The flashbulbs erupted like a giant strobe light across the Rose Bowl and just like that, Oregon’s season ended with a loss. The scoreboard flashed “2010 Rose Bowl Champions OHIO STATE BUCKEYES” and the score read 26-17.
Tears were evident on the faces of players as they slowly walked through the tunnel; all wondering how a 17-16 lead in the third quarter turned into a heartbreaking loss on the biggest stage any of them have ever played on.
Redshirt freshman running back Kenjon Barner took the loss extremely hard. The speedy return man had 227 all-purpose yards, including 150 on kickoffs and punts. But he knew it wasn’t enough, and with his eyes red from crying, he said he would learn from the experience and come back stronger next year.
“It’s tough to lose any game, but to get here to this stage, it’s extremely tough,” he said. “It hurts. I don’t think any one of my teammates likes the feeling that we have right now, but this just gives us time to grow, time to come closer together and just get back at it next year.”
The Ducks (10-3) were thoroughly beaten by Ohio State in front of 93,963 fans in the 96th Rose Bowl. The tough, physical defense of the Buckeyes’ held quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and the potent Duck offense to 260 yards of total offense (Ohio State had 419 yards total offense).
Masoli was 9-of-20 for 81 yards (a season low) with an interception, and he had just 18 yards rushing.
“They did a great job of taking him away and not letting him run a lot of our read stuff,” head coach Chip Kelly said. “They had a guy assigned to the quarterback, so he has to hand the ball off and that’s what they wanted us to do.”
But for how well the Ohio State defense played in holding Oregon to 12 first downs, the offense of the scarlet and gray was better. The Buckeyes (11-2) controlled the ball for 41:37 minutes, including two drives in the fourth quarter that ate up 11:11 of the 15 minutes.
Kelly, though, wasn’t worried about that. He said his focus was on No. 2 Terrelle Pryor. The sophomore quarterback rushed for 72 yards on 20 carries and threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns.
“When I saw him in high school he was a man amongst boys and at times tonight he looked like a man amongst boys,” Kelly said. “He’s an impressive player when you see him up close. He certainly beat us on how he threw the ball.”
The outcome was in doubt until the fourth quarter. It was 19-17 Ohio State and after the Buckeyes forced the Ducks to punt with 13:03 left in the game, Pryor—the offensive player of the game—marched the team down the field with a 13 play, 81-yard touchdown drive that ate up 6:01 of the clock and gave them the 26-17 lead.
On Oregon’s kick off return, Barner flipped the ball to defensive back Cliff Harris, who swept around the edge of the Buckeye attackers and sprinted down to OSU 36 yard line. Oregon managed nine yards on the next three plays, and Kelly elected to try for a 44-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth and short.
The move didn’t pay off, as senior place kicker Morgan Flint missed the kick wide right for just his third miss of the year.
“(Flint) has been a good kicker for us and at that distance we felt confident he was going to put it through,” Kelly said of the kick.
It was the last time Oregon would touch the ball as Ohio State used all 5:10 left on the clock to end the game and start the confetti and fireworks.
“It was pretty tough because every time we’d get late in the game and they’d get a third down,” defensive end Kenny Rowe said of the long drives. “It was kind of frustrating.”
Rowe was the defensive player of the game, with seven tackles, including three sacks. It tied a Rose Bowl record for most sacks in a game.
In the first half Oregon held its own falling down 10-0 early, before rallying to tie the game at 10 in the second quarter with a LeGarrette Blount touchdown with 9:14 to go in the half.
Two field goals by Ohio State put the team up 16-10 at halftime, but Masoli’s one-yard touchdown run on Oregon’s first possession of the second half gave Oregon its first lead of the game. Ohio State wasn’t going to be denied its first BCS bowl after three straight losses, however, and the Ducks eventually were overwhelmed by the Buckeyes.
“It was good for us to get a taste,” Barner said of the big stage. “Kind of tough to deal with this loss, but also get that hunger for next year, come back and want the National Championship, want everything. Come back and fight.”
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