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Looking for an actual takeaway from a win against Rutgers? Johnnie Dixon was it
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Ohio State fans probably didn’t think much of a blowout win against Rutgers.
Entering Saturday night, the Buckeyes steamrolled the Scarlet Knights by a combined score of 163-24 since they joined the B1G in 2014. Nothing about this year’s matchup was going to make Ohio State feel like it was a College Football Playoff team. At least it shouldn’t have.
No matter what Urban Meyer said all week in complimenting Rutgers, let’s not get it twisted. It was Rutgers. You know, the team that lost to Eastern Michigan at home a few weeks ago. Nothing about beating the Scarlet Knights should’ve made Ohio State fans giddy.
Except for one thing. Johnnie Dixon.
Chronic knee injuries all but washed away his first three years in Columbus. When the 2016 season ended, Dixon wondered if he was ever going to be able to live up to his blue-chip recruit status and carve out a role at Ohio State.
The Ohio State junior receiver had just one career touchdown entering 2017. Ironically enough, that came on a 5-yard run against Rutgers in the Buckeyes’ blowout win last year. Entering this season, Dixon had that one touchdown and just 80 receiving yards.
This was the kid who got emotional when he told his mom that he was going to get his first collegiate start in the 2017 opener.
Remember this?
Nothing better than watching @YoungKing_JD5‘s mom’s reaction to hearing her son will make his first start as a Buckeye on Thursday. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/DbbcxS9yhA
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 27, 2017
So no, Dixon certainly didn’t treat Saturday night as another ho-hum win against Rutgers.
He waited until his fourth season to register his first career 100-yard game (you know, not including the spring game). Until Saturday night, Dixon had never registered a multi-touchdown game, either.
You can bet that when Dixon broke away for a 70-yard touchdown, it didn’t matter to him that it was because of a busted coverage against Rutgers. Saturday was Dixon’s 10th active game of his career.
Moments like these had been few and far between:
Dixon had been waiting years to get behind a secondary and waltz in for a touchdown like he did on that 70-yard score. Ohio State had been waiting for it, too.
Heading into 2017, theBuckeyes needed as many guys like Dixon as possible. Despite all of those knee injuries, there was still a belief that he was capable of using his speed and agility to make people miss in the open field.
We saw a lot of that during Dixon’s second touchdown on Saturday:
That’s the product of a whole lot of hours of rehabilitation and practice, all of which he did while being buried on the depth chart.
It would’ve been easy for Dixon to throw in the towel after he finished 2016 banged up. With a new offensive coordinator and a new batch of young Ohio State receivers set on making the next step, Dixon could’ve decided that he was done playing football in Columbus.
Instead, he stuck it out. As OSU wide receivers coach Zach Smith said, Dixon worked his tail off to earn a role with the 2017 group. Urban Meyer called Dixon “a breath of fresh air” after he completed his first spring practice completely healthy.
There’s no guarantee that Dixon stays healthy for the rest of 2017. He missed the Army game with a hamstring injury, which didn’t prove to be a long-term injury. There’s still the possibility that despite all that hard work, his knee injury pops up again.
At the very least, Dixon had the night he always hoped for. He led the Buckeyes with 115 receiving yards and two touchdowns. It was a career night, and frankly, one that didn’t always look like it would come.
A blowout win against Rutgers was about as forgettable as any game Ohio State will play in 2017. Playoff hopes were not clinched, nor were they anywhere close to being dashed. No narratives about the Buckeyes changed in Piscataway.
But one long-awaited goal was reached. And for once, Ohio State’s breath of fresh air could breath a sigh of relief.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.