PASADENA, Calif. — It was supposed to be the most anticipated game of the College Football Playoff so far.
It turned out to be hard to watch.
It was supposed to be a quarterfinal clash worthy of the national title game.
It turned out to be a beatdown.
Ohio State roared into the College Football Playoff semifinals with a display of strength that should cement the Buckeyes as the favorites to hoist the trophy in Atlanta in less than three weeks. They throttled unbeaten, top-seeded Oregon in the Rose Bowl, avenging a previous one-point Big Ten road loss to the Ducks in a late-October instant classic.