Dwayne Haskins lit Brendon Watson and the rest of Michigan's secondary on fire with his right arm last Saturday throwing for 396 yards and six touchdowns in Ohio State's obliteration of Jim Harbaugh's soul.
The elite passing display was nothing new for Haskins. The redshirt sophomore, who picked up an unprecedented sixth B1G Player of the Week nod, has thrown for over 300 yards eight times – and over 400 yards four times – in 12 games.
The only real chink in Haskins' armor came as the NFL talent seemingly efforted to avoid big hits either by letting go of passes a hair early than needed to complete the play or in the run game by either sliding well before any possible contact or not fighting for tough yards in traffic.
As we touched on in last week's Mic Check, a funny thing happened to Dwayne's running style after Tate Martell came in for two different Buckeye possessions against Michigan State, taking Haskins' place at the controls of the offense.
Later in that game, Haskins fought his ass off for a third down conversion run that while called back due to a penalty gave the first real example of the quarterback running with a dogged determination to move the chains.
Haskins was even better against Maryland with career-highs in attempts (15) and yards (59) and Ohio State needed them all as the Buckeyes found themselves in a dogfight and without tailback Mike Weber forcing J.K. Dobbins into 37 carries of his own.
This past weekend, with Weber back, the offense didn't need Haskins to run as much but the kid brought the same intensity and then some into the game, picking up 34 crucial rushing yards on seven carries.
Haskins' improvement in leadership and toughness down the stretch was again the subject of reporters' questions as Meyer met with the assembled media Monday:
Q. You’ve talked a little bit lately about Dwayne and his development as a team leader. I was wondering, can you point to one point in the season, one play, one game, one period of time where you thought, okay, this guy’s going to be the leader that I want him to be?
COACH MEYER: One point, that would be hard, I think. The Maryland game was one that he dropped his pads and dropped some other things probably, too — probably shouldn’t say that. (Laughter) but he dropped his pads and at the toughest time in the game against, once again, a defense, a very good defense, and got that yard.
The job of a quarterback — and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve told him and I’ve told him — that the job of the quarterback is to get a first down, to move the chains.
Q. So that’s what it was about, more than anything, was being able to run the ball and get —
COACH MEYER: I think that’s a big part of it. That position is, as you’ve heard many times around here is arguably the most unique position in all of sport. What he’s asked to do — and coaches aren’t on the field, there’s ten other guys looking at him every snap. And you better give the right answer and they better trust and believe in him. And our guys certainly do.
Before the Maryland game, Haskins logged 41 attempts for just 34 yards and one touchdown.
Over the last two weeks, against the Terps and Michigan, Haskins carried it 22 times for 93 yards and three touchdowns. If you're scoring at home, that means 73% of his season rushing tally occurred over the last two weeks.
Against the Wolverines, Haskins picked up positive yardage on six of his seven carries with four of the seven going for at least seven yards. He set the tone on the first play of the game rushing for nine yards