[.
Utah Utes Football on January 2, 2022.
Alerted 41m ago in the B/R App.
AP Photo/Mark J.
The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Utah Utes 48-45 in the Rose Bowl on Saturday to finish the 2021 season with an 11-2 record.
After missing out on the College Football Playoff for the first time in three years, the Ohio State Buckeyes entered with a chip on their shoulder. Ryan Day's Ohio State team was embarrassed in a 42-27 loss to Michigan.
Ohio State has played in the Rose Bowl 16 times, with an 8-7 record. It was the first time the Buckeyes had faced the Utes in 25 years.
Notable facts.
C.J. Stroud, quarterback, OSU: 37/46 for 572 YDS, 6 touchdown, 1 INT, and 1 car for 10 YDS.
The quarterback for Utah was 17/22 for 214 YDS, 2 TD and 11 CAR.
Barnes was 2 for 23 YDS, with 1 touchdown and 1 car.
Smith-Njigba had 15 REC for .
Britain Covey, receiver, Utah, had 3 REC for 34 YDS, 1 touchdown and 2 CAR for 10 YDS and 7 KR.
Marvin Harrison Jr., receiver, OSU: 6 catches for 71 yards.
The Buckeyes have a bright future.
The person is incredible. There is no other way to put it.
The freshman quarterback had one of his most productive games of the season without two of his top three receivers, but that didn't matter as he had one of his most productive games of the season.
The quarterback completed 37 of 46 passes for 572 yards and six touchdown.
After Ohio State was forced to punt on its first two drives of the game, Stroud orchestrated three consecutive touchdown drives before Smith-Njigba fumbled close to the end zone in the second quarter.
The OSU offense got off to a rough start in the third quarter, and that was despite the fact that they ended the first half on a high note. The second half began with an interception by Stroud.
As the half went on, he began to get hotter. He threw a touchdown on his second drive of the third quarter, and then OSU tacked on a field goal to cut into Utah's lead. He led a scoring drive to tie the game at 38 before helping the Buckeyes take the lead with 4:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Smith-Njigba had a record-setting night, as did Marvin Harrison Jr. Smith-Njigba had 15 catches for 346 yards and three touchdown.
The Ohio State record for receiving yards in a game is held by Smith-Njigba. Terry Glenn had a record for the most yards against Pitt. He had the most receiving yards in the Rose Bowl.
Tom VanHaaren is a friend of TomVH.
>
The Ohio State record for most receiving yards in a game is now held by Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
>
Ohio State only had four 200 yard receiving games before this season. Smith-Njigba has done it twice.
There are statistics and information from the ESPN Stats andInfo.
>
It's a new Buckeye record for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has 288 rushing yards, the most in a game in program history, and he's close in on the all-time Bowl Game record.
>
Ohio State is still behind, 38-31, with the 4th quarter underway.
>
>
Big Ten Network
>
The most touchdown passes in a single season by a B1G quarterback is 50, by C.J. Stroud.
>
Drew Brees, Purdue in 1998.
>
>
There are statistics and information from the ESPN Stats andInfo.
>
The Rose Bowl had a new bowl record of 347 rec yds by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, which was the 5th most in a game.
>
The Buckeyes defeated Utah 48-45.
>
>
Smith-Njigba was leading Ohio State with 80 catches for 1,259 yards, but he was third behind Wilson and Olave with six touchdown catches.
Harrison had the best game of his career with Wilson and Olave out of the lineup. He had six catches for 71 yards and three touchdown. He had just five catches for 68 yards on the season.
Freshman receiver Emeka Egbuka had three catches for 46 yards.
Smith-Njigba, Harrison, and Egbuka will be the primary receivers in 2022, when both Wilson and Olave will be gone.
It should be noted that the Buckeyes were without 24 players against Utah, which makes their performance even more impressive.
Saturday's game showed us that the Buckeyes are in good hands. Ohio State could very well be in the College Football Playoff based on the performance of its quarterback, and the performances of his other players.
The utes are in good hands.
He's still worth talking about even though he didn't have the same performance.
The sophomore quarterback completed 17 of 22 passes for 214 yards and two touchdown and also ran for 92 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries. His most productive performance since the Arizona game was when he threw for
The two teams put together five consecutive scoring drives before the first half ended. He broke a tackle and ran for a 62-yard touchdown.
It's ESPN.
>
UTAH 97-YARD KICK RETURN
>
>
It's ESPN.
>
Cameron Raising would not be stopped.
>
>
When Rising was sacked by Ohio State's Williams in the fourth quarter, he had to be taken out of the game. He was replaced by a freshman.
The Utes have a bright future with Rising at quarterback despite the disappointing end to his night.
After taking over for Charlie Brewer in an overtime loss to San Diego State in September, Rising led Utah to a Pac-12 championship and the starting quarterback position for the 2020 campaign.
Entering Saturday's game, Rising had completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 2,279 yards and 18 touchdown against five picks, in addition to rushing for 407 yards and five scores.
The Utes played in the Rose Bowl because of rising, and he'll be a reason they play in another bowl game next season.
