Ohio State Football: Early look ahead to the Rose Bowl
The Ohio State football team will soon be back in action in Pasadena with a chance to give coach Meyer a fitting sendoff to his legendary career.
The Big Ten Champion, Ohio State Buckeyes and PAC-12 Champion, Washington Huskies are set to collide in Pasadena in the Rose Bowl on January 1st. Neither team’s season went exactly according to plan based on preseason expectation but neither team would consider playing in the “Granddaddy of Them All” a failure.
The Buckeyes were expected to make another playoff run, which was ultimately cut short following a long, windy night in West Lafayette, Indiana. Ohio State overcame both preseason and regular season adversity in dealing with the suspension of their head coach, losing their best player to a season-ending injury and the loss to Purdue.
Urban Meyer’s bunch showed heart and resiliency throughout the season and bent but never broke. The Buckeyes finally broke through in The Game as they plastered sixty-two points on arch rival Michigan who boasted the No. 1 defense at the time. Ohio State followed up their performance with another dominating win over Northwestern to win their second straight Big Ten Championship.
Like Ohio State, Washington was favored to win their conference and contend for the College Football Playoff. Again, like the Buckeyes, their playoff dreams ended rather quickly and then diminished all together after suffering their third loss of the regular season.
The Huskies were virtually forgotten about until the Apple Cup when heavy snow brought a messy game. Washington was able to continue their dominance over Washington State and re-insert themselves into the national picture.
The PAC-12 Championship Game was the opposite of the Big Ten Title Game, it was a very low scoring defensive battle. In fact, neither Washington nor Utah scored an offensive touchdown. The Huskies went on to win 10-3 thanks to a pick-six by Byron Murphy in the third quarter.
Both Ohio State and Washington have been through a lot this season but rejuvenated themselves late in the year to secure a spot in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. That will be legendary coach Urban Meyer’s final game as head coach of Ohio State before retiring.
There are storylines aplenty in this year’s Rose Bowl, which is fitting all things considered. Earning the trip to Pasadena enables Urban Meyer to coach in the historic game for the first time.
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Expectedly so, sending off the one of the best coaches in both modern and old-time college football eras into the sunset with a win in the Colosseum is serving as major motivation for the Buckeyes. Will Ohio State be able to get it done though?
The respective offenses and defenses are essentially polar opposites of each other. The Ohio State offense led by Dwayne Haskins is explosive and can score points in bunches. Whereas Jake Browning and the Washington offense average nearly seventeen points less per game than Ohio State.
Defensively the Huskies are stout all around, especially in the secondary. They have only given up nine passing touchdowns all season. However, the Buckeyes have had their fair share of struggles on the defensive side of the ball to say the least.
On the biggest stage something has to give. Will it be Haskins’ arm that steals the show yet again? Or can the Washington defense slow down the speedy high-octane Ohio State offense?
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The Rose Bowl also features three of college football’s brightest and most innovative offensive minds and (head) coaches in Urban Meyer, Chris Peterson and Ryan Day. This game is shaping up to bring out all the emotions for Buckeye fans while having the potential to add yet another chapter to the storied history of the Rose Bowl. You won’t want to miss this one.