A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2022
SPORTS
No. 7 Ohio State beats No. 10
Championship
Utah 48-45 in wild Rose Bowl QBs: Former
COLLEGE FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
of 50 and 52 yards made 30
seconds apart — albeit with
Covey’s TD return in be-
tween.
He broke Cris Carter’s 1985
school record of 172 yards re-
ceiving 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. Smith-Njigba
finished his season with 1,606
yards, blowing past David
Boston’s 1998 school record.
BY GREG BEACHAM
Associated Press
PASADENA, Calif. — C.J.
Stroud and Jaxon Smith-
Njigba put on a passing per-
formance that obliterated a
multitude of records during
one of the biggest offensive
days in Ohio State’s storied
history.
The Buckeyes still barely
did enough to hold off re-
silient Utah and its backup
quarterback in one spectacu-
lar Rose Bowl.
Stroud capped his re-
cord-setting offensive day by
leading a 56-yard drive ending
in Noah Ruggles’ 19-yard field
goal with nine seconds to play,
and No. 7 Ohio State beat No.
10 Utah 48-45 on Saturday
night, Jan. 1, 2022, 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 (11-2), who
won the Granddaddy of
Them All for the second time
in four years while toppling
one long-standing offensive
record after another. Stroud’s
yards passing and touch-
downs both are Rose Bowl re-
cords, and he finished 3 yards
shy of the record for yards
passing in any bowl game.
“It’s emotional for me,” said
Stroud, from nearby Ran-
cho Cucamonga. “It’s like I’m
dreaming right now. I was
able to come home and win
the Rose Bowl like this. ... This
is the Rose Bowl, man. This
is where the legendary games
are being played.”
Ohio State created a few
more legends on this trip.
Smith-Njigba set the re-
cord for any FBS bowl game
with 347 yards receiving
while catching a school-re-
cord 15 passes and scoring
three touchdowns. Marvin
Harrison Jr. also caught three
TD passes for the Buckeyes,
who set a Rose Bowl and
school bowl record with 683
total yards.
Yet the Buckeyes were the
ones playing from behind for
nearly all of the first three-
plus quarters in Arroyo Seco
until they summoned the will
for three fourth-quarter scor-
ing drives.
“Our team is built on
fighting,” Smith-Njigba said.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re up,
down. We were down the
first half, but we just had to
stay level headed and keep
fighting.”
Ohio State had to rally from
Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch-TNS
Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (No. 11)
fends off Utah Utes cornerback as he races to the end zone for a
touchdown during the second quarter of the 108th Rose Bowl
Game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Utah Utes at the
Rose Bowl.
10 points down late in the
third quarter to get past the
Pac-12 champion Utes (10-4),
who got off to an electrifying
35-point first half in their first
school’s first trip to the Rose
Bowl. They even stayed com-
petitive after star quarterback
Cameron Rising went down
with an injury while getting
sacked with 9:56 to play.
The Utes had to turn to
backup Bryson Barnes, who
grew up on a pig farm in
central Utah and had never
thrown a collegiate pass. He
led them on a tying drive,
capped by a 15-yard TD
pass to Dalton Kincaid with
1:54 left.
Stroud coolly drove the
Buckeyes back downfield in
the waning seconds, and Rug-
gles hit his easy field goal.
Ohio State kicked off to Brit-
ain Covey, who already had
a 97-yard kickoff return for
a touchdown earlier, but the
Buckeyes smothered his cut-
back as time ran out.
“All we needed was 30
more seconds, if that,” Barnes
said. “Get down the field, tie
it and head to OT. But we
didn’t get enough time. ...
A lot of dudes are sad, but
there’s not a lot to hang our
heads on. We’ve been through
the lowest of lows and highest
of highs, but we made Utah
football history today.”
In front of a raucous crowd
dominated by Utah fans in
the venerable stadium that
opened in October 1922, the
schools matched the 2012 Or-
egon-Wisconsin matchup for
the highest-scoring first half
in Rose Bowl history, com-
bining for 42 points and 443
yards in the second quarter
alone.
Ohio State trailed 38-31
entering the fourth quarter
despite the pyrotechnics of its
passing game, but the Buck-
eyes immediately stopped
Utah on downs at the Ohio
State 31, and tied it on Har-
rison’s 5-yard TD catch with
10:12 left. After Rising’s in-
jury, Smith-Njigba made a 30-
yard, over-the-shoulder catch
for his third touchdown with
4:22 to play.
“To come out in the sec-
ond half and play the way we
did says a lot about this team,”
said Ohio State coach Ryan
Day, who earned his second
bowl victory. “We were short-
handed, and for us to respond
the way we did at halftime
says a lot about the character
of this team.”
