Ohio State Upsets Alabama To Reach National Championship Game

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Cardale Jones came by again during a Sugar Bowl. Ezekiel Elliott ran all over strong Alabama. And Urban Meyer’s query to spin Ohio State into SEC North is one feat divided from a inhabitant championship.

Jones incited in another savvy opening in his second college start and Elliott ran for 230 yards, heading a Buckeyes to a 42-35 dissapoint of top-ranked Alabama in a College Football Playoff semifinal Thursday night.

Rallying from a 21-6 deficit, a Buckeyes (13-1) modernized to play Oregon in a Jan. 12 inhabitant championship diversion during Arlington, Texas. The Ducks routed fortifying inhabitant champion Florida State 59-20 in a other semifinal during a Rose Bowl.

Jones threw for 243 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown to Devin Smith that put a Buckeyes forward for good early in a third quarter. He also ran for 43 yards and converted a essential third-down play with a spinning, 1-yard dive and Ohio State sticking to a 34-28 lead.

On a subsequent play, Elliott took a handoff, pennyless one handicapped try during a tackle, and was left for an 85-yard touchdown that radically clinched a feat with 3:24 remaining.

Alabama (12-2) was denied a shot during a fourth inhabitant pretension in 6 years, yet a Tide didn’t go down quietly.

Blake Sims threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper with 1:59 remaining. The Buckeyes recovered a onside kick, though Alabama got it behind one some-more time after some controversial time government by Ohio State.

The Tide’s final shot finished when Sims’ recklessness swell into a finish section was intercepted as time ran out.

Meyer, who led Florida to a span of inhabitant titles, left coaching for a year before holding over during Ohio State in 2012. He pronounced his idea was to build a arrange of Southeastern Conference powerhouse he had with a Gators, and he knew a faster, some-more jaunty character would be indispensable to move a Big Ten propagandize adult to par.

Now, after only 3 years on a job, he’s one win divided from bringing a Buckeyes a inhabitant title.

“We’re good enough,” Meyer said. “That was a sledgehammer game. That was a classic. So, we are good enough.”

Jones started tumble use as Ohio State’s third-string quarterback, changed adult a abyss draft when star Braxton Miller postulated a season-ending shoulder injury, and became a starter for a Big Ten championship diversion after J.T. Barrett went down with an injury.

A 59-0 subjection of Wisconsin showed that Jones was adult to a job. His opening opposite Alabama gives him a possibility to go down as one of a biggest deputy players in college football history.

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Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter during www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/02/ohio-state-alabama-college-football-playoff_n_6405294.html?utm_hp_ref=chicago&ir=Chicago