No. 2 Ohio State suffers first loss of the season, losing 32-31 to No. 3 Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. ( WCMH /AP) — In one of the most highly anticipated contests on the college football schedule this season, Ohio State suffered its first loss of the season after a back-and-forth battle with Oregon, falling 32-31, at Autzen Stadium.

Penalties made a difference in the final drive of the game. With Ohio State trailing by one and needing to get in field goal range, Will Howard connected with Emeka Egbuka for 26-yards to get the Buckeyes to the 28-yard line. But then an offensive pass interference by Jeremiah Smith pushed the Buckeyes to the 43-yard line. An illegal substitution helped the Buckeyes get five yards closer but on the final play of the game, Howard ran for 12 yards before going down with no time left.

The drive marked a disappointing end to what was an otherwise strong offensive performance from Howard, who completed 28 of 35 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns. Howard and Quinshon Judkins added a pair of scores on the ground in the back-and-forth contest.

But in the end Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel outdueled Howard, throwing two touchdown passes and running for another to power the Ducks to a 6-0 start in their first season in the Big Ten.

In front of a stadium record crowd of 60,129, Gabriel scored on 27-yard keeper early in the fourth quarter to give Oregon a 29-28 lead. But Ohio State (5-1, 2-1) responded with a clock-eating drive that ended with Jayden Fielding’s 40-yard field goal that made it 31-29 with six minutes to go.

A pass-interference call got the Ducks to Ohio State’s 9. But after three tries to get into the end zone, Oregon settled for Atticus Sappington’s 19-yard field goal and a 32-21 lead with 1:47 left.

The top three showdown was the first between the two schools in Eugene since 1967 and marked Ohio State’s second straight loss in the series history with the Ducks.

The Buckeyes fall to 5-1 on the season and now head into their second bye week of the season before resuming action at home against Nebraska on October 26.

Second half photo gallery

First half photo gallery

Pregame photo gallery

Scroll below for updates as the game unfolded.

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