COLLEGE FOOTBALL LOOK AHEAD

College Football Playoff finale: Players to watch

The Sports Xchange

January 08, 2015 at 9:21 am.

Running back Ezekiel Elliot is an explosive weapon for Ohio State. (John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)

There is plenty of talent gathering in Arlington, Texas, for Monday’s College Football Playoff championship matching Oregon and Ohio State.

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota is the household name in college football’s biggest game of the season, but the Heisman Trophy winner is just one of the names to know in his own backfield.

Writers covering both teams for The Sports Xchange identified the key players to watch:

Oregon Ducks

–QB Marcus Mariota has been named the most valuable player in all four of his postseason games, the 2013 Fiesta Bowl, 2013 Alamo Bowl, 2014 Pac-12 championship game and 2015 Rose Bowl. He threw for 338 yards and two touchdowns against Florida State, his 16th 300-yard performance in 40 career games. He is 36-4 while starting every game in the past three years for Oregon. While Ohio State has reached the CFP final with its third-string quarterback, Mariota has stayed healthy all season and his backups have only needed to play at the end of blowout victories.

–RB Royce Freeman was the freshman offensive player of the year in the Pac-12 Conference and has set the school freshman record with 1,343 rushing yards to go with 18 touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass and his 19 total touchdowns ranks 11th in the country. He ranks sixth in school single-season rushing history and became just the sixth freshman to go over 1,000 yards in Pac-12 history. His 12 carries against Florida State marked his fewest since September, but he figures to get around 20 rushing attempts in the CFP championship game.

–WR Darren Carrington has come on strong at the end of his freshman year. Carrington had seven catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns in the Rose Bowl victory. In the Pac-12 title game against Arizona, Carrington had seven catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. He has 37 catches for 704 yards and four touchdowns on the season. With Devon Allen out due to injury, Carrington will be counted on more than any time this season.

–S Erick Dargan is one of 17 players in the country to lead his team in tackles and interceptions. He has 90 tackles and seven interceptions this season in his first year as a starters. He is tied for seventh in the nation in interceptions and ranks in the top 10 in school history with 13 interceptions in his career. Dargan has a knack for creating turnovers and so he will try to force young Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones into making mistakes.

Ohio State Buckeyes

— QB Cardale Jones has made two career starts and they’ve come in Ohio State’s two biggest games of the season – the 59-0 rout of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game and the 45-35 victory over No. 1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, which also served as a College Football Playoff semifinal. Now he takes center stage in a game of even more magnitude and will try to lead the Buckeyes to the first CFP national title. So far, Jones has shown no signs of being overwhelmed with the task of replacing redshirt freshman sensation quarterback J.T. Barrett, who was knocked out of the regular-season finale against Michigan with a broken ankle. In the postseason, Jones passed for 257 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions against Wisconsin and for 243 yards and one touchdown with one interception against Alabama. At 6 feet 5 and 250 pounds, Jones has also shown he can take off out of the pocket and pick up positive yardage with his feet.

— RB Ezekiel Elliott set a Sugar Bowl record with 230 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including the clinching 85-yard gallop in the fourth quarter against Alabama. Of all the great running backs that have come through Ohio State over the years, Elliott is the first to rush for more than 200 yards in back-to-back games. In the Big Ten championship game against Wisconsin in early December, Elliott racked up 220 yards. Three in a row would be asking a lot, but the Buckeyes will be counting on the sophomore to at least help them establish ball control in the College Football Playoff championship game against fast-paced Oregon.

— S Vonn Bell leads Ohio State with six interceptions this season. His leaping fourth-quarter interception of a pass by Alabama quarterback Blake Sims at the goal line in the Sugar Bowl ended a Crimson Tide threat. Bell also finished the game with eight tackles. He’s the Buckeyes’ second leading tackler this season with 86 stops. Bell and the entire Ohio State secondary will have their hands full against Oregon in the championship game on Monday night and Bell’s play could help dictate whether the Ducks get their offense rolling or fails to take flight.

–WR Evan Spencer was called the MVP of the team this week by coach Urban Meyer. The senior has made an impact not so much by catching passes but with his blocking, leadership and all-around ability. Spencer threw a block that sprang running back Ezekiel Elliott for his 85-yard touchdown against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Spencer threw a perfect pass on a reverse to wide receiver Michael Thomas for a 13-yard touchdown against the Crimson Tide with 13 seconds left in the second quarter that cut the Buckeyes’ deficit to 21-20. “He took two guys out and that’s there’s not one person in this facility that’s shocked that he did that,” Meyer said. Spencer, the son of former Ohio State running back Tim Spencer, also had one catch for 7 yards.
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BOWL HISTORY

Ohio State and Oregon are playing in the first College Football Playoff championship game. In the BCS championship format that preceded the new system, the Buckeyes played for the title three times and won one, beating Miami for the 2002 championship. Before the BCS, Ohio State was voted the national champion in various polls six times. The Buckeyes have won all eight previous meetings with the Ducks. Ohio State enters Monday’s matchup with a 12-game winning streak and Oregon has won nine in a row.

Oregon is 13-15 in bowl games and has won four straight bowl games, including the 2015 and 2012 Rose Bowls and 2013 Fiesta Bowl. Oregon has reached a bowl game in 11 straight seasons and is in its second national championship game.

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