LOS ANGELES – Ohio State quarterback Will Howard tossed long-stemmed roses into the crowd from the stage where Ohio State had just received its Rose Bowl trophy.

Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly wasn’t on that stage after the 41-21 loss to Oregon, but he was in the background, taking in the success – right where he likes to be.

Kelly gave Howard a piece of advice that led to Howard recording 319 passing yards and no turnovers in Wednesday night’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal game, just shy of his career-high 326 yards.

“He said, ‘Let the game come to you,'” Howard remembers. “Don’t let anything happen. Just let it happen. I’ve learned in the last year that I don’t have to be Superman and don’t have to do anything special.”

Oregon football fans created a monosyllabic soundtrack for the Rose Bowl introductions, letting out a loud “YEAH” when an Oregon player appeared on the video board. Ohio State’s players received a long, bass-driven “BOO” from the crowd, and no player received a deeper taunt than the Buckeyes’ quarterback.

But Howard gave the Ducks more torture than entertainment over the next two quarters, rushing for 269 yards.

Howard — under the tutelage of Kelly, the former head coach at UCLA and Oregon — may have been looking for a backup quarterback position in the NFL unless he can quickly improve his draft stock. His performance on Wednesday could attract some attention.

“A lot of people think that I don’t care about the football in big games or that I don’t show up in big games and that I’m not an elite quarterback,” Howard told reporters.

“I would like to consider myself one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and when I have people around me doing what they do, I don’t have to do much. I just have to put it there and give them a chance.”

The quarterback helped make a momentous return to Rose Bowl Stadium for Kelly, who left UCLA in bad shape after struggling to lead the Bruins to success in their final Pac-12 Conference season last year.

At Ohio State, he can focus solely on football and not on NIL collectives, countless meetings, media interactions and all the other responsibilities a head coach must handle at the college level. He can have fun again – and Howard has fed off of it.

“He’s a funny guy,” Howard said of Kelly earlier this week. “He likes to have fun and I love that. The opportunity to be locked in and grind, but also have fun with it and joke around a bit.”

Howard sent touchdown passes of 45 and 43 yards to freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith and another 42-yard strike to Emeka Ogbuka in that first half.

Smith had already recorded his fifth 100-yard reception game of the season by halftime and teamed with Howard to get the Buckeyes out of trouble in the third quarter.

Oregon scored two unanswered touchdowns and was headed for another when Ohio State University defensive end Jack Sawyer broke up a pass and sacked quarterback Dillon Gabriel to put the ball back in Howard’s hands at the 44-yard line.