By JOHN ZENOR | Associated Press
Oregon and Ohio State have already produced one heck of a game this season.
Now, the top-seeded Ducks (13-0) and eighth-seeded Buckeyes (11-2) are gearing up for a rematch more than 10 weeks later in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
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Of course, both teams have had ample time for evolution since that 32-31 Oregon win on Oct. 12 in Eugene. But they also have that game and players’ familiarity with each other, not to mention common opponents in the Big Ten.
“Sometimes when you’re playing against a team maybe from another conference in the playoffs, there’s a little bit of an unknown, how can you expect this guy to play?” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said Monday. “What am I really looking at when I look at the teams they’re playing?
“This team’s not that way because we played them already and they played in the conference. So there’s again a reference point as we move into this one. So our guys know what they’re up against, but they also know that they’ve evolved and we’ve evolved, and so two very different teams heading into this game. And the team who prepares the best is going to win.”
Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who went on to become a Heisman Trophy finalist, passed for 341 yards and ran for a 27-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter of the first meeting.
Then, Atticus Sappington made the game-winning 19-yard field goal in the final two minutes.
The then-No. 2 Buckeyes were the highest-ranked opponent that Oregon has beaten during the regular season. After the Oregon fans’ field-storming celebration, Ducks coach Dan Lanning quipped: “Anyone have a heart-rate monitor?”
Now, the questions include will they need one for this game? Or will it fail to provide the same thrills?
Ohio State opened the playoffs with a 42-17 rout of Tennessee on Saturday night.
“You could probably argue that Ohio State’s best game was the game they just played,” Lanning said. “So it’s important at this point in the year that you’re playing really good football. Sometimes you don’t know that until you step on the field.
“That’s your job as a coach to get you ready for those moments, get our players ready for those moments, but certainly hope that we put our best foot forward when we play in this Rose Bowl.”
Lanning and the Ducks also played Washington twice last season, losing both by a field goal – 36-33 on Oct. 14 and 34-31 in the Pac-12 championship game on Dec. 1 in Las Vegas.
Lanning isn’t about to tip his hand about what adjustments the Ducks might make or prepare for, but joked: “Yeah, we’re going to do the exact same thing, right, every play, first call.”
“I won’t really get into the differences, but they’re a really good team,” Lanning said. “I don’t know if there’s a more talented team in the nation.”
And by the time these two teams play again, 81 days will have passed from Round 1. Gameplans figure to change, with plenty of tweaks on offense and defense along the way.
“They’ve changed and they’re much more multiple in what they do,” Day said of the Ducks. “So you combine all those things together and you put the game plan in. And then you throw some things out. You add some things that you think might fit.
“At the end of the day, you only have to pack what you need and you’ve got to make sure that it’s clean and it’s a plan that the guys can go execute with a lot of confidence. That’s what we’re in the middle of right now.”
