Jeremiah Smith scores a touchdown in the Rose Bowl (Photo by Ohio State Athletics)
Jeremiah Smith
We start with the best receiver in college football because his Ohio State Buckeyes start with and thrive with him. His coaches learned their lesson from the debacle against that team up north where he wasn’t targeted in the second half. In these past two wins they’ve gone to him early and often and with tremendous success. His seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns made him the easy Rose Bowl MVP.
The first half of this game to the point where the Buckeyes had a 34-0 lead might be Ryan Day’s finest hour (so far) as the head coach of Ohio State. We of the Lunatic Fringe of the Ohio State faithful have been tough on the man. But this is why. We know he is capable of doing THIS. So we expect it, especially in the biggest games. How far the Buckeyes go in this playoff could define the Ryan Day Era, and he’s off to a fantastic start to make it define him more than any other games.
Jeremiah Smith, TreVeyon Henderson, Will Howard, Cody Simon, Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau were the headlining heroes of this Rose Bowl. I’ve already mentioned their absurd stats in this victory. But here I want to focus on the quiet Buckeyes who maybe didn’t make all the highlight reels but were just as important to victory.
The Big Men in the Trenches
That was one of the best games by the offensive and defensive lines of Ohio State since the Buckeyes won it all in 2014. That team was huge in the trenches and had the best offensive line as a unit that I’ve ever seen at Ohio State. They jokingly called themselves The Slobs. A bunch of big guys who work hard but have fun and get the job done. They have been the standard for Ohio State offensive line play ever since.
No one epitomized that attitude and culture of the can-do offensive linemen on this team more than Donovan Jackson. The senior has moved all over the offensive line this season. Not because he was trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades. But because he was needed and like he’s done his whole career he has been a team first man. He started at right guard and bounced to left when it was difficult for the team to get traction there. He moved to left tackle when Josh Simmons was lost for the season in the first game against Oregon.
He’s been there covering the blindside of Will Howard ever since and he’s been great at it. He had his finest hour (so far) in the Rose Bowl. He gave up no pressures, no sacks, and had no penalties. And that Oregon pass rush is no joke, but Jackson led the effort in locking them down.
Jackson had some wise words postgame that you’d expected from a senior leader like him. He said all the right things. He acknowledged that the 2024 Buckeyes were “scarred” and that they took the way the regular season ended “personally.” But he and his brethren on the line are determined and focused on the next step, and that is Texas. Offensive guard Luke Montgomery knew what time it was after the win.
The Ty Towers.
Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, and Cody Simon got the big numbers and highlights on defense. Together they had 16 tackles, six sacks, eight tackles for a loss and four pass deflections. But when the guys on the edge and the linebackers are feasting like that, you know guys in the middle are working hard to eat up blockers and make it happen. Senior defensive tackles Ty Hamilton and Tyleik Williams deserve their flowers for the big plays Sawyer, Tuimoloau, and Simon made. The Ty Towers stopped anything and everything up the middle.
Denzel Burke
Burke had maybe the biggest storyline going into the Rose Bowl. Burke had maybe the worst game of his career against Oregon in Eugene. He was target eight times and gave up eight catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns. On X early Wednesday morning, another account made a joke that Burke hadn’t given up anything all year (being that 2025 was only minutes old).
I reposted the joke, saying a repeat performance wouldn’t surprise me but neither would a lockdown game from Burke and that I was hoping for the latter.
So how did he do in round two against the Ducks?
Denzel Burke gave up zero catches in the Rose Bowl and as you can see was flying to the football with the rest of his Silver Bullet brethren. Redemption for Denzel Burke was one of the best parts of this game! There’s nothing you love more than a redemption story for the team and players you love.
Lathan Ransom
Speaking of redemption. Lathan Ransom’s first Rose Bowl three years ago flat-out sucked. Ransom suffered a broken leg in the 2022 Rose Bowl victory over Utah. Lathan Ransom was ready for a different day in this stadium in 2025. Ransom would finish this game with seven tackles, a tackle for a loss, and a sack.
Jim Knowles’ Defense
I’ve talked a lot about the Buckeye defense so I need to give massive credit to their guy and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Jim Knowles has faced earned criticism in his first year in 2022, but the man has improved his defense every season, and whenever he faces a problem that gets the best of him, he addresses it, fixes it and goes onward like the defensive guru he is. In the first game against the Ducks, the Buckeyes gave up 496 yards of total offense. In the Rose Bowl they gave up 220 yards less for 276 yards allowed. They didn’t have a sack in Eugene. In the Rose Bowl they had eight sacks. Their improvements over the past three years start with Jim Knowles.
Jayden Fielding
No kicker in America had a rougher finish to the year 2024 than Ohio State’s Jayden Fielding. He missed two huge kicks against the Wolverines and missed another against Tennessee. They were awful misses and it seemed like Fielding had the yips. Seeing him come into the Rose Bowl and drill two kicks that were just like his misses against that team up north was as scoring two touchdowns. I’ve never been more happy about a field goal that wasn’t a game-winner than I was for the 46-yarder and 36-yarder he split the sticks with.
Locked In
Fan favorite of the Buckeye coaching staff Brian Hartline has shown that this team moved on to Texas before the smell of roses left their noses. Two more to go. At all costs. Go Buckeyes! Beat Texas!
