Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota hit Byron Marshall for a huge 70-yard touchdown to cut Ohio State’s lead to 21-17 early in the third quarter – but it was nearly taken off the board.
The big play came after the Ducks’ defense forced a third Ohio State turnover of the College Football Playoff National Championship. Mariota hit Marshall deep down the middle and he took it the distance for a score. It appeared to be a clean catch and run, so it was a bit surprising when the referee announced the play was being reviewed.
[Yahoo Team Fan Shop: Buy Ohio State national championship merchandise]
Then we saw it. Marshall nearly made the crucial mistake of dropping the ball before it crossed the plane of the goal line.
Here’s another angle. That’s about as close as it can get.
Fortunately for Marshall, a junior, the touchdown stood as the ball did cross the plane of the goal line before he dropped it to the turf.
It brought back memories of the gaffe made by Utah’s Kaelin Clay against the Ducks in November. In that instance, Clay dropped the ball before he reached the goal line and Oregon’s Joe Walker returned the loose ball 100 yards for a touchdown in a wild sequence of events.
Marshall was fortunate he didn’t make the same mistake. It was one of the few highlights for Oregon in its 42-20 loss to Ohio State.
Clay was watching at home and reacted with an awesome tweet.
It's nice to see that Clay has a great sense of humor about the play.
For more Oregon news, visit DuckSportsAuthority.com.
For more Ohio State news, visit BuckeyeGrove.com.
- - - - - - -
Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
