Wisconsin Notebook: Discussing Ohio State's Walk-Off Sack, the J.T. Barrett–Noah Brown Connection and Halftime Adjustments

When the pocket around Wisconsin quarterback Alex Hornibrook collapsed and he was swallowed up by three Ohio State defensive linemen, Urban Meyer stood on the sidelines with no idea what happened behind him.

"I didn't see it," the Buckeyes' head coach said. "We were scripting for the next [offensive] set."

"I almost got ran over on the sideline."

Redshirt junior Tyquan Lewis was credited with the game-clinching sack as Ohio State stopped Wisconsin on a 4th-and-goal with the game on the line in overtime Saturday night. It was the Buckeyes' fourth sack in the game.

Like Meyer, Lewis said he wasn't even sure what happened on the final play. Unlike Meyer, he was right in the middle of it.

"I remember closing the pocket and I remember talking to my guys before the play — Jalyn, Nick, Sam — and we kind of knew it was going to be a pass beacuse it was fourth down, all or nothing," Lewis said. "When we got there, I saw a blur of the ball and I was like, 'Oh, it's done.' I don't even know."

Ohio State fans certainly remember Joey Bosa's walk-off sack at Penn State back in 2014. This one was a lot like that.

Halftime Adjustments

There's no way to sugarcoat it: Ohio State's defense was getting shredded by Wisconsin's offense in the first half. The Badgers entered Saturday night with the 11th-ranked offense in the Big Ten, averaging 360.2 yards per game, and nearly had that number by halftime. 

Wisconsin led 16-6 at halftime and had racked up 313 yards of offense. The Badgers were gashing the Buckeyes on the ground up the middle and were also finding success around the edge thanks to an overwhelming number of jet sweeps. 

Things changed in the second half, though, as Ohio State ramped up its defense. The Buckeyes limited Wisconsin to just 137 total yards and it had only had 11 in the third quarter. 

That, in large part, was due to some changes Ohio State made at halftime. 

"It's my job I guess to be upset and I was ready to tear into people, but I looked and saw a bunch of professionals," head coach Urban Meyer said. "A defense who gave up 300 yards in the first half and someone said 33 or something in the third quarter." 

"I just saw a bunch of professionals going about their business. Coaches were working and that's what everyone gets paid to do. They did a good job. Very proud of the nine coaches."

Barrett to Brown

With Ohio State facing a 3rd-and-2 from the Wisconsin 7-yard line, the game on the line in overtime, J.T. Barrett received the snap from Pat Elflein and looked to his right. 

Rather than run it, though — when everybody in the stadium was expecting a run — Barrett fired a bullet toward the corner of the end zone in the direction of Noah Brown. The ball was thrown perfectly to Brown's back shoulder and the redshirt sophomore adjusted as the ball was in flight and snagged it for the go-ahead touchdown.

It was Brown's fourth catch of the evening. He finished with 48 receiving yards and that game-winning touchdown. 

But it also signified the strength in the relationship between this quarterback and this receiver. Brown had been almost absent in Ohio State's last two games after his four-touchdown performance at Oklahoma, but again, in a big-time game and in a big-time moment, Barrett looked for his No. 1 target.

"I think that's something that we worked on countless times in the summer," Barrett said. "I just put it up there to his back shoulder and he did a great job adjusting, made the play."

Added Brown: "J.T. just put a great ball out there. We decided to go with the fade, he put it back shoulder and I had to go get it."