Photo Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images The Ohio State Buckeyes scored 21 unanswered points in the final two quarters to defeat the Oregon Ducks 42-20 in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Ohio State led 21-10 at halftime and Oregon only trailed 28-20 at the end of the third quarter. Ohio State was up 21-20 in the third quarter until Running Back Ezekiel Elliott scored the final three touchdowns of the game. Elliott led the way with a game-high 246 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns for the Buckeyes. This was Elliott third straight game rushing for 200 or more yards. Ohio State Quarterback Cardale Jones completed 16 of 23 passes for 242 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception and Jones had one rushing touchdown. The Buckeyes were able to convert on 8 out of 15 3rd down conversions compared to Oregon 2 out of 12 3rd down conversions. Photo Credit: AP/Eric Gay Heisman Trophy Winner Marcus Mariota completed 24 of 37 passes for 333 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception for the Ducks. Ducks Wide Receiver Byron Marshall had a game-high 8 catches for 169 yards with 1 touchdown. Running Back Thomas Tyner led Oregon with 62 yards rushing and the Ducks finished with 132 total yards rushing. Oregon really didn’t have the ball long this game, they only had 22:31 time of possession for the game compared to the Buckeyes 37:29 time of possession. Photo Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer won his third national title, first with the Buckeyes and Meyer won two at the University of Florida. Ohio State finishes with a 14-1 record and Oregon finishes with a 13-2 record. Meyer is definitely one of the top three coaches in college football, him and Alabama coach Nick Saban – in my opinion – are the top two. Both have won titles at two different schools. The Big Ten has the NCAA title now and this makes two years in a row the Southeastern Conference hasn’t won. Nick Saban and the rest of the SEC will try to recapture the title that the SEC won for seven years in a row. Photos courtesy of ESPN.