Rising passed for 214 yards
and two touchdowns and
rushed for 92 yards and a
score while leading the Utes to
a 35-21 halftime lead, but he
left the game with an appar-
ent head injury. Utah played
without three of its top four
cornerbacks, even forcing
running back Micah Bernard
to play defensive back for the
first time since high school.
“At some point, we have
to play defense,” Utah coach
Kyle Whittingham said. “We
didn’t play very well all night
long on defense. It wasn’t our
usual. Not sure we’d be able to
get a stop.”
Old man strength
The 24-year-old Covey’s
sensational 97-yard romp
through the Buckeyes’ cov-
erage unit was the first kick-
off return for a touchdown
in Utah’s entire bowl history.
Covey, who also caught a 19-
yard TD pass for the Utes’ first
points, arrived at the school
in 2015.
Down state
The Buckeyes’ loss to Mich-
igan in November knocked
them out of the national ti-
tle picture, four key starters
opted out to preserve their
health for the NFL draft: Re-
ceivers Chris Olave and Gar-
rett Wilson, starting left tackle
Nicholas Petit-Frere and de-
fensive tackle Haskell Garrett.
The takeaway
• Ohio State: A win in Pasa-
dena is always never taken for
granted by a Big Ten power.
The Buckeyes overcame the
instinct to relax after their na-
tional title dreams died, and
they put on a performance
that showed Day’s program
has tenacity.
• Utah: The Utes were ag-
onizingly close to their third
New Year’s Six victory during
their two-decade transforma-
tion from a mid-major over-
achiever to an elite Power 5
program. Despite the loss,
the impressiveness of their
fight and the size of their
traveling fan base confirms
Utah has arrived.
5-star recruit vs.
former walk-on
BY STEPHEN HAWKINS
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas — Bryce
Young is a former five-star re-
cruit who won the Heisman
Trophy in his first season as Ala-
bama’s starting quarterback. Stet-
son Bennett is a former walk-on
who became the starter at Geor-
gia and never really lost the con-
fidence of his teammates.
They will meet again in the na-
tional championship game after
both threw three touchdowns in
College Football Playoff semifi-
nal games, only four weeks after
Young and the Crimson Tide
beat Bennett and the previously
undefeated Bulldogs for the
Southeastern Conference title.
“It’s been a long journey,”
Bennett said, referring to his en-
tire Georgia career, not just the
gap between two crucial inter-
ceptions in the SEC title game
on Dec. 4 and his offensive
MVP performance in the dom-
inating 34-11 Orange Bowl vic-
tory over second-ranked Michi-
gan on New Year’s Eve. “But like
coach (Kirby Smart) said, this
game was just so we could play
the next game.”
That game is scheduled for
Jan. 10 in Indianapolis, where
the top-ranked defending na-
tional champion Crimson
Tide and No. 3 Georgia meet
in the final game for the sec-
ond time in five seasons. Both
teams are 13-1.
Bennett was a scout team
quarterback during the 2017 sea-
son when Georgia won the semi-
final Rose Bowl before losing in
overtime to Alabama in the na-
tional championship game. He
left to play a season in junior col-
lege before returning to the Bull-
dogs as a backup, then started
half of their games last year and
the past 10 this season.
Young sealed the first
Heisman Trophy for a Tide quar-
National Title Game
Monday, Jan. 10
Georgia vs. Alabama
5 p.m.
TV on ESPN
terback by setting SEC title game
records with 421 yards passing
and 461 total yards in a 41-24
win over previously undefeated
Georgia. That came a week af-
ter the 20-year-old sophomore
led a late, game-tying 97-yard
TD drive in the regular-season
finale, a four-OT win at Auburn
that kept the Tide in the national
championship hunt.
In a 27-6 win Friday, Dec. 31,
2021, over Cincinnati in the CFP
semifinal Cotton Bowl, Young
had a season-low 181 yards while
completing 17 of 28 passes. But
the Crimson Tide had 301 yards
rushing against the Bearcats, the
first non-Power Five team to
make the four-team playoff.
“We want to do what’s best
for us offensively,” said Young,
whose 4,503 yards and 46 pass-
ing TDs are both single-season
‘Bama records. “So for me, be-
ing able to hand the ball off, just
clapping and hand the ball off
to (Brian Robinson Jr.) or Trey
(Sanders) and have the produc-
tion we had, it’s amazing to have
a night like that.”
Bennett completed 29 of 48
passes for 340 yards and three
touchdowns in that SEC title
game on Dec. 4, but his two in-
terceptions stood out.
After Young’s 55-yard TD pass
to All-America receiver Jameson
Williams to open the second half
for a 31-17 lead, Georgia drove
inside the 20 before Bennett’s
first pick. Alabama’s Jordan Battle
then returned an interception 44
yards early in the fourth quarter
for a three-touchdown lead.
Jaxon drive
With two top Buckeyes
receivers opting out, Smith-
Njigba had a landmark day
that included TD receptions
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