SportsDirect Inc. staff
Jan 1, 2015
No. 3 Oregon 59, No. 2 Florida State 20: Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota passed for 338 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for a score as the second-seeded Ducks set a Rose Bowl record for points while routing the third-seeded Seminoles at Pasadena, Calif., to advance to the College Football Playoff title game.
Tony Washington returned a fumble for touchdown during a 27-point third quarter as the Ducks (13-1) snapped the Seminoles’ 29-game winning streak. Freshman Darren Carrington matched a season best with seven receptions for a season-high 165 yards and two touchdowns, Thomas Tyner rushed for a season-best 124 yards and two touchdowns and Royce Freeman also rushed for two scores for Oregon, which also set a Rose Bowl record for total yardage (639) and will face Ohio State in the championship contest Jan. 12.
Jameis Winston passed for 348 yards and one touchdown for Florida State (13-1), which committed four turnovers in the third quarter and five overall. Dalvin Cook rushed for 103 yards but lost two fumbles in the third quarter and the Seminoles matched a school record for most points allowed.
The Ducks led 18-13 at halftime and Derrick Malone stripped the ball from Cook on Florida State’s first drive of the third quarter to set up Freeman’s 3-yard TD run before the Seminoles answered on Winston’s 18-yard pass to Travis Rudolph to get the margin back to 25-20. Mariota connected on a 56-yard scoring play to Carrington with 6:43 left in the quarter and Johnny Ragin III knocked the ball away from Cook two minutes later to set up a 30-yard scoring pass to Carrington to give Oregon a 19-point advantage before Winston lost a fumble and Washington returned it 58 yards to give the Ducks an insurmountable 45-20 edge.
Oregon had an 8-3 lead on Freeman’s 1-yard run and the ensuing two-point conversion in the first quarter and Winston originally was ruled to have scored on a fourth-and-1 option keeper before a review overturned the touchdown and gave the ball to the Ducks. The teams traded field goals before Tyner scored on a 1-yard run to give Oregon an 18-6 edge with 2:18 to go in the half before Karlos Williams scampered in from the 10 with 36 seconds remaining to pull the Seminoles within five.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Oregon's Erick Dargan recorded an interception, marking Florida State’s final turnover of the third quarter. … Seminoles TE Nick O’Leary injured a hamstring in pregame warmups and was limited to one catch for four yards. … Mariota was intercepted for only the third time this season when Florida State FS Nate Andrews picked him off late in the second quarter.