5 things I am absolutely overreacting to from Big Ten Championship Game

Another Big Ten Championship Game is in the books, and it was another fun Saturday night in Indianapolis, where Ohio State beat a pesky Northwestern team 45-24. This  game was closer than the final score indicates, and the Wildcats deserve a lot of credit for hanging so tough.

And now, we wait. Did Ohio State do enough to move up two spots and get slotted into the four-team College Football Playoff? Probably not, which means the Big Ten champion will now be left out of the Playoff for the third year in a row. How are you liking this setup now?

Here are five things I am absolutely overreacting to after Saturday night’s title game in Indianapolis:

1. Ohio State did a great job of playing keep-away

This Ohio State offense is really good, and the Buckeyes surely didn’t disappoint on Saturday night. They couldn’t run the ball worth a darn — 46 carries for only 108 yards, a measly 2.3 average — but every time QB Dwayne Haskins needed to make a play to keep drives alive, he did. They converted 10 of 18 third downs to keep drives alive, and even converted one fourth-down attempt. They ran 87 plays to Northwestern’s 68, and possessed the ball for nearly 36 minutes. That’s keeping a game under control, and putting your foot on the pedal late to pull away.

2. Northwestern’s gritty defense simply wore out

There’s no doubt the Wildcats’ defense was on the field too long. You could see them start to drag about midway through the second half, and they couldn’t put up the same fight when Ohio State scored touchdowns on three of their last four drives. There’s certainly a difference in talent level with these two teams just by the nature of how they can recruit, and where that shows up a lot of times is in overall team depth. You saw that with Northwestern’s defense. An admirable performance, but just not quite enough.

3. Dwayne Haskins is something really special

We already knew that about Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, but he sure put an exclamation point on his brilliant season Saturday night. He threw for 499 yards — couldn’t he have gotten one more yard? — and five touchdowns, and he was just as special as those numbers would indicate. He’s now thrown for 4,580 yards this year and 47 touchdowns. Those are some eye-popping numbers.

4. Clayton Thorson has had a special career

Northwestern has had the luxury of having Clayton Thorson around at quarterback for four years, and it’s been a special time. It was nice for Thorson to be able to experience this entire championship game experience, despite the loss. It says a lot about him and all his teammates to have the resiliency to win the Big Ten West and earn this title game bid. It was their first appearance, but it probably won’t be their last. Replacing Thorson won’t be easy, though,

5. Ohio State wins, but Big Ten out of playoffs again

Ohio State is 12-1 and conference champions for the second year in a row. But it’s probably not going to be good enough to get in the playoffs. They have a lot working against them. The 29-point loss to a six-loss Purdue team  really hurts, as does the eye test prior to the big win against Michigan, when Ohio State looked terrible in pulling out narrow wins over seven-loss teams like Nebraska and Maryland. When his four-team format started, I would have never believed that the Big Ten champion could be left out three years in a row, but that’s what is probably going to happen.

Tom Brew

Tom Brew has been a recognized reporter in Big Ten sports for decades. Among other projects, he writes about Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.