PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Oregon withstood many challenges en route to being the only unbeaten team and the top seed in the College Football Playoff.
However, Ohio State's opening flurry on offense and defense in the first half was too much to overcome as the Big Ten champions saw their hopes of a first national championship dashed with a 41-21 loss in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday night.
“It was definitely shocking. They came out and punched us in the mouth. We tried to make adjustments but it was definitely different,” defensive back Kobe Savage said.
The Ducks (13-1) fell behind three plays into the game when Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith scored on a 45-yard pass from Will Howard and never recovered.
Oregon gave up scores on six of Ohio State's first seven drives. Offensively, the Ducks got into Buckeyes' territory only once on its first six drives and had four three-and-outs before reaching the end zone the seventh time they had the ball.
“We didn’t adjust fast enough,” coach Dan Lanning said.
Dillon Gabriel had four completions of at least 28 yards in the first half in Oregon's 32-31 victory on Oct. 12. That wasn't the case this time as his first long completion — a 44-yarder to Traeshon Holden — didn't come until there were 30 seconds remaining until halftime.
“They dropped eight. First game they played us man. That was their game plan to stop us and they did it to the best of their ability and they succeeded,” said receiver Tez Johnson, who had five catches for 32 yards after having seven for 75 in the first game.
Ohio State had nine plays (seven passing, two rushing) of at least 15 yards in the first half as it took advantage of miscommunication in Oregon's secondary.
“Every time we had bad eyes or miscommunication they capitalized on those moments,” Savage said.
Oregon came into the game leading the Big Ten and ninth in the nation in third-down conversions, but converted only one of four in the first quarter and five of 12 in the first half.
Gabriel said the lack of big plays and not being able to stay on the field early ended up being costly.
“You plan to create explosives, be really good on situational football and move the chains that way. We just didn’t do that on third down,” said Gabriel, who completed 29 of 41 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns. “They had a great plan, like coach said. But if you don’t go get the third you can’t move forward.”
Gabriel was sacked eight times after having a clean pocket in the first meeting. That was due to Oregon being forced to pass the entire second half and running back Jordan James being injured in the first half.
Evan Stewart, the Ducks' second-leading receiver during the season, did not play because of a back injury he suffered in the Big Ten Championship game against Penn State on Dec. 7. Stewart went through pregame warmups but wasn't cleared by trainers.
“It was very shocking because you got to think at Autzen, it was 7-7, 14-14, 21-21. It was pretty back and forth all game long, so to see ’em run up the score a little bit and us not have too much juice, it was a definitely a different … It was a different atmosphere we hadn’t been in this year, for sure,” Stewart said.
The Ducks accomplished plenty in their first season in the Big Ten.
Oregon is losing plenty of starters on both sides of the ball, including Gabriel, who transferred from Oklahoma and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
“I feel like the seniors set a great standard this season just to show how tough you can be and then it can be done. To go undefeated in your first time in a tough conference like the Big Ten,” Savage said. “I feel like there’s a lot of underclassmen and a lot of young guys that are going to come in and fill those roles and also maintain that standard.”
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Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel warms up before the quarterfinals of the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff against Ohio State, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
SUZUKA, Japan (AP) — Yuki Tsunoda finally has his promotion at Red Bull. That was difficult enough, elevated to the top team last week as Liam Lawson was demoted to Red Bull's No. 2 Formula 1 team — Racing Bulls — after failing to score points in the season's first two races.
Delivering will be even tougher as Tsunoda joins a long list of Japanese drivers with varying degrees of success in F1. His first Grand Prix for Red Bull is on Sunday in Japan.
Tsunoda faces pressure before adoring home fans, is another Japanese driver trying to crack through, and bears the weight of racing alongside four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen.
What advice has Red Bull team principal Christian Horner given him?
“Be close as much as possible to Max,” Tsunoda said Thursday at the Suzuka track. He described as “brutal” not being chosen initially by Red Bull for this season, but looked relaxed taking question about this abrupt promotion.
“I'm not saying I'm confident that I can perform straight away like Max,” he added. But he said he was confident he could produce well compared with “other drivers” Red Bull might have chosen.
Lawson also appeared relaxed, smiling as he took questions about his demotion.
"It's something I wasn't expecting,” Lawson said. “It's something that obviously is not my decision and for me it's about making the best of it.”
Lawson attributed part of doing poorly in his first two races with Red Bull to unfamiliar tracks in Australia and China. He'd been hoping to prove himself in Japan, where he drove last season in F1.
This time it will be with Racing Bulls and not Red Bull.
“This is what I was looking forward to from the start, to be honest,” he said, referring to the Suzuka circuit in central Japan. "To a track that I've been to before and just have a proper sort of preparation. It's a track we all like a drivers.”
This is Tsunoda's fifth season in F1, and he needs to deliver points for Red Bull. His best career finish was fourth place in Abu Dhabi in 2021. He's finished out of the points with Racing Bulls in the first two Grand Prix races this season, but placed sixth in the sprint race almost two weeks ago in China.
Red Bull's car this weekend will run with a white paint job, a tribute to automaker Honda. Verstappen has won four consecutive titles with Honda power. This is Red Bull's last season with Honda, moving next year to Ford. Honda moves to power Aston Martin next season.
This is his best chance, and Tsunoda will have to excel to stay with Red Bull. Not just for this season, but for next.
Almost 20 Japanese drivers have competed and none has won an F1 race. Japanese have reached the podium only three times in F1. And all were third-place finishes.
Aguri Suzuki was the first to reach the podium, finishing third in the 1990 Japanese GP.
Kamui Kobayashi was third in the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix driving with Sauber and has scored more points in F1 than any Japanese driver.
Takuma Sato managed a third in the 2004 U.S. Grand Prix. He is also a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
McLaren has won the first two races — Lando Norris in Australia and Oscar Piastri in China — in a field that looks tightly bunched.
Norris leads the driver standings with 44 points, followed by Verstappen with 36 and George Russell of Mercedes with 35. Piastri is one point back with 34.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who joined Ferrari this season after departing Mercedes, has only nine points. He was 10th in Australia and was disqualified in China following postrace scrutineering. His best result so far is a win in the sprint race in China.
Hamilton has won five times in Japan, and his Ferrari team has vowed to fix the mistakes that saw Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc disqualified in China.
AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan responds to a journalist's question during a news conference at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Thursday, April 3, 2025, ahead Sunday's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix race. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan, center, flanked by Kick Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg of Germany, left, and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco, responds to a journalist's question during a news conference at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Thursday, April 3, 2025, ahead Sunday's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix race. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan responds to a journalist's question during a news conference at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Thursday, April 3, 2025, ahead Sunday's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix race. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
FILE - RB driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan talks at a press conference during a Formula One pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)
FILE - RB driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan, celebrates his third place after the qualifying session ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini, File)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan performs a demonstration run during an event in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan performs a demonstration run during an event in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
