Ezekiel Elliott, Ohio State run by Notre Dame in Fiesta Bowl

“I really was trying my absolute best to keep it unannounced that I was leaving”.

And while Derrick Henry might have the Heisman Trophy to his name, Elliott seems all but guaranteed to finish ahead of the Alabama star in a more lucrative list of names-the selections at the 2016 National Football League draft.

While running backs have been devalued in recent years at the NFL Draft, some 2016 projections have Elliot going in the top five.

Elliott ran for 149 yards and matched a Fiesta Bowl record with four touchdowns to close the curtain on his college career, sparking No. 7 Ohio State’s prolific offense in a 44-28 win over Notre Dame on Friday in Glendale, Arizona.

Ohio State lost to Michigan State in its penultimate game and had to watch the Spartans join fellow one-loss teams Alabama and Oklahoma in the playoff.

Ohio State loses Ezekiel Elliott, who ran for four scores Friday just as he did against OR 12 months ago, and loses Braxton Miller, who was once a Heisman threat at quarterback but went to wide receiver without complaint. “This just proves that our team is something special”.

“We’re going to keep banging on the door”, Kelly said. So it’s hard for me to give this one anything higher than a B-minus. “It’s easy when guys block it so perfectly like that”.

Ezekiel Elliott ended that threat by running up the middle on a 47-yard touchdown run, and the Irish never got it to single digits again.

“He’s such a fantastic player once he hits the second level”, Meyer said. Ohio State scored on its first two possessions on drives of 80 and 43 yards for a 14-0 lead less than halfway through the first quarter.

“I’m disappointed in the play calling”. The game broadcast said he would miss the rest of the game. You guys saw that on that drive.

He is one of the best defensive players in the history of Ohio State’s storied program. People went down, people stepped up, and we played our hearts out. Those plays weren’t called anymore. They own up that they “shot ourselves in the foot” – a phrase used by multiple players in the postgame locker room. It just hurts. It hurts a lot because of how we lost. Reflecting on it now, I think we did make a little statement being that we were not in the playoffs, but it is okay.

Four years, 50 football wins.

Elliott later issued an apology, but that apology was clearly half-hearted.

“Schematically, they do a great job of creating challenging situations with changing numbers and unique plays”, Notre Dame linebacker Joe Schmidt said.

The rant had its effect. A sold-out crowd of 71,123 witnessed Ohio State’s victory on New Year’s Day. “Our destiny was right here, and we accomplished that destiny”, said safety Von Bell.

Well, the rugby-style tackling implemented by Ash over the last two seasons was on full display in the Fiesta Bowl. Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two touchdowns, helping the Volunteers rout No. 12 Northwestern 45-6 before a crowd of 53,202.

McCaffrey finished with 172 yards rushing, 105 yards receiving and 91 on kick returns, putting an appropriate cap on the season in which he set the NCAA record for all-purpose yards. The Buckeyes rarely lack for top-end talent at the position, and Curtis Samuel is expected to step right in next season without Ohio State missing a beat, but Meyer admitted Elliott will be tough to replace.

But then Will Fuller ran by Ohio State cornerback Gaeron Conley for an 81-yard touchdown, and it wasn’t until DeShone Kizer was sacked on back-to-back plays late in the fourth quarter that the game got out of reach.