Rapid Reaction: Ohio State hangs on for B1G title, forces Texas A&M to wait on CFP fate
Ohio State’s explosive offense, starring Big Ten Player of the Year quarterback Justin Fields, made headlines all season. But the Buckeyes had to rely on defense and a spectacular performance from a new offensive standout in Saturday’s B1G Championship Game in Indianapolis.
Ohio State, 4th in the College Football Playoff rankings, won its 4th straight conference championship and almost certainly clinched a CFP semifinal berth with a 22-10 victory over a strong Northwestern team Saturday. Buckeyes graduate transfer running back Trey Sermon broke the all-time Ohio State rushing record for a single game with 331 yards on the ground.
OSU’s spot in the CFP left No. 5 Texas A&M hoping for help elsewhere, though the Buckeyes rally certainly dimmed the Aggies’ Playoff hopes.
Sermon also had the best rushing performance in B1G title game history; he had 2 touchdowns as well. He had a 65-yard run in the third quarter and a go-ahead touchdown on another third-quarter drive. In his lone season at OSU after transferring from Oklahoma, Sermon mostly had a secondary role behind Master Teague this season, gaining 333 rushing yards and 1 touchdown on 55 carries in 5 games coming into Saturday.
And the OSU defense came up with three second-half turnovers to stifle a Northwestern offense that had a strong first half.
With six all-conference first-team selections by coaches’ voting, including receivers Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave plus 3 linemen, the Buckeyes came into Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game averaging 46.6 points per game, 4th in the nation. But Fields was off his game all day and had the thumb on his right (throwing) hand taped in the second half. Fields was just 12-of-17 for 114 yards, 2 interceptions and no touchdowns.
After Sermon’s 9-yard touchdown run put Ohio State ahead 13-10 late in the third quarter, junior safety Josh Proctor intercepted Northwestern’s Peyton Ramsey on the ensuing drive. OSU backup punter Zach Hoover pinned the Wildcats at the 5-yard line (the second time he put Northwestern deep in its own territory). OSU got the ball back after a Wildcats punt and drove for Blake Haubeil’s third field goal of the day, a 26-yarder, for a 16-10 lead with 12:07 left in the game.
Sermon’s 3-yard TD run with 4:03 left put OSU ahead 22-10, capping a second half when OSU dominated with its running game, especially Sermon.
No. 14 Northwestern led for most of the first half and well into the third quarter.
OSU linebacker Justin Hilliard intercepted Ramsey in the end zone to end NU’s first drive of the second half. But Wildcats defensive back Cameron Mitchell picked off Fields quickly on the next drive, the second interception of the game for Fields.
In the first half, Fields was just 9-of-19 for 95 yards and Wildcats defensive back Brandon Joseph, the B1G’s freshman Defensive Player of the Year, made a leaping one-handed interception to ruin OSU’s best drive of the half. The Buckeyes reached the Wildcats 9-yard line but Fields, trying to find Wilson in the end zone, was picked off by Joseph.
After starting a drive early in the second quarter at its 6-yard line, NU moved the ball down to the OSU 23-yard line but went backward on a third-down screen pass. The Wildcats settled for Charlie Kuhbander’s 47-yard field goal and a 10-3 lead.
Haubeil’s 43-yard field goal with 5:23 left in the first half brought OSU within 10-6, capping a 7-play, 49-yard drive. Haubeil missed a 42-yarder wide left in the middle of the third quarter.
In the first quarter, Ramsey’s 34-yard run up the middle set up Cam Porter’s 9-yard touchdown run on the next play to give Northwestern a 7-3 lead with 4:02 left.
Earlier, Cameron Mitchell and Chris Bergin sacked Fields on third down as Northwestern held OSU to a 42-yard field goal by Haubeil on the first Buckeyes drive. It was the only time in six games this season that OSU failed to score a touchdown on its opening drive.
The Buckeyes were missing 22 players including WRs Chris Olave and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, LB Baron Browning and P Drue Chrisman. Assistant coaches Brian Hartline (receivers) and AL Washington (LBs) were also absent. For Northwestern, all-conference DB Greg Newsome left in the first half with an apparent injury.
True freshman receiver Julian Fleming, OSU’s No. 1 recruit from the Class of 2019, started and had three catches on the Buckeyes’ first drive. That matched his production for the entire season coming into the game.
OSU had trailed for just 5:05 the entire season (all early in the opener against Nebraska) coming into Saturday.
That Northwestern went 6-1 in the Big 10 shows how bad the Big 10 is. Ohio State trailing Northwestern until almost the end of the 3rd quarter shows again that Ohio State is a perennially over-ranked darling of the sports media. No objective observer can say Ohio State is the 4th best team in the country.
This is such a wacky year, IF they didn’t make it in who would be in their spot? A&M hasn’t been flashy in their wins to even make an argument to me, they have just won.
The main dilemma is do you pick a 2 loss champ who played 10 games OR a team that has played only 6 games and won a championship OR do you go with the team that played 10 games with 1 lop sided loss to the #1 team? I’m interested to see what the committee does but I think Ohio state gets in unfortunately.
