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College Football Playoff National Championship | ||||
#2 Oregon (13-1) v. #4 Ohio St. (13-1) - ESPN, 8:30pm | ||||
Marcus Mariota | QB | RS Jr. | Oregon | 1st |
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (i) | CB | Sr. | Oregon | 1st |
Arik Armstead | DE | Jr. | Oregon | 2nd |
Hroniss Grasu | C | RS Sr. | Oregon | 2nd |
Jake Fisher | OT | Sr. | Oregon | 2nd-3rd |
DeForest Buckner | DE | Jr. | Oregon | 3rd-4th |
Rodney Hardrick | ILB | RS Jr. | Oregon | 3rd-4th |
Tony Washington | OLB | RS Sr. | Oregon | 3rd-5th |
Erick Dargan | SS | RS Sr. | Oregon | 4th-5th |
Byron Marshall | RB | Jr. | Oregon | 4th-6th |
Dwayne Stanford | WR | RS Soph. | Oregon | 4th-6th |
Derrick Malone, Jr. | OLB | RS Sr. | Oregon | 5th-7th |
Michael Bennett | DT | Sr. | Ohio State | 1st |
Doran Grant | CB | Sr. | Ohio State | 2nd-3rd |
Taylor Decker | OT | Jr. | Ohio State | 2nd-3rd |
Adolphus Washington | DT | Jr. | Ohio State | 3rd-4th |
Devin Smith | WR | Sr. | Ohio State | 3rd-4th |
Jeff Heuerman | TE | Sr. | Ohio State | 3rd-5th |
Noah Spence (s) | OLB | Jr. | Ohio State | 4th-5th |
Joshua Perry | OLB | Jr. | Ohio State | 4th-6th |
Braxton Miller (i) | QB | RS Sr. | Ohio State | 4th-6th |
Chris Carter | DT | RS Jr. | Ohio State | 5th-6th |
Pat Elflein | G | RS Soph. | Ohio State | 5th-7th |
Michael Thomas | WR | RS Soph. | Ohio State | 5th-7th |
Tyvis Powell | FS | RS Soph. | Ohio State | 5th-UD |
Give a read to Dan's top 10 in action tonight as a primer.
There's just a ton of talent tonight and that's without the injured players like IEO, WR Devon Allen, TE Pharoah Brown & OL Tyler Johnstone...all of whom play for Oregon, all of whom could end up being first-round picks...
But no worries. Only Ekpre-Olomu has to bring that injury into the 2015 NFL Draft, and we've got tons of others heading to the pros with him. Here are a couple matchups to watch.
Oregon C Hroniss Grasu vs. Ohio St. DTs Michael Bennett & Adolphus Washington
Interior line battle chock full of NFL quality? Oh, you know damn well where my eyeballs are gonna be. Grasu's coming off of a knee injury and joins LT Jake Fisher and LG Hamani Stevens as the only seniors on the line. Meanwhile, Bennett could be a top five pick and Washington could go on day 2. This is NFL scout porn.
Oregon RBs Royce Freeman & Thomas Tyner vs. Ohio St. OLBs Josh Perry & Darron Lee
Freeman's fast. Tyner's a bowling ball. With Oregon's speed on the line, they can chop things up on the ground outside. Perry & Lee are no slouches though. When not set up for a north-south running play, keep an eye to see who gets to the outside.
Ohio St. OT Taylor Decker v. Oregon DE Arik Armstead
These could be premium second-round picks in three and a half months. Bookmark this battle.
Ohio St. WRs Devin Smith & Michael Thomas v. Oregon CBs Chris Seisay & Troy Hill
With Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, my top-rated CB for the 2015 NFL Draft, out, the Ducks went into the Rose Bowl with a pretty serious question mark that many expected Florida St. to answer for them and not in a nice way. It never materialized. Seisay was a relatively unheralded recruit who decommitted from Boise St. before heading to Eugene. Hill's a smaller prospect who could creep into the back end of the draft. They held up just fine against the Seminoles.
Three guys who will have no impact on the game or any draft in the future:
Oregon QB Marcus Mariota
Ohio St. QB Cardale Jones
Ohio St. DE Joey Bosa
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING.
Fun stuff. Holler with your observations throughout the game tonight.