TreVeyon Henderson scores a touchdown. (Photo by Ohio State Athletics)
Will Howard
Ohio State Buckeye Will Howard is like a cowboy in an old Western. He doesn’t make the deepest throws or longest shots, and he may not be the fastest release and draw, but he’s the gunslinger who is accurate. Accuracy is the name of the game for Howard. It’s his biggest weapon. It helps throwing to such awesome receivers, but he still has to get it there. Texas made him throw into tight windows all game long, and the only one that ended badly was the interception.
Howard also takes care of the ball, hanging on during some tough hits. He also made a key fourth-down conversion with his legs, which allowed the Buckeyes to maintain the drive that broke the 14-14 deadlock. Howard is completing 73.8% of his passes in the playoff and has six touchdowns to only one interception. They’ll need that accuracy and ball protection to continue in order to beat Notre Dame for all the marbles.
TreVeyon Henderson
Henderson’s redemption was one of the best moments of the game. It would have been the best if Jack Sawyer had not ended the game the way he did. Henderson made a drive-killing mistake that you don’t expect from a senior captain. On the second Buckeye drive, Ohio State was moving the football, and Henderson shoved a Texas defender right in front of an official after a play. He was rightly called for a penalty, and it ended up killing the Ohio State drive.
Henderson knew he had messed up, you could see it on his face on the sideline. So, when his team executed the perfect screen pass to him after Texas tied the game 7-7, Henderson seized his moment of redemption. Henderson has had home run speed for Ohio State since his first game as a freshman in 2021. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen him run faster than he did on that 75-yard run that put Ohio State up 14-7 at halftime. This more than made up for the earlier mistake, and Buckeye Nation was ecstatic for him and the team.
Henderson has had a huge impact on Ohio State’s playoff games. And he’s done it both rushing and receiving. Running the ball, he has 24 carries for 216 yards and four touchdowns. Catching the ball, he has eight catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. They’ll need more of the same from their four-year starting captain against a talented and great Notre Dame defense.
The Defense
Sonny Styles, Cody Simon, Caleb Downs, Tyleik Williams, and Ty Hamilton did great at taking away the middle of the field from Texas. From the line of scrimmage to deep downfield, they made it tough for Texas to do anything in between the numbers. These five had 29 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks, two passes deflected, and an interception. They were why when Texas got into the Red Zone, and a staff member said the Horns had scored, Jim Knowles growled back, “They ain’t scored yet.”
Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau
I saved the best for last. Sawyer and Tuimoloau are team leaders, and they do so by example. They give Coach Knowles and the defense the most confidence and rightly so. They’ve been on fire in this entire playoff run and were again against Texas. Tuimoloau, despite playing on an injured ankle, had seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, and 1.5 sacks. Sawyer had three tackles, a pass deflection, and the play of the year so far. His strip sack of Quinn Ewers, which he scooped up and returned 83 yards through the Heart of Texas to the end zone, was an all-time play.
Sawyer and Tuimoloau would be the first players to tell you that the job is not finished. That there is one more to go. They’ll need to keep their all-American level of play going if the Buckeyes hope to hoist the golden trophy. So will Will Howard and TreVeyon Henderson. And Jeremiah Smith will need to return. If the Buckeyes get him back involved in the offense, they’ll be national champions on January 20th.
