Ohio State Wins First College Football Playoff National Championship

The Ohio State Buckeyes took down the high flying offense of the Oregon Ducks, 42-20.

It didn't take long for this predetermined track meet to live up to the billing. The Oregon Ducks won the coin toss and after fortuitously recovering an offensive fumble on the first drive, the Ducks capped off a 2:39, eleven play drive with the first touchdown of the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship.

However, the track meet slowed its roll quite a bit.

Both teams traded punts on the next two drives, but Ohio State put together a 97 yard drive with just over four minutes left in the first quarter to knot the game up at 7-7 after a 33 yard rush from the man who carved up the Alabama defense in the semifinal, Ezekiel Elliott.

The Buckeyes added another touchdown after an Oregon punt, then forced the Ducks to punt on the following possession. Just when the game seemed to be getting out of hand for Oregon, a bad decision from Buckeye quarterback led to a fumble and an Oregon fumble recovery.

The Ducks drove deep inside Buckeye territory, but turned the ball over on downs on the 1 yard line after moving the ball downfield with relative ease.

Ohio State began their next drive inside their own 1 yard line, but coughed up another fumble deep inside Oregon territory.

However, Oregon couldn't move the ball and was forced to punt, giving the ball back to the Buckeyes at midfield with 7:05 left in the first half.

The Buckeyes systematically marched down field, mainly from a long pass to speedster Devin Smith, and punched in yet another touchdown, putting the fightin' Urban Meyer's up 21-7.

But the Ducks weren't giving up, and they drove down the field. They couldn't capitalize in the red zone, so they settled for three points to cut the Buckeye lead to 11 with 48 seconds left in the first half.

After the intermission, the Buckeyes caught the turnover bug, giving the ball up on their first two possessions of the second half, allowing Oregon to trade them in for 10 points.

Up just 21-20 halfway through the 3rd quarter, Ohio State continued feeding the ball to Elliott, and drove the ball down the field to the tune of seven points. Zeke Elliott's 9 yard touchdown run ended the third quarter, putting the Buckeyes up 28-20.

What kind of fourth quarter would the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship Game produce? An anti-climactic one, of course (like we all predicted).

Oregon managed 20 yards on the first drive of the fourth quarter, but was able to flip the field to pin the Buckeyes back inside their 20 yard line, but the effort was for naught.

Another healthy dose of Ezekiel Elliott helped drive the Buckeye's down the field, allowing Ohio State to start nailing shut the proverbial coffin, with Elliott pounding in his third rushing touchdown of the night.

On the Ducks ensuing possession, Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota went down after a hard tackle, with what appeared to be a shoulder injury. After one play, Mariota came back in, but the Ducks were forced to punt the ball back to the Buckeyes, in the hopes of coming up with another miraculous turnover.

It didn't happen.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer kept feeding the beast, but had to punt back to the Ducks, giving Mariota another shot to make it a game.

After getting stifled throughout the second half, the pattern didn't change. Oregon turned the ball over on downs, essentially ending any chance of a comeback.

The Buckeyes ran in a late touchdown and ran out the clock to take home the first College Football Playoff National Championship by a score of 42-20.

Mariota finished the game with 310 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Buckeye quarterback Cardale Jones racked up 242 yards through the air, 38 yards on the ground, and 2 total touchdowns.

Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott was named the game's Offensive Player of the Game, rushing for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns.