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Rapid Reaction: Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins continues dominance, leads Buckeyes past Northwestern
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Quick recap
Ohio State was supposed to do this. The No. 6 Buckeyes were expected to beat No. 21 Northwestern and it wasn’t supposed to be all that close of a game.
Yes, Ohio State got past Northwestern, but with 10 minutes remaining, the Wildcats were still within a TD. They weren’t going away. Any time that the Buckeyes needed to extend their lead, there was one man they could always turn to: QB Dwayne Haskins.
Haskins had 3 TD passes in the first 3 quarters and then added another when the Buckeyes led 31-24 in the fourth quarter. He ended the game by going 34-of-41 for 499 yards and 5 TD with 1 INT.
Northwestern kept making the game close, but Haskins would always respond. Whether it was TD passes that broke previous Big Ten records or TD passes that broke previous Ohio State records, the redshirt sophomore QB was doing anything his team needed to succeed.
Thanks to potentially the next Heisman Trophy winner, the Buckeyes defeated the Wildcats 45-24.
Key play
There are a number of candidates that would fit the mold here. Each of the 3 Northwestern turnovers proved to be costly. However, it was Haskins who had carried the Buckeyes to this point.
Rightfully so, the key play came from Haskins just before the first half came to a close. Ohio State had a fairly comfortable 17-7 lead and the Buckeyes were starting to drive with under 5 minutes to go in the half.
Haskins was leading his team down the field, however, and on 2nd-and-17, the Buckeyes had a run go for a 3-yard loss to bring on 3rd-and-20. The ball was on the Northwestern 42-yard-line with 1:28 left and Northwestern called a timeout to preserve time for its offense.
Haskins proved that the timeout was the wrong call for Northwestern to make. On the very next play, the Buckeyes didn’t just want to get the ball closer to the first down market to kick a manageable field goal. No, they wanted Haskins to deliver a dime and extend the lead to 24-7.
That’s exactly what he did:
https://twitter.com/SchutteCFB/status/1069059692981350401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1069059692981350401&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsaturdaytradition.com%2Fohio-state-football%2Fwatch-dwayne-haskins-drops-42-yard-dime-to-terry-mclaurin-for-buckeyes-td%2F
Stat of the game
We mentioned it earlier.
Here’s Dwayne Haskins’ final stats on the biggest stage of the season: 34-of-41 for 499 yards with 5 TD and 1 INT. Haskins was phenomenal, as the statistics and record books show.
Ohio State could tell you about his dominance in this game, as could Northwestern. Touchdown after touchdown, seeing Haskins drop back time and time again had to leave Wildcat fans uneasy all night long.
What it means
This may be the only issue for Ohio State tonight: The Buckeyes are probably being left out of the College Football Playoff. As awesome as Haskins and Ohio State’s offense performed in the Big Ten Championship, the Buckeyes — at No. 6 — defeated No. 21 Northwestern to close the season.
No. 5 Oklahoma was able to get revenge on its only loss of the season — against No. 14 Texas — in the Big 12 Championship. Was Ohio State able to leap over Oklahoma thanks to its performance over what could be seen as a “lesser” opponent than No. 14 Texas?
Probably not, but, we’ll find out on Sunday when the College Football Playoff committee reveals its final Top 25 of the season.
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.