ARLINGTON, Texas -- As a reporter read Ohio State’s defensive third-down numbers to Darron Lee, the Buckeyes linebacker immediately lost his boyish smile. The sight of his pearly white teeth were quickly replaced with a loud, disapproving moan followed by a couple of seconds of booing.

To Lee, who just stepped off a black-and-gold, confetti-soaked field inside AT&T Stadium after No. 4 Ohio State’s commanding 42-20 win over No. 2 Oregon on Monday, the numbers just weren’t good enough. Not after holding mighty Alabama to 2-of-13 on third downs a week prior in a College Football Playoff semifinal.

No, the freshman linebacker, who finished with eight tackles Monday, momentarily wanted better than the Ducks' going 2-of-12 on third-down conversions.

After a second to process the fact that Oregon -- which entered the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T converting 51.6 percent of its third downs -- couldn’t convert even 20 percent of its third downs, Lee’s smile returned with a snicker attached to it.

“That’s great,” Lee conceded, “especially with the tempo they were going. They tried to go hurry-up on third down. That’s just fundamentally sound ball for everybody on defense across the board.”

On the most important down, Ohio State’s defense flexed its scarlet muscles. The Ducks converted just 2 of 8 third downs in the first half and went 0-for-4 in the second half.

There were a couple of major third-down drops in the first half -- none worse than receiver Dwayne Stanford’s blunder on a beautiful Marcus Mariota heave that could have put the Ducks in scoring position -- that really put Oregon’s offense in a bind. But the play of Ohio State’s defense crippled the Ducks even more.

“We thrive on third down,” cornerback Doran Grant said. “We call it 'money down,' and won. The defense collided and we won.

“It’s nothing special -- no secret socks, nothing. It’s go out there and play, play for the man next to you.”

What made things worse for the Ducks, who were without two top receiving options in Devon Allen (knee) and Darren Carrington (suspension), was the fact that Ohio State was forcing back-breaking third-and-longs all night.

Of the Ducks’ 12 third-down plays, eight of them came with 5 or more yards to get the first down.

“We knew that was going to be a crucial part of our game, and that’s something that we’ve been improving on this year,” cornerback Eli Apple said. “We knew coming in that if we could win first down and get them in third-and-longs, that we could take advantage of them and win.”

The Buckeyes insist they didn’t change their defensive approach for the Ducks, but they did try to mix things up to confuse and frustrate Oregon’s offensive staff and Mariota, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. They went from man coverage to Cover 2 to Cover 3 on third downs. Sometimes they brought pressure, and other times they dialed it back to cover more ground.

After forcing zero third downs on the opening drive of the game -- a drive in which Oregon emphatically marched 75 yards to the end zone in 11 plays -- the Buckeyes made third down their down, forcing Oregon to play tight and limiting what it could do with that expansive playbook.

“I know we had a plan,” defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said. "When you do a lot of those different things, your guys have a lot on their shoulders. We knew they could handle it, and they did a great job.

“We really could say tonight we won the game because of third downs.”