Ohio State defeated Oregon 41-21 to win the 2025 Rose Bowl in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
The Buckeyes jumped out to a 34-0 lead in the second quarter and never looked back. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith broke the Ohio State single-game freshman receiving yardage record with 187 yards. He also added seven receptions and two receiving touchdowns as he earned the Rose Bowl Offensive MVP.
The guy throwing Smith the ball, quarterback Will Howard, completed 65 percent of his passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. However, it was only the air attack where Ohio State dominated; running back TreVeyon Henderson ran for 94 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries (11.8 ypc) and running back Quinshon Judkins ran for 85 yards. In total it was a 500 yard performance for the Buckeye offense.
Ohio State’s defense was dominant in its own right, only allowing three drives to cross the 50-yard line. The Buckeyes harassed Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel to the tune of eight sacks, and the run game wasn’t any help with negative 23 yards and only 20 yards without Gabriel’s negative total. Linebacker Cody Simon earned Rose Bowl Defensive MVP honors after leading Ohio State with 11 tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss.
In the loss, Gabriel tied Case Keenum for the FBS career all-time passing touchdown record at 155.
With the win, 8-seed and No. 6 ranked Ohio State advances to play 5-seed and No. 3 ranked Texas in the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas, on Friday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. It’ll be the fourth time the historic programs have met on the gridiron.
