The Rose Bowl was Urban Meyer’s last game as the No. 6 Ohio State football head coach and there was nothing his team wanted more than End the Meyer era with a win. That goal looked like a sure thing when the Buckeyes jumped all over the Huskies in the first half to go up 21-3 at the intermission The lead was built on touchdown passes from Dwayne Haskins to Parris Campbell, Johnnie Dixon and Rashad Berry. Meanwhile an Ohio State defense that had been iffy at best all season held Washington to just a field goal.
The Buckeyes (13-1) forced a punt on No. 9 Washington’s first possession of the second half, then drove to touchdown of their own when J.K. Dobbins scored to make the score 28-3.
It looked like the victory in Meyer’s last game was secure, but Washington (10-4) was not ready to give up. The Huskies finally got their offense going and the Washington defense make the OSU offense all but disappear the rest of the way to turn a game that looked like it was going to be a laugher into one that was in question late in the fourth quarter.
Washington scored 20 unanswered points over the remainder of the half to pull within a single score of the Buckeyes but an onside kick attempt with less-than a minute remaining was recovered by Dixon to ice the OSU win, the Rose Bowl championship, and the outgoing victory for Meyer.
OSU tailback Mike Weber, playing in his last game as a Buckeye, led all rushers with 96 yards on 15 carries. Haskins was efficient at quarterback completing 25 of 37 for 251 yards and three touchdowns. Washington quarterback Jake Browning went 35 for 54 for 313 yards and no touchdowns.
it was a tale of two halves. It ended up close but there wasn’t any drama until the final few minutes. Afer the Buckeyes made it 28-3 I was starting to feel bored. I’m glad UW made it a game after all. I’m surprised the Buckeyes didn’t cover. We saw some of the ineffectiveness at times we’ve seen all year. It’s all good. OSU played great at times. Who knows if UW had gotten their rhythm sooner how it would have gone. I think we’ll be seeing Chris Peterson and UW again in the coming years. Not ready for the season to be over but that’s it for this year.
Buckeyes played complacent from the middle of the 3rd on. No fire. No passion. No killer instinct. Worst last 23 1/2 minutes of a game of Meyer’s career. A win is a win but that was pretty putrid from after the last Buckeye score on and they nearly paid for it against a team that they should have broken the neck of once their foot was on it.
Also, John, Myles Gaskin “lead all rushers”, Weber only lead all Buckeye rushers.
Understandable I guess but it certainly was an uninspiring and frustrating second half. A win is certainly all that mattered with style points not being a factor but I was definitely hoping for the first half to be duplicated in the second. 42-6 would have looked a lot better!
Agreed, Bill.
Andrew- couldn’t have said it better myself. In the 2nd half OSU looked like a team that had a plane to catch. After the Clemson and Alabama blowouts earlier, I actually caught myself saying OSU should have been one of the 4 playoff teams. This game proves why they weren’t. There were a couple nice individual efforts (Okudah and Weber leap to mind), but otherwise it was unremarkable at best. I’m anxious to see which coaches get the boot and what the new HC can do.
Yeah, I had to eat my words/thoughts after that 4th quarter as well, Longtime. Weber played like he was auditioning for the NFL and looked good. Okudah had his best game and if he can build on that next year it will be his last.
That’s the big curiousity right now is the coaching staff, especially defensively.
“Also, John, Myles Gaskin “lead all rushers”, Weber only lead all Buckeye rushers.”
Did you notice near the end the graphics showed UW with more rushing and passing yards too? Not sure where the Buckeyes went after they scored to make it 28-3. Just a bizarre letdown at that point, maybe celebrating a bit early. They looked good in the first half.
Calibuck,
UW had some 260 yards of offense in the 4th quarter alone.
Always good to start the year with a win over a quality team.
Some anxious moments in the last quarter. BUT, a win is a win.
Good game and a great season given all that happened in the off season to this day. I don’t think we will ever see a head coach at Ohio State with a 90% winning percentage ever again. Meyer is 12-3 in bowl games too. Good luck to Urban Meyer in the next chapter of his life as a grandpa and Assistant AD at OSU.