LOS ANGELES — Will Howard sat, helmeted head in his hands, having slid to a stop at Oregon’s 26-yard line. What was supposed to be a heroic scramble by Ohio State’s quarterback to set up a possible game-winning field goal 2 ½ months ago on the road was, in fact, a disaster that has lingered.
As an Autzen Stadium field storming enveloped him and the rest of the Buckeyes, Howard had one of those “What have I just done?” looks on his face.
Actually, it was not what he had done. It was what he didn’t do. Howard used all six seconds remaining with his desperation scramble. The Buckeyes left the field with a remaining timeout in their hip pocket and their first loss of the season, 32-31, that to this point has defined each program’s season.
The quarterback who couldn’t sit down in time still can’t let go of that moment.
“I still have nightmares about that play,” Howard said in the lead-up to Wednesday’s Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal rematch against the Ducks. “I still run it over in my head. ‘What could I have done better?'”
In this new win-or-go-home expanded playoff, it’s actually all about what you can do next. Everything is about looking forward. But for Howard — and for some of his Buckeyes teammates — the loss has become somewhat of an examination of their football souls.
They’re still in the process of processing that loss.
What could everyone in Scarlet and Gray have done better in the game that changed the Big Ten and the season? The result, eventually, was the difference in Oregon winning the league in its first Big Ten season. It was also the closest challenge the Ducks have gotten to their undefeated season and what is now the No. 1 seed in the CFP.
The seamless transition from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten in Oregon’s first season has left the No. 8 seed Buckeyes reconsidering themselves.
“I knew we were going to get another crack at these guys,” Howard said. “It’s hard to beat a team twice. We’re hungry. I’m just so fired up God gave us a chance at this thing.
“In life, you don’t get a lot of second chances.”
Actually, it has been a season of second chances — maybe even third and fourth chances — for Howard and Ohio State. The Buckeyes find themselves still playing for a national championship despite a regular-season second loss, this of the mind-boggling variety to Michigan.
Being alive at this stage would have never been the case in the old four-team structure. Maybe that figures into the Buckeye mentality in L.A. In a way, they can’t believe they’re here.
Prior to Howard’s spatial unawareness, Oregon coach Dan Lanning had already schooled the Ohio State staff. Never mind devising a scheme in which quarterback Dillon Gabriel wasn’t sacked (for the third game in a row), the Buckeyes couldn’t protect four different leads.
Lanning may have clinched the win by intentionally running a 12th man onto the field to draw a penalty and bleed the clock down to those precious six seconds. The NCAA changed its rule to address that loophole days later.
But Howard admitted to beating himself up over the Oregon shortcoming, perhaps too much. After the team arrived back from Oregon at 6 a.m. Howard said he sat alone in the indoor facility contemplating life for about an hour.
“I’m hyper-critical of myself. We all are here,” Howard said. “I don’t think anyone this year beat us. We beat ourselves every time.”
That’s one way of looking at it.
Ohio State cornerback Denzel Burke had his own take while dutifully answering questions from reporters at Monday’s media day. He had his own issues in the first game against the Ducks. There were seven targets at Burke … and seven completions to Oregon receivers for 162 yards.
You’d think this would add some humility to the player who proclaimed before the season it was “natty or bust” for the Buckeyes.
Against Oregon, Burke certainly busted.
“You’re definitely going to think about it for the next couple of days,” Burke said. “There was a lingering feeling the next week … I have amnesia.”
Howard might not have been in that desperate position had not freshman sensation Jeremiah Smith been flagged for offensive pass interference on the second-to-last play of the game.
“I think about that call probably every day,” Smith said.
Ohio State would settle for “Good Will Howard,” the quarterback who is tied with Gabriel for being the nation’s second-most accurate passer, both at 73.2%. Only five other players have averaged more yards per pass. Bad Will Howard threw a crippling pick six and fumbled against Penn State. The Buckeyes still won a grinder, 20-13.
The Buckeyes might have played their best game of the season in the first-round blowout of Tennessee. Against the Vols, “Good Will Howard” completed 24 of 29 for 311 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“Carrying that kind of pissed mentality,” the quarterback said.
There are other second chances. Oregon safety Kobe Savage and Howard were once teammates at Kansas State before both transferred. Howard left because he saw the future emergence of freshman Avery Johnson.
“He figured it out quicker than I did that he was going to Oregon,” Howard said of Savage. “We figured it out, ‘Hey we’re going to play each other.’ “
Savage then happened to be on the field when Howard made his fateful decision to scramble.
“I knew what he was seeing, ” Savage said. “He was seeing Cover 2 man, split safety. The middle of field was wide open, but I guess he got a little too greedy with it.”
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, the former Oregon coach, inherited Howard after being hired in February.
“That’s on me,” Kelly said. “We didn’t talk about him taking off and running. We talked about his options where the ball would end up.”
Howard maintains he got down in time. If there was a review from the replay booth, it got lost like the Ducks themselves in the field stormings.
“There were things that have come up this year that we didn’t prepare for, for sure.” said Ohio State coach Ryan Day, who is bathing in a bit of redemption himself — starting with the fact he still has a job.
Second chances? Because of injuries, Ohio State will be playing with its seventh different lineup along the offensive line. Offensive guard-turned-tackle Donovan Jackson compared it to blocking a sprinter instead of a road grader.
“Guard and tackle is a night and day difference. At guard, you go against guys who are 330, 340,” Jackson said. “At tackle, you go against guys [defensive ends] who are 250, 240 who can run a 4.3.”
Part of that reshuffling was cycling around the media with his injured left leg in a boot propped up on a scooter. Center Seth McLaughlin ruptured his Achilles 10 days before the Michigan game.
Despite the injury, McLaughlin won the Rimington Award as the nation’s best center. Talk about second chances. There were outcries from the always-sane Alabama fans about snap consistency upon his transfer from the Crimson Tide last season. In fact, McLaughlin needed a police escort to get back to his Tuscaloosa residence after the Rose Bowl semifinal loss to Michigan.
No hard feelings today. McLaughlin was caught on TV celebrating the Tennessee win by smoking a cigar in the final moments the sidelines. That was a throwback to the Tennessee-Alabama that is marked by the victors lighting up a stogie.
“I asked the guy, ‘What’s the best 20 bucks can get me?'” McLaughlin said of his purchase at a High Street drug store.
He was almost late for a team meeting because of it.
The game being a rematch itself gives Ohio State another chance to get it right. Since 2004, there have been only three postseason rematches in major bowl games.
Win at Oregon, and Ohio State likely wins the Big Ten instead of the Ducks. Win at Oregon, and the Buckeyes get that first-round bye. Win at Oregon, and Ohio State still isn’t questioning itself.
“I don’t think anybody imagined it, us losing,” Ohio State defensive end JT Tuimoloau said. “I didn’t, for sure. After that, it kind of hit deep. There was a lot of ball left to be played. You can let it sting for a little bit. If you let it carry over too long … there goes your whole season.”
The team that couldn’t shake a bitter one-point loss in October is now a two-point favorite on New Year’s Day when it matters.
“Shit happens during the season,” linebacker Jack Sawyer surmised. “We’re here at the playoffs now.”
