Instant Observations: Clutch Plays Send Ohio State to Atlanta for the Title Game

Ohio State overcame early miscues and a pesky Texas team on Friday night, making several key plays in the games final minutes to earn a 28-14 win and a trip to Atlanta to face Notre Dame in the National Championship Game.

Tonight’s edition of 10 Observations will focus heavily on redemption. Let’s get to it…

1. I’m trying to think of the most iconic defensive plays in Ohio State history. Cie Grant disrupting Ken Dorsey to seal a national championship against Miami. Chris Gamble’s pick six that year against Penn State.

Strangely enough, so many of the iconic Ohio State plays over the years seem to be made by the offense. Sawyer’s strip sack/recovery/touchdown is going to rank way up there on the defensive side of the ball, regardless of what happens against Notre Dame. If OSU wins it all? It might be No. 1.

2. Speaking of Sawyer. He’ll be the first to tell you that the job isn’t done yet, but what a redemption story that has been. Flashing throughout his first three years, he often came under harsh criticism for not being consistently dominant. He has played incredible football down the stretch, even in the loss to Michigan. His legacy/fan perception here will age much better than most would have imagined a few weeks ago.

3. The same can be said for J.T. Tuimoloau who played an outstanding game tonight on a bad wheel. From making Ewers run for his life, to coming up big in the run game, Tuimoloau faced similar criticisms to Sawyer during his tenure at Ohio State. His legacy, too, has taken a giant leap over the last month.

4. Then you have TreVeyon Henderson who had the ultimate mid-game redemption. His early personal foul might have cost Ohio State a 14-0 lead. And that that point, you could argue this game might have been heading toward Tennessee territory. A really inexcusable play for a veteran leader. But then he takes a screen pass 75-yards for a touchdown in vintage Henderson fashion with his burst and top end speed and all is forgiven.

5. There were so many things that Ohio State didn’t do correctly tonight that, in the moment, would rightfully make fans pull their hair out. But now that they’ve survived it, I think winning in this way during this hot stretch will pay dividends against a Notre Dame team who wants a 12-round fist fight in close quarters. Untimely penalties, mental errors, and turnovers have cost this team so many big games during the Day era and to survive them and be the team that makes the big plays down the stretch will help this team in 10 days.

6. Some very underrated plays tonight from less-heralded players. Carson Hinzman picked off TWO Texas defenders on the screen pass to Henderson. Gee Scott’s extra effort on the third down catch to setup Howard’s fourth down run made life a hell of a lot easier than if he had gone down on first contact six or seven yards short of the first down marker.

7. The idea that Ohio State could beat Texas, in Dallas, with 9 penalties for 75 yards, and with Jeremiah Smith having just one catch for three yards would have been preposterous to me 24 hours ago. But despite all of that, they were the better team tonight. Texas executed just about the perfect game plan; take away Smith, make it a four-quarter fight, and Ohio State still found a way to win. That is probably what will sting the most for the Longhorns, is that they were able to mostly have this game play out the way they would have wanted it to and that wasn’t enough.

8. Seven catches from the tight ends tonight. Seven catches from Carnell Tate. Four catches for 97 yards and a touchdown from the backs. This was as a complete of a team effort in a big game as I can remember an Ohio State team playing.

9. I like the matchup against Notre Dame. Tough team. Really good defense. But I don’t know that they have the horses or the QB.

10. This is it for Ryan Day. He can shut everyone up for pretty much all of eternity if he wins the national championship this year. He’ll have as many titles as Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel did at OSU and he’ll have done it with entirely his own players. He’ll also have run through four consecutive Top 10 teams to do it. The arguments of “meaningless” regular season wins and big game failures will be ancient history.

Ultimate legacy game for Day and I think he’ll have the Buckeyes ready to go.