I do think that’s about the worst anyone can say about the Aggies – they just won with old-school football line play. Frankly, I’m good with that because it’s light years ahead of where we were just 3 years ago. Getting the 3rd consecutive top-10 recruiting class is another building block that shows how far we’ve come. Keep getting better is all you can ask of a team.
Gig ’em!
I find it kinda funny that a bama fan would say that about the aggies. Would you possibly say that the aggies look like how bama used to look? I would say so, bama used to be boring as hell to watch until a few years ago when saben finally changed the offense up. Overall aggies had a great year and look dominant in the trenches.
Thanks and gig’em!
I think the chaos will be if somehow UF pulls the upset, while everyone else wins. Bama gets in no matter what happens today–the resume and performance is just too strong to ignore. Would the CFP drop out ND with only one loss in a champ game? Doubtful. Clem could potentially be out with a second loss, which, with a Bama win, could mean Aggies move through. If Clem wins, UF winning is the only way 2x SEC teams make it in.
You can still be a good team when you’re not flashy yet win the games. A&M wins with time of possession and run down the field. We don’t always put up big numbers but run down the clock while taking a lead during our each possession. It’s just different style of football.
They have just won. Isn’t that the objective of the game? All of A&Ms win have been fairly solid. OSU has 2 very ugly wins against the only 2 teams they played with winning records.
Tell your guys not to throw shoes.. Seriously-the Gators controlled their own destiny and got sloppy.
Yeah, you sound pretty objective. Northwestern would be more than competitive with all but 1 SEC team. Clue up. I hate OSU but the only team on the same page with them in the SEC is Alabama. OSU would walk over Tamu.
LMAO. Gator hater much? OSU played nobody all year and almost lost to the Vanderbilt of the Big 10.
OSU only played 6 games but are unfortunately in. But they have 2 wins over currently ranked teams. Florida only has 1.
Yeah, you sound pretty objective.
Justin Fields had 0 TD passes, 0 TD runs, and 2 INTs. He’ll be the clear Heisman favorite, at least based on Mac Jones jumping to the Heisman lead after last week’s limp 0 TD passes and 0 TD runs performance.
Did Trask have a sensational game against LSU Mr. stat man?
Career high yards … 2 TD passes … 2 TD runs … all 4 of Florida’s TDs … on man show … yes.
But Jones had better stats in the first half alone with 30 less attempts. Jones also won. Sensational in a half of a game you win. Sensational for a full game you lost. Sensational in a loss is nothing but stat padding.
What would be hilarious if the CFP changed the rules like the Big Ten and stated that only teams that have at least played 7 games can be in the final 4.
As an undefeated P5 conference champion, OSU is in. I would be shocked to see a change at this point.
I honestly don’t know what the committee would do if UF were to pull a miracle upset, but Clem beat ND. Bama feels like a guarantee pick. OSU is in with their champ win. Do you kick out a one-loss ND for the SEC champ? Tell the SEC champ no go, even though you’ve said all year the head to head matters? It becomes cray.
Note: I didn’t say UF will win, I was just toying around with hypothetical stuff
They looked pretty average, but due to TV they will get in and be destroyed again.
Sermon’s 331 yards should not be over looked. The Buckeyes dominated the second half. In spite of what we think of NW, they are one of the top defenses in the country. So like it it or not, it looks like A&M needs some chaos. Namely, ND beating Clemson.. That in itself may not be all that far fetched.
Aren’t you forgetting about one team? Hint: They play Alabama in 3 hours.
Gators ain’t getting in.. They won’t beat bama but even if the sun shined on a dog’s @$$ and somehow they pulled it out they still wouldn’t go..
Tamu needs to hope clempson keeps scoring and wind this game by 40.. I think they get in with that.. I called it all along Notre Dame won’t beat clempson again..
All the Notre Dame fans and players were talking about not getting any respect after beating Clemson. They beat a Clemson team that was depleted and now we see that Notre Dame is a joke.
“a strong Northwestern team” Yeah right!
A&M or Ohio ST, take your pick, both would get beat by Alabama or Clemson by at least 17 points. One is no better than the other.
One has played 9 games, A&M. One has played only 6 games, Ohio ST.
If Ohio ST played A&M’s schedule, they would have lost to Alabama just as badly, and likely to Florida as well.
Texas A&M should be ranked higher tomorrow night. They won’t, but they should be.
True. No matter who ends up there, they’ll get pounded just like any CFP games. Always lopsided.
“Ohio State’s explosive offense, starring Big Ten Player of the Year quarterback Justin Fields, made headlines all season.”
Since when are OSU homers writing for SDS? OSU played all of 5 regular season games, so how did they “make headlines all season”? And Justin fields sucked today. And OSU barely beat a bunch of engineers from Northwestern today. LMAO. They looked terrible and have NO business in the playoffs. But homers like you keep pushing them.
6 games merit nothing. They may be a good team but A&M played 10. Only those who played 10 games should qualify.
It is a crime that a team can play less than half of a season and get into the college football playoff. There are other teams out there who showed up and played a real schedule, not 6 creampuffs or cupcakes like oHio sTate.