It’s rare in a college football season that you get to see and maybe exact revenge over a team for the second time.
Ohio State will get their rare chance to exact revenge over Oregon when the two teams meet in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
We all know what happened in the first meeting between these two teams. The Ducks and Buckeyes played an instant classic inside Autzen Stadium with Oregon coming out on top 32-31.
But it’s how the game ended that haunts Ohio State quarterback Will Howard. The Buckeyes were driving to get into field goal position and with six seconds left, Howard went back to pass, couldn’t find an open receiver and instead of throwing the ball away or running out of bounds to stop the clock, he scrambled up the middle of the field.
By the time he slid and looked up, the clock was at zero and the game was over. It was last image of what was a great game.
“I still have nightmares about that play,” Howard said. “I’m thankful that we even get a chance to go out there and play these guys again. The way we lost that game, it still hurts.”
Howard and the Buckeyes get 60 more minutes against the Ducks. He had to wait two months instead of a year. Whether that makes a difference remains to be seen, but the stakes are much higher this time around.
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