The 2018 Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback derby will start as soon as the Cotton Bowl ends Friday when J.T. Barrett plays his last game.
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Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward announced his intention to enter the 2018 National Football League draft prior to Friday’s Cotton Bowl Classic against USC. The Trojans won’t be in the top 10 in this year’s final polls. They rolled through a group of middling-to-bad teams in preparation for their game with the undefeated Penn State Nittany Lions.
Ohio State’s better than all of those teams.
Meyer said he has texted Ezekiel Elliott since been here “and I anticipate he is going to be with us for the game”. He shattered Drew Brees’ conference total offense record with 12,697 yards. Overmatched against quality teams. In a sport that does as well as any at creating games that are worthy of excitement for their own sake, it would be a shame to lose games like this year’s Cotton Bowl. It’s not a stretch either to imagine Ohio State and USC both competing with, if not beating, some of the four teams that nabbed playoff spots ahead of them. In other words, against a high-quality opponent who does not beat itself, what does he add or influence? But it’s also a lot of fun to go coach those guys. There is an old rule in football that you have big men block big men.
Prior to the second half starting, the unknown was whether or not Ohio State could continue to keep their momentum along with their dominating, outstanding defense? The Buckeyes have had seven Heisman trophy winners and USC has had six.
Can USC Block Nick Bosa?
“Tempers are going to flare in that situation, especially when your quarterback’s over there”, Helton said.
After a tough September stretch that saw him throw eight interceptions in five games, Darnold has hit his stride, posting a 17-to-4 interception ratio, boosted by the development of underclassman receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Tyler Vaughns. Friday’s performance was a microcosm of what has made Ohio State great for the past few years.
What is still unclear is how quickly the All-Pac-12 Trojans quarterback could be playing at field level in the pros. Darnold fumbled and threw a pick-six interception but does he want to come back next season and deal with another poorly taught offensive line?
“We’ve definitely got to get that sick taste out of our mouths”, said Jones, who is from the Dallas suburb of McKinney. The initial seven were in the Rose Bowl.
But it all comes back to Helton. The lone Trojan TD came after a muffed Ohio State punt in the second quarter set them up at the Buckeye 15-yard line.
Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer said Barrett has “done so much for me and so much for our program”, and he wanted the senior quarterback to finish his career with a good showing in Texas.
Meyer might be a three-star general with three national titles. The 6-foot, 200-pound Jones has seen him play but doesn’t know Dobbins, the 5-10, 208-pounder from La Grange, which is between Austin and Houston. This should be a close game, but it depends on which Ohio State offense shows up.
The Goodyear Cotton Bowl was a CFP Semifinal for the 2015 college football season.
There was always hope the Trojans would magically put it all together but it never happened. Schiano was set to become Tennessee’s head coach for less than a day.
Sam Darnold had a forgettable showing in what could be his final collegiate game for USC (11-3).
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Fortunately, they still had just one loss in the PAC-12 and had a record of 6-2. Colburn had a 1-yard touchdown with 2:18 left in the game to give the Demon Deacons the lead for good.
