The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Buckeyes edge Utes on late FG, record performances
PASADENA, CALIF. — C.J. Stroud capped his record-setting offensive day by leading a 56-yard drive ending in Noah Ruggles’ 19-yard field goal with nine seconds to play, and No. 6 Ohio State beat No. 11 Utah 48-45 on Saturday night in the wild 108th edition of the Rose Bowl.
Stroud passed for a school-record 573 yards and a record-tying six touchdowns for the Buckeyes (112), who won the Rose for the second time in four years with an offensive performance that shattered multiple long-standing offensive marks.
Stroud’s yards passing and touchdowns are Rose Bowl records, and he finished 3 yards shy of the record for yards passing in any bowl game.
Ohio State still had to rally from 10 points down late in the third quarter to get past the Pac-12 champion Utes (104), who got off to an electrifying start and stayed competitive even after star quarterback Cameron Rising went down with an injury with 9:56 to play in Utah’s first trip to the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State’s Jaxon Smithnjigba set the record for any FBS bowl game with 347 yards receiving while catching a school-record 15 passes and scoring three touchdowns. Marvin Harrison Jr. also caught three TD passes for the Buckeyes, who set a Rose Bowl record with 683 total yards.
Ohio State trailed 38-31 entering the fourth quarter despite the pyrotechnics of its passing game, but the Buckeyes immediately stopped Utah on downs at the Ohio State 31, and tied it on Harrison’s 5-yard TD catch with 10:12 left.
Rising was injured moments later while getting sacked, so the Utes had to turn to Bryson Barnes, who had never thrown a collegiate pass.
Smith-njigba then made a 30-yard, over-the-shoulder catch for his third touchdown with 4:22 to play, but Barnes improbably led the Utes on a tying drive capped by a 15-yard TD pass to Dalton Kincaid with 1:54 left.
Stroud coolly led the Buckeyes back downfield in the waning seconds, and Ruggles hit his easy field goal. Ohio State kicked off to Britain Covey, who already had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown earlier, but the Buckeyes smothered his cutback as time ran out.
Rising passed for 214 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 92 yards and a score, but he left the game with an apparent head injury.
With two top Buckeyes receivers opting out of the Rose Bowl, Smith-njigba had a spectacular day that included TD receptions of 50 and 52 yards made 30 seconds apart — albeit with Covey’s TD return in between.
He broke Cris Carter’s 1985 school record of 172 yards receiving in a bowl game in the first half alone. He snapped Keyshawn Johnson’s 1996 Rose Bowl record of 216 yards receiving and then Terry Glenn’s 1995 single-game school record of 253 yards after halftime.
When Utah led 35-21 at halftime, the schools matched the 2012 Oregon-wisconsin matchup for the highest-scoring half in Rose Bowl history — and they combined for 42 points and 443 yards in the second quarter alone.