During the NFL Scouting Combine, several NFL athlete hopefuls open up about their college careers as well as their aspirations for the future. Former Oregon Ducks’ wide receiver Tez Johnson spoke on the Ducks’ matchups with the Ohio State Buckeyes during his final season in Eugene.

Quickly becoming one of the marquee match-ups of the new Big Ten Conference era, Oregon and Ohio State traded blows in the 2024 season. In October during the regular season, the Ducks narrowly beat the Buckeyes at Autzen Stadium 32-31. However, the Buckeyes got their revenge with a dominant beatdown of the Ducks during the College Football Playoffs in the Rose Bowl with a 41-21 final score that doesn’t fully reflect the near shut-out the Buckeyes executed in the first half.

During this Friday NFL Scouting Combine media availability, Johnson admits the Buckeyes had a better gameplan entering their second showdown.

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“The first Ohio State game, I felt like they came out there and they wanted to see who can win skill for skill, just let us play. The second game, they kind of played it like, we’re going to drop back, we can’t hang with these guys skill for skill, so we’re going to try to keep everything in front of us. So that’s what they did, and for them it worked. So we went out there to that game and we definitely had a really good game plan against those guys, but they executed well,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s performance in both games was a tell for both match-ups’ momentum for the Ducks, putting up 75 yards and one touchdown off seven receptions in the Ducks and Buckeyes’ first meeting in October. He then went on to finish with 32 passing yards off five catches and negative one yard off one attempted rush. For a receiver that reached over 80 yards in six of the 12 games he appeared in, Johnson was shut down by the Buckeyes.

“Kudos to them, tip my hats to them because they won the national championship. If you beat us that year, you definitely better go win the national championship because that game, I think for sure, was the national championship for us,” Johnson said.

Johnson also wasn’t the only former Duck at the combine to speak on the Buckeyes. Tight end Terrance Ferguson also addressed the rivalry and the Rose Bowl loss, saying that Ohio State’s defensive plan overpowered the Ducks, and that he and his teammates weren’t able to find a way to force mistakes from Ohio State.

“They came up and made tackles when they had to make tackles. When we checked the ball down, they didn’t miss tackles and we didn’t break tackles. They did a lot of drop eight and a lot of cover two stuff, making us throw it short and take what we could take. They made plays and we didn’t,” Ferguson said.

Johnson’s comments on the rivalry sparked some backlash online from college football fans arguing that the Buckeyes being up 34-0 up until the end of the second quarter was simply not a reflection of “skill for skill,” however some Duck fans are also firing back, defending Johnson’s evaluation.

The Ducks do not play the Buckeyes during their regular season in 2025, but fans can rest assured this rivalry will continue, either through post season appearances and further future games.