Note, I did not say that Howard lost the game. However, he also did not win the game. For example: Joe Germaine in the 1997 Rose Bowl; Craig Krenzel with Holy Buckeye! and 4th-and-14; Troy Smith versus scUM (especially 2005); Braxton Miller to Devin Smith to beat Wisconsin in 2011; JT Barrett's 4th quarter heroics against Penn State in 2017; ditto for Dwayne Haskins in 2018; even the much-maligned Kyle McCord led an improbable game-winning drive against Notre Dame last season. I could name others, but you get the point.
Yes, the defense stunk, the special teams made a costly mistake, and coaching staff had issues with play calling and time management. But despite all that, the Buckeye offense had the ball down one at their own 25-yard line with 1:47 left on the clock, and Will Howard had the chance to make a statement. What did he do? First play of the drive he takes a sack which cost the Buckeyes a very valuable 9 yards and an even more valuable 26 seconds – the chance of scoring now becomes much more difficult. Howard battles back and gets the team into field goal range with 32 seconds left. At this point, Ohio State should win the game, but an unfortunate penalty and some clock shenanigans set Ohio State back to the Oregon 38-yard line with just 6 seconds to go – not Howard's fault, but wouldn't those lost 9 yards and 26 seconds look pretty good right now? With the game on the line, Howard now has only two options – a short pass and a time out to set up the potential game winning field goal, or try for Holy Buckeye 2.0. Of course he does neither and instead takes off running as soon as he feels the pressure, a move which runs out the clock and "loses" the game.
And lets not forget.... 3:37 left in the 3rd quarter and the Buckeye defense finally does its job and stops Oregon on 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line to preserve a 28-22 lead. Ohio State has all the momentum and another score might put the game away. The Buckeye offense methodically moves out to the Oregon 27-yard line where there now face 3rd-and-3. No third down is ever easy but this one is very makable. What does Howard do? He fumbles the snap, loses 10 yards, drive killed, momentum gone.
Did Will Howard lose the game? No. But he did not play like a champion in crunch time and that certainly contributed to the loss.
