Just as Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer sealed Friday night’s 28-14 Cotton Bowl win over Texas — with an 83-yard strip-sack and score on a 4th-and-goal play — an argument erupted.
Where does this play rank in Buckeye history?
Defensively, there’s no question, it immediately rocketed to No. 1 — muscling past Ray Griffin’s near pick-six in the closing seconds to set up the game-winning touchdown at Michigan in 1975, and Maurice Clarett’s strip-and-steal of Sean Taylor at the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.
Overall, it will take some serious reflection.
(Photos courtesy of The Ohio State University)
Regardless, Sawyer’s play was the capstone of one of the greatest goal-line stands in school history.
The stakes were epic. In the national semifinals, playing Texas in Texas, the Buckeyes were defending a 1st-and-goal scenario at their own 1, desperately clinging to a 21-14 lead.
A first-down run was stuffed by a stout OSU defensive line. A bizarre second-down sweep was blown up by sophomore Caleb Downs and finished off by senior Lathan Ransom at the 8. An incomplete pass then set up a fourth-and-goal for the ages.
At the snap, Sawyer shot around the Texas’ right offensive tackle Cameron Williams. Sawyer zeroed in on his freshman roommate Quinn Ewers and delivered a blow that simultaneously dropped the Longhorns’ QB and freed the football.
The pigskin took one bounce and hopped neatly into Sawyer’s lap. The Buckeyes’ senior scooped it up and chugged along the Ohio State sideline. He picked up a key block from teammate Sonny Styles, who screened off a converging Longhorn, and streaked all the way to send Ohio State into the Jan. 20 national championship game against Notre Dame in Atlanta.
“I saw the ball pop out right to me after I tackled him. I was just thinking, ‘I’ve got to stay on my feet,’ because I almost blacked out when I scooped it and saw a bunch of green grass ahead of me,” Sawyer said. “Just walking off, (Quinn) said, ‘Screw you,’ and started laughing.
“Obviously, that’s my boy.”
Sawyer, a hometown boy from Pickerington, immediately seared his name into the long and storied annals of Buckeye lore with that score.
“He’s everything that we possibly ask for in a captain,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “To make a play like that in that moment, we talked about it before the game, if you want to leave a legacy behind, you become a legend.
“He just became a legend at Ohio State.”
It was especially tough for Ewers, who signed with the Buckeyes, spent his true freshman season in Columbus, and roomed with Sawyer that fall. It was a rude and impactful reunion in the Texas backfield on one fateful play.
“I felt him, I was sort of drifting away, and thought I was going to be able to get the ball off before he got there,” Ewers said. “Then I saw Jack running with the ball down the sideline.
“It’s tough, man. He’s a great player, great individual, great person … It sucks, but Jack’s a great player and he made a great play.”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian drew heavy criticism after the game for calling a sweep on the goal line that set up the fatal play.
“We had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when we got down there,” Sarkisian said. “It’s one of those plays if you block it all right you get in the end zone, and we didn’t and we lose quite a bit of yardage.
“The last think you think is a sack and it’s going to bounce right to the guy for a touchdown.”
