ARLINGTON, Texas – One particular sequence in Monday night’s College Football Playoff final seemed to define the Oregon defense this season. Trailing 21-10 and backed up in its own territory, the Ducks defense forced Cardale Jones and the Ohio State offense into a fourth-and-one.
Ohio State opted to go for it. Jones, upon the snap, immediately chopped his feet forward. Only he was immediately pushed backward. However staying with the play, the junior quarterback making his third collegiate start, sprinted around the left sideline and barreled over defensive back Chris Seisay for a first down.
On the subsequent play though, Jones’s pass bounced off a Buckeye receivers hands and into the grasp of Oregon linebacker Danny Mattingly. The next play, Marcus Mariota connected with wide receiver Byron Marshall and Marshall did the rest, sprinting for a 70-yard touchdown.
The plug to the spark that had driven Oregon’s last two wins over Arizona and Florid State appeared to have emerged again. The next drive, Jones was flushed out of the pocket and fumbled the ball. The play identified with the one Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston became notoriously known for on New Year’s Day. The ball just slipped free and Tony Washington, like he had been in the same position at the Rose Bowl, was there to jump on it.
Although this time, Oregon settled for a field goal and on the subsequent Ohio State drives thereafter, it became increasingly noticeable that this game wasn’t like the previous two.
Oregon’s defense forced four turnovers Monday night. However, its inability to have at least a marginal push at the line of scrimmage resulted in 538 total yards of offense and a 37:29 time of possession for the Buckeyes.
“We didn’t play like ourselves,” junior defensive lineman Arik Armstead.
It didn’t play like it had in its prior two games at least. In the Pac-12 Championship against Arizona, the defense allowed just 225 yards of offense and in the Rose Bowl it forced five turnovers. Yet this was a different type of monster, and Ohio State’s running back Ezekiel Elliot bulldozed through the Oregon defense for all 60 minutes of regulation in a 42-20 win.
In all, Elliott rushed the ball 36 times for 246 yards. He averaged 6.8 yards per carry and scored four touchdowns. His speed was elusive and his 225-pound frame bounced off virtually every defender that tried to contain him.
Physically, Oregon solved its problem in the trenches against Michigan State, Stanford and every other team that tried to exploit it. But there was no resolve Monday night, leaving senior outside linebacker Tony Washington answerless for what had just occurred.
“I wish I had an answer because if I did I think we would’ve fixed it,” Washington said. “We just weren’t getting to the ball like we used to.”
In total, Ohio State rushed the ball 61 times and Elliott became such a constant that a T-shirt company released a new product, with “Feed the Zeke” embroidered across the front.
“We just didn’t execute our defense,” defensive coordinator Don Pellum said. “I don’t think we tackled very well, I don’t think we communicated as well as we have in the past. And some of the adjustments we made we didn’t execute in the way we needed to.”
And it was clear after Oregon came to within one point in the third quarter. On its next two drives, Ohio State ran a combined 19 plays for 151 yards, while taking 10:52 off the clock. Both drives culminated with touchdown runs from Elliott.
In addition, the Buckeyes converted on over 50 percent of its third-downs and were perfect on its three fourth-down attempts during the game. To add to the damage, they reached the end zone on every one of its red zone trips.
“My hats are off to those guys,” Pellum said.  “They did a fabulous job.”
After the Rose Bowl, senior linebacker said that the Ducks had been making statements all season with the way they played. The defense had taken advantage of every opportunity it had to destroy the notion that it couldn’t compete with physically-minded offensive attacks.
After this one though, it was clear that Washington’s remarks symbolized their defensive performance. Oregon didn’t have an answer and there were a list of obvious reasons why.
“We didn’t get off the field, we didn’t tackle the ball carrier and that’ll lead to losses,” Armstead said.
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JustinFWise