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Jack Sawyer: Ohio State’s national championship ‘erases’ loss to Michigan
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Jack Sawyer certainly understands Ohio State did not accomplish one of its key goals during the 2024 college football season. However, the Buckeyes still came away with the ultimate goal of a national championship.
The path to that ultimate goal was not without its challenges for Ryan Day and his program. Ohio State lost on the road to Oregon while giving up 32 points, and the Buckeyes lost a 4th straight contest to archrival Michigan in The Game.
Despite that loss in the final game of the season, Ohio State rallied with a masterful College Football Playoff run. Ultimately, that run delivered the biggest goal for the program, something Sawyer believes trumps the loss to Michigan.
In a recent sitdown with Ben Roethlisberger, Sawyer and fellow Buckeye teammate Will Howard discussed the simple question of which scenario they would rather have: Beat Michigan and lose a national title, or lose to Michigan with the national championship in hand.
Sawyer acknowledged the ultimate importance of The Game, but also said it’s more important to win the final game of the season as national champs:
“When you win a national championship, if anyone tells you they’d rather go 1-12 and just beat the ‘Team Up North,’ you’re crazy. You know what I mean? You’re playing this game to win championships,” Sawyer said. “Make no mistake about it, no one wants to beat those guys more than we do, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing we could have done after (the loss).
“We have our shot to chase the ultimate goal, which is to win the national championship. Like, in the NFL, you lose four games in the regular season and you’re probably the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs. That’s kind of the approach we took, especially with the expanded playoffs, and I think it’s gonna continue to be like that.”
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Sawyer still understands the “perfect world” scenario of beating Michigan and winning the national title, but he also knows it is unrealistic for anyone to try and say they would rather win any game at the expense of a national title. With a national championship ring, Sawyer believes it kind of “erases” the other disappointments.
“Obviously, The Game is still gonna be The Game, because it is The Game, the best rivalry in sports,” Sawyer claimed. “But at the end of the day, I think you’d be crazy to say you would rather beat them and not win a national championship instead of win a national championship and not beat them. In a perfect world, you do both of those things, but obviously we didn’t. But winning a national championship kind of erases all of that. For me, it does, at least.”
Sawyer leaves Ohio State without a win over his biggest rival, but he will still go down as a legendary figure in Buckeye football. Alongside JT Tuimoloau, Sawyer helped deliver one of the dominant defensive stretches in college football lore, including his personal heroics with the late-game scoop-and-score against Texas.
Whether or not Ohio State fans (or Michigan fans) agree with Sawyer is another thing entirely.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.