Ohio State Quarterback C.J. Stroud Helped His Draft Stock in Playoff Game Against Georgia

Plus more scouting notes after the College Football Playoff semifinals.

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The last few years, my Six From Saturday notes have been included at the bottom of my MMQB column on Monday mornings. This year, they’ll be published as a separate post each week. Here are my thoughts on this week in the college world, geared mostly toward what should be of interest to NFL fans.

1) The big draft winner Saturday, to me, was from one of the teams that lost. That’d be Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud, who finished 23-of-34 for 348 yards, four touchdowns, no picks, another 34 yards rushing—and who came in seen as a quarterback who lacked the desire to run and could short-circuit when forced to play out of structure. He disproved those criticisms all night. And there was one snap in particular on which he set fire to them.

The situation: second-and-9, ball on the Georgia 16, Ohio State up 14–7.

Top 10 play by a QB this year

NFL or College Football

CJ Stroud is unreal
pic.twitter.com/ECBlneAqCB

— Luke Sawhook 🪚🪝 (@lukesawhook) January 1, 2023

A second after the snap, the pocket broke, Stroud stepped up within it, dodged a rusher near the line, darted right and delivered a strike to Marvin Harrison Jr. for a touchdown with linebacker Trezmen Marshall in his face. It showed the kind of poise, toughness and creativity that, well, every scout watching Saturday was actively looking for. And if that was his most memorable play of the game, second might be the 27-yard run he exploded for in the final minute to get the Buckeyes in position to try the long field goal to win it with three seconds to go.

Bottom line, these were things he hadn’t done much and was doing in pursuit of a trophy.

“He really helped himself,” says one NFC exec. “And that he was doing it without star players was huge. It’s all the stuff he was busted on—that he was good, but it was more about the star receivers or the line. He was without his top two receivers, top two backs, best tight end, that all counts for something. And I don't know if it was a conscious effort he made, but that he willingly pulled the ball down and ran is something everyone will notice.”

With Stroud, we’re probably talking about degrees, because he was going to be a first-rounder all along. But if this was the difference between, say, going 15th or going fifth? Well, the difference there would be almost $17 million over the next four years ($33.4 million vs. $16.9 million). So yeah, it was a good night for No. 7.

Stroud left a good impression in his final game for the Buckeyes :: Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY Network

2) Going through Ohio State’s injury list, and the guys on the shelf for Georgia, on Saturday really illustrates the difference between those two and Alabama, and everyone else: It’s depth. The Buckeyes were without, as our exec said, their two best receivers (Harrison and Jaxon Smith-Njigba), their top three backs (TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams and Evan Pryor) and their two best tight ends (Cade Stover and Gee Scott Jr.). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs didn’t have likely-top-50 picks Nolan Smith and Darnell Washington at the wire. And yet, the two were throwing blows like it was Ali-Frazier.

Football is, and always has been, a game of attrition. And so if you can replace your five-star starters with four-star reserves, by the end of the year, you’re probably going to be in much better shape than almost anyone else.

3) I’d like to think Georgia QB Stetson Bennett has a future somewhere in the NFL. And I’m not saying he’s going to even start a game as a pro. But he can move, has a little pop in his arm and at least seems like he’s as football smart as they come. Now, he’s also 5'11", 190 pounds and turns 26 in October. So, again, he probably is what he is, as well as he’s played and as well as he’s been coached under former NFL offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

That said, it’d make sense that someone would look at him and say, That guy will make my team and, potentially, get me a few years of cheap depth at the most important position.

One more time—I’m not suggesting he’ll start for someone. But I totally see where someone would be happy to burn a seventh-rounder on him. At the very least, for those teams, it’d make the preseason a whole lot more fun.

4) We wrote it a few weeks ago, and I’d repeat that even if Saturday’s first semifinal was an upset; this wasn’t the old Mountain West version of TCU. It is, and has been, a Power 5 program in just about every way. And that includes the NFL talent on hand. Quarterback Max Duggan has a good shot at being drafted. A couple of offensive linemen and the tailback will be, too. Center-guard Steve Avila may sneak into the first round.

Then, you’ve got Quentin Johnston, the likely top-20 pick who, at 6'4" and 215 pounds, turned the corner on the entire Michigan defense and went 74 yards for a big fourth-quarter touchdown Saturday.

5) Alabama QB Bryce Young has checked every box now, and it was done emphatically in his final college game Sunday—the redshirt sophomore threw for 321 yards and five touchdowns on 15-of-21 passing in Alabama’s 45–20 rout of Kansas State. And from here? Buckle up for four months of tape measures and scales, and concerns over whether a guy of his size can make it in the league.

It’ll be an issue for some teams. It’ll be less so for others.

6) I have my reservations about the 12-team College Football Playoff—I think college football’s regular season is the best in sports, and that’s in large part due to the stakes every Saturday. That said, Saturday was a preview of what this thing could look like over four weekends of action. And … yeah, you can sign me up for that.