So much for the vaunted Ohio State Buckeyes’ effort to get back to the College Football Playoff this season.
In primetime, at home, the second-ranked Buckeyes were just smacked around by the #5 Oklahoma Sooners, 31-16.
In a game that was 3-3 at the half, Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield showed why he, not Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett should be a serious Heisman Trophy contender. Oklahoma is a serious threat to a National Championship after their performance tonight. Ohio State beat up on lowly Indiana in their opener, which featured freshman running back J.K. Dobbins breaking the school record by rushing for 181 yards in his collegiate debut.
Oklahoma crushed UTEP 56-7, then Mayfield threw for 386 yards, and three touchdowns tonight. His accuracy was laser sharp in the second half, finishing with 14 straight completions.
This was supposed to be a repeat of the 45-24 beating Ohio State gave the Sooners in Norman last season. Bob Stoops retired, and his replacement is 34-year-old Lincoln Riley. Then again, the Sooners had rattled off 11 straight wins since the Buckeye defeat last season.
Riley outcoached the great Urban Meyer, who was dead-set on Barrett being his offensive savior yet again. Barrett only threw for 183 yards, and was picked off twice. The official box score says once, but a second pick was not reviewed, even though every ESPN camera showed the evidence clear as day. I guess the officials had taken pity on Ohio State, after Mayfield had carved their defense apart for touchdowns on three consecutive drives in the second half.
Meyer, Alabama’s Nick Saban, and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney are thought of as the three best head coaches in college football. Swinney and Saban have been in the past two National Championship games, with each winning one. Meyer on the other hand fell to 1-2 in his last three games against Top-10 opponents. The 15-point loss tonight adds to the 31-0 humiliation to Clemson in last year’s semifinal. The lone win was in Ohio State’s regular season finale to Michigan...which went to overtime.
The Sooners ran to the closed end of Ohio Stadium, which quickly emptied out of most Buckeye fans in the closing minutes. After a quick interview with ESPN, Mayfield proceeded to join his teammates in singing “Boomer Sooner” to the Oklahoma faithful that had filed down to the front rows, then gave the equivalent of a middle-finger salute to any and all Buckeye players or faithful still in the building.
Mayfield proceeded to unravel the Sooner flag from the cheer section, and began a victory lap. He proceeded to start running onto the field once he reached halfway, and waited for his teammates to join him at the large scarlet and black “O” at midfield. A few flag waves for good measure, and Mayfield “planted” the Sooner flag right in the middle of the Buckeye logo. ESPN’s Brad Nessler commented that it was a good thing that none of the Buckeye players were left on the field to witness Mayfield’s actions.
What were they going to do if they were? The Sooners dominated every aspect of the second half, to where every Buckeye looked tired or disinterested by the middle of the fourth quarter. Any “fifth quarter” activities would have just been an extension of the game, just without whistles.
The Buckeyes get the next four weeks to pad their stats against Army, UNLV, Rutgers, and Maryland, respectively. Their fall should deservedly be outside the Top 10 altogether, and that’s not my bias against them talking. They proved to be possibly the most overrated team in the country after this performance, and their cupcake schedule will not do them any favors.
-JC24