There is no longer any doubt about who is the favorite to win this 12-team College Football Playoff. In two rounds it’s the Ohio State Buckeyes against the field, and the field is in trouble. Ohio State is a runaway freight train looking for someone to crush.

The next team stuck on the tracks in front of them was the Texas Longhorns. Watch out for next week’s Cotton Bowl semifinals, Horns. If it took double overtime to beat the Arizona State Sun Devils on Wednesday, a whole herd of Bevos against the Buckeyes won’t save you.

Ohio State’s 41-21 win over the undefeated Oregon Ducks, the No. 1 team in the nation and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, was a tour de force that built on the previous tour de force when the Buckeyes defeated the Tennessee Volunteers, 42–17 . They are on tour And de force Like few teams we’ve seen lately, the Vols jumped out of the gate at 21-0 and the Ducks at 34-0. Two highly anticipated showdowns were dismissed as duds.

These losses reinforce the talent of this $20 million roster and also underscore the inexplicability of their 13-10 loss to the mediocre Michigan Wolverines on November 30th.

This shocking defeat as a three-touchdown favorite was considered the ruin of Ohio State’s season. As it turned out, it was the salvation. With three weeks to regroup and a playoff round in which Michigan is missing, everything turned around.

Ohio State’s staff trained better. Ohio State’s players performed better. The aura of tense fear that filled the Buckeyes in this rivalry debacle has been replaced with relentless aggression and overwhelming confidence. The fans’ anger was diverted – or perhaps absorbed – and converted into energy.

“At the end of the day, we wanted to win a national championship and the way we got here wasn’t what we expected. “That wasn’t what we planned,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “Still, we had the opportunity to come back and play Oregon after playing them earlier in the season and that was all that mattered. And the guys did a great job staying focused. The employees stuck together.”

Ohio State prevailed in the passing game against both the Volunteers and the Ducks. Quarterback Will Howard let it rip downfield with precision and panache, throwing for 269 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone. A beaming Jeremiah Smith showed why he is the best wideout in college football as a teenager by setting an OSU freshman record of 187 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Extremely reliable veteran Emeka Egbuka had a 42-yard touchdown. Tight end Gee Scott Jr. started the game with a 30-yard reception.

Imagine the advantage that can be gained by getting the ball out to these top talents rather than hurling it into the middle in one fit I’m the macho guy Illusion. (The Michigan game plan that will live on in infamy.) But hey, Ohio State had success with that too, as running back TreVeyon Henderson had a 66-yard touchdown run during that first-half attack.

The fact is, everything clicked for the Buckeyes offensively and defensively, and the most anticipated game so far in these playoffs turned into a thrilling loss. Their 8.7 yards per game were the most since a 9.9 average on Sept. 7 against the Western Michigan Broncos. And their seven sacks of beleaguered Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel increased the Ducks’ sacks allowed for the season in a single game by 50%.

This was a miserable performance for Oregon when its hopes were at its highest. The Ducks had beaten Ohio State by one point in Eugene in October, and another tough battle was expected. The complete loss — rushing for minus 26 yards — might make this the most disappointing performance Oregon has ever had in a big situation. It was certainly much worse than the loss to the Buckeyes in the first College Football Playoff a decade ago, and worse than the BCS championship game loss to the Auburn Tigers.

Is there an explanation? Maybe this: Playoff teams coming off an extended layoff were consistently terrible in the first quarter.

The Boise State Broncos fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions 14-0 in the Fiesta Bowl. The Arizona State Sun Devils fell behind Texas 14-3 in the first quarter and 17-3 early in the second quarter in the Peach Bowl. And here in the Rose Bowl it was 14-0 after the first 15 minutes and 31-0 less than seven minutes later. (We’ll see if the Georgia Bulldogs face a similar opening slump on Thursday in the Sugar Bowl against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.)

Did a three-week break hurt the teams, all of which played opponents playing on December 20th or 21st? Is rust an excuse?

In the case of Arizona State, and to a lesser extent Boise State, teams coming off a lull found their footing and made a game out of it before losing. In the case of Oregon – the best team in this situation – that was never even close to being the case.

That’s the annoying thing for a 13-0 team. The Ducks never showed up.

“I think that’s an excuse. I thought our guys prepared well. Apparently they had a better plan than us. But that’s an excuse,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said.

But that could also be an indication of Ohio State’s newfound knockout power. When such a talented team is so firmly in control, it may not matter what the opponent does.

If offensive coordinator Chip Kelly goes about it this way, who can outsmart the Buckeyes? If Howard gets a clean pocket and superstar wideouts capable of making contested catches, who will slow them down? When a previously inconsistent and hurting offensive line opens up gaps and controls the line of scrimmage, who can stop Henderson and Quinshon Judkins?

Maybe no one. Probably nobody.

November 30 Ohio State appears to be long gone. Playoff Ohio State is scary. The Buckeyes are just two games away from exorcising the maize-and-blue demon and fulfilling their year-long quest for a national title in dominant fashion.