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Inside the Scoop-and-Score: Buckeyes Relive Jack Sawyer’s Cotton Bowl Heroics in an Excerpt from Buckeye Brotherhood by Bill Rabinowitz
Jack Sawyer’s scoop-and-score sent Ohio State to the national title game. In this excerpt from Bill Rabinowitz’s Buckeye Brotherhood, the Buckeyes reflect on the legendary play.
Inside the Scoop-and-Score: Buckeyes Relive Jack Sawyer’s Cotton Bowl Heroics in an Excerpt from Buckeye Brotherhood by Bill Rabinowitz
Friend of the site Bill Rabinowitz has a new book out — Buckeye Brotherhood: How Ohio State Navigated a New World to Win a National Championship — a definitive, behind-the-scenes look at Ohio State’s 2024 title run.
We’re thrilled to share an exclusive excerpt of Chapter 26, “Scoop and Sawyer,” which dives into the moment that helped send the Buckeyes to the national championship: Jack Sawyer’s unforgettable fumble return against Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Rabinowitz, who also authored The Chase and covers Ohio State at Bill on the Buckeyes, once again brings unmatched reporting and insight to one of the most memorable seasons in program history.
Jack Sawyer said the play call was “Florida.” Jim Knowles said it was “Disney.”
The play on fourth-and-goal from the 8 called for a linebacker to serve as a spy to protect against Ewers scrambling. That meant Sawyer was free to rush without worrying about anything but getting to the quarterback. Cody Simon was the spy. He stepped toward the line of scrimmage across from the Texas right guard. That prevented the guard from double-teaming Sawyer with right tackle Cameron Williams.
“I’m thinking I’m going to get off the ball as fast as I can and see where the tackle is at by my second step,” Sawyer said. “If he’s slow off the ball, I’m going to try to continue outside. If he jumps quick, I’m going to go inside because we’ve got the freedom to do so in this defense.”
Williams, who missed the CFP quarterfinals with a sprained knee, was slow out of his stance, so Sawyer went to the outside. He swiped at Williams’ hands, causing Williams to lose his balance and lunge forward. Sawyer had a clear path to Ewers, who never saw him coming. Sawyer hit the quarterback, jarring the ball free.
“It’s funny when you’re playing,” Sawyer said, “and you have these subconscious thoughts constantly. In this moment, I’m thinking, ‘Man, I hope his arm wasn’t going forward so it’s incomplete, but I’m going to pick it up and run.’ I’m just trying to locate the ball.”
The ball floated to the turf and serendipitously bounced right back to Sawyer at the 17-yard line. He took off running down the Ohio State sideline, with Ryan Day and others sprinting along gleefully. Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner reacted quickly and was only five yards behind Sawyer when he picked up the ball. But Sonny Styles, gifted both physically and mentally, made an overlooked play. Styles had been covering Wisner and was four yards behind him when Sawyer scooped up the ball. But Styles sprinted past Wisner, got in front of him, and then slowed down to serve as a shield.
“I’d say I’m a pretty fast dude, but there’s a little bit of an urgency when those plays happen,” Styles said. “It’s like when someone breaks a tackle and hits another gear. That was almost like one of those, where you just hit another gear and find a way to make it happen.”
Styles said all of OSU’s players, defensive as well as offensive, are coached to simply get in the way of a potential tackler in that situation rather than risk being flagged for a crackback block.
“It’s just cutting someone off,” Styles said. “The whole point is to show the ref, ‘Hey, I’m not blindside blocking him. I’m not holding him.’ It’s really just trying to avoid a penalty. The guy trying to tackle him is not in a position to make a play, so there’s no need to block him. You’ve just got to get in his way, so he doesn’t catch him.”
Williams was the only other pursuer, and he wasn’t going to catch Sawyer, who by then had a convoy of Simon, J.T. Tuimoloau, and Jordan Hancock as well as Styles as he ran 83 yards through the heart of Texas to the end zone.
As Sawyer ran, he had a flashback of Will Howard and the stumble he had on the fourth-down conversion. “I was thinking, ‘Don’t fall, don’t get caught from behind, and if I do get caught, tuck that ball up and don’t give it back,” he said.
“I was telling myself the whole way that someone’s coming to knock it out. Someone is going to try to punch this ball out. As I’m looking, I see coach Hartline pointing. My favorite memory as a Buckeye, besides winning the national championship, is when I look back and all I see is Cody, J.T., Jordan, and Sonny all running with their hands up. It was a feeling I’m never going to forget.”
When he scored, an exhausted Sawyer dropped the ball to the ground. He had no memory of what he did with the ball. “At that point, it was such a blur,” Sawyer said. “It was a blackout moment.”
He got to the sideline and all he wanted was something to drink. “I got as much water as I could,” Sawyer said.
He barely had time to drink it. Larry Johnson gave him a big hug and sprayed him with water. The play and the adrenaline from it wiped Sawyer out. “I’ve never felt my heart beat that fast or be so out of breath as I was after that play,” he said.
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Just sayin': Apparently Bill Rabinowitz wrote other Ohio State football books too:
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