The Oregon offense has challenged the best minds in football over the past few years but Ohio State's Jim Tressel had six weeks to work on a solution and his coaching led the Buckeyes to a 26-17 win. The Buckeye defense was the hero in this one as they forced Oregon into uncomfortable third and long situations throughout the game which robbed them of their noted firepower.
Jeremiah Masoli was limited to only 81 yards through the air on 9 for 20 passing and La Michael James only picked up 70 yards on the ground and that was basically the story for the Ducks. Oregon did rally for a 17-16 lead int he third quarter and looked like they had played themselves back in a position to win until a Lagarrette blount fumble out of the end zone ended a Duck drive with a touch back and lost momentum they never regained.
A missed Oregon FG attempt by Morgan Flint missed a 44-yard field goal attempt with 5:10 left, keeping the Ducks' deficit at nine points signaled the end of the game for all intents and purposes.
Terelle Pryor passed for a season-high 266 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 72 more and threw a 17-yard scoring pass to DeVier Posey with 7:02 to play, ending the No. 8 Buckeyes' three-game BCS losing streak, Posey had eight catches for 101 yards.
This was Oregon's fourth Rose Bowl appearance and they fell to 1-3 in the fabled series. The last Oregon win was over Harvard in 1917. To put that in perspective 2017 is just around the corner Duck fans! Oregon which features a young team and a returning QB should be the Pac 10 favorite in 2010.