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 And now, very suddenly, coach Urban Meyer's Buckeyes are one
victory away from an improbable national championship.
Sophomore running back Ezekiel Elliott battered Alabama for a Sugar
Bowl-record 230 rushing yards, including an 85-yard touchdown burst
with 3:24 left, powering No. 4 Ohio State to a 42-35 upset victory
over the top-ranked Crimson Tide and a berth in the national
championship game against Oregon in Arlington, Texas, on Jan. 12.
Alabama entered the game with the nation's third-ranked defense.
"That was a sledgehammer game," Meyer said after his team advanced
to 13-1 with its 12th consecutive victory, Ohio State's first bowl
victory over an Southeastern Conference team in 11 tries. "That was
a classic, so we are good enough."
Ohio State was clinging to a 34-28 lead when it took over at its
5-yard line with 5:24 remaining. After the Buckeyes picked up one
first down, Elliott, a high school sprinter who was timed at 4.3
seconds in the 40-yard dash, took a handoff off left tackle, broke
out of a diving tackle by linebacker Xzavier Dickson and ran
unmolested for the score.
 "I knew going into the game that the Alabama defensive front was
going to be very big and physical, and it was going to be hard for
our offensive line to get movement," Elliott said. "But (the Ohio
State linemen) did a great job. I knew I had to hit the holes hard
and break some arm tackles."
The Buckeyes converted the two-point conversion on a pass from
quarterback Cardale Jones to wide receiver Michael Thomas, making it
42-28.
Alabama wasn't dead, traveling 75 yards in six plays to cut the
deficit to 42-35 on a 6-yard pass from quarterback Blake Sims to
wide receiver Amari Cooper with 1:59 left.
The Crimson Tide had one more chance, getting the ball back at its
18 with 1:33 left and no timeouts remaining. After moving the ball
to the Ohio State 42, Sims threw a Hail Mary pass into the end zone,
but it was intercepted by safety Tyvis Powell as time expired.
Meyer said he offered a silent prayer because he made a tactical
mistake on Ohio State's final offensive possession. The Buckeyes
recovered the onside kick at their 49-yard line, and Alabama had two
timeouts left.
Rather than run the ball on first down to force Alabama to use a
timeout, Meyer called for a deep pass that fell incomplete, stopping
the clock.
That helped Alabama get the ball back with extra time remaining.
"You start questioning yourself why you threw that ball down the
field," Meyer said. "It was my call. Maybe it wasn't the right call.
I just kept thinking I screwed this thing up."
Jones, who started the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 6 and led
the Buckeyes to a 59-0 rout of Wisconsin, had some early jitters but
settled down to finish 18 of 35 for 243 yards with one touchdown
pass and one interception. He moved into the starting lineup in the
absence of Braxton Miller, lost to a shoulder injury in August, and
J.T. Barrett, who broke his right ankle in the regular-season
finale.
Alabama coach Nick Saban said even with just one game of videotape
on Jones, he could tell the 6-foot-5, 250-pound quarterback had a
rifle arm. He just didn't know how good it was until he saw it in
person.
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"The new quarterback has a tremendous arm, and they have some very
talented receivers," Saban said. "Those things became very apparent
in the last two games because of the quarterback. I think they're
capable of playing with anybody in the country."
Perhaps the critical play of the game came with Alabama trailing
34-28 and 9:53 left. The Crimson Tide (12-2) took over on the Ohio
State 23 after a 21-yard punt out of the end zone by Cameron
Johnston.
However, instead of having his team push the ball with the run --
running back Derrick Henry (95 yards on 13 carries) was pounding
away at the Ohio State front seven -- Saban tried to catch the
Buckeyes off guard.
He had Sims roll to his right and throw toward the end zone, where
his pass for tight end O.J. Howard was badly underthrown and easily
intercepted at the goal line by safety Vonn Bell with 9:44 left.
"I was anxious to take more shots down the field," Saban said. "I
don't think we did that enough early in the game."
Of Ohio State's six scoring drives, none were of the cheap variety,
covering 80, 71, 71, 77, 75 and 95 yards.
The Buckeyes scored 28 consecutive points after trailing 21-6 late
in the second quarter. Ohio State took the lead for good, 27-21, on
a 47-yard pass from Jones to wide receiver Devin Smith early in the
third quarter. On the play, cornerback Eddie Jackson slipped to the
turf at the 10, and Smith was all alone to finish off the TD
reception.
The Buckeyes scored their fourth consecutive touchdown courtesy of
defensive trickery. Facing a third-and-7, Sims thought Cooper was
open, but right defensive end Steve Miller dropped into coverage for
an interception and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown and a 34-21
Ohio State lead.
NOTES: P JK Scott was an unsung hero for Alabama, punting seven
times for a 55-yard average and keeping the Buckeyes bottled up. ...
Alabama's struggles in the secondary continued against Ohio State.
In the first nine games of the season, Alabama yielded just three
completions of 25 yards or longer, but in its last four games, it
allowed 13. Ohio State had three 25-plus receptions in the first
half. ... Alabama QB Blake Sims completed 22 of 36 passes for 237
yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions.
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