C.J. Stroud, J.T. Barrett, Dwayne Haskins, Evan Spencer and Justin Fields were responsible for Ohio State's five best throws of the past decade.
Ohio State entered the 2018 Big Ten title game in an odd spot. The Buckeyes were ranked sixth in the country, and likely needed a blowout reminiscent of their infamous 59-0 destruction of Wisconsin four years prior to have any chance of sneaking into the playoff. At the same time, they didn't want to get ahead of themselves; Northwestern had ranked wins over Michigan State and Wisconsin, and also pushed No. 14 Michigan to the brink.
The Wildcats make things interesting in the second half, but Haskins proves to be too much. He finishes with 499 yards and five touchdowns in the second leg of arguably the greatest three-game stretch that any Buckeye quarterback has ever played. The Buckeyes had already put a slightly different variation of the play on tape for Nick Saban and company to study. Herman tries it on the road against Michigan State, and the Spartans don't bite hard enough. Evan Spencer decides to tuck it and pick up positive yardage with his legs.
Turning to trickery in such a critical moment could have backfired on Ohio State in so many different ways. After the touchdown is confirmed by replay, Holly Rowe explains why it didn't feel all that risky: Evan Spencer had already earned our unconditional trust. For four years, we watched the Illinois native decleat defenders in the run game, bring the energy on special teams, and serve as the ultimate leader and competitor.
While Fields' collegiate career looks borderline unassailable in hindsight, there were legitimate concerns about his play heading into this Clemson rematch. He had looked totally lost in the Big Ten championship game against Northwestern, and picked up a thumb injury in the second half. In Ohio State's only other top-15 matchup of the shortened season, he made some alarming decisions and the Buckeyes almost blew a 35-7 lead to Indiana.
Clemson capitalized on his only turnover of the evening to slash the deficit and were in search of another stop to fully put the heat on Ohio State. Fields had other plans.
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