passes for 28 yards to put the Buckeyes in scoring position late in the third quarter. The Buckeyes would cash in on Howard’s efficiency to score their fifth touchdown of the game to go up 41-15, giving them more than enough cushion to pick up a monumental Rose Bowl victory.
Cameron Moone: Although playing in a game nearly 2,300 miles away from his hometown of Pickerington, Ohio, Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer earns a Buckeye Leaf while playing for his home-state Buckeyes.
Sawyer erupted for two sacks while also notching three pass breakups in Ohio State’s 41-21 win over top-seeded Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
The senior made a living at the line of scrimmage against the Ducks, having his hands up against 5-11 Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, making it hard for the experienced gunslinger to find options downfield and stunting any chances of a downfield Ducks passing threat.
While being one of the more tenured members of Ohio State’s defense, Sawyer’s status as a captain was in full effect in Ohio State’s first Rose Bowl victory since 2021, and he will now be a crucial member in the Buckeyes’ effort to get past Texas in hopes of reaching the national championship game.
Greg Wilson: After seeing what was the most complete game for the 2024-25 Buckeyes on Dec. 21 against Tennessee, they had an even better game against No. 1 Oregon, taking down the undefeated Ducks, and TreVeyon Henderson was a big part of that.
If you saw only the number of rushes he had in the game, you wouldn’t expect him to have the numbers that go along with that on the stat sheet. He finished the game with eight runs, but he was able to gain 94 yards and scored twice.
That total was helped along by a 66-yard touchdown in the second quarter, the longest rushing touchdown in the Rose Bowl by any Buckeye in the history of the game. It was the first play of the OSU drive, but it was all they needed to extend what was already a substantial lead to 31-0.
He scored again in the third quarter on an 8-yard run, forcing his way into the end zone to make it 41-15, taking the wind out of the sails of an Oregon team that was attempting to make a gigantic comeback.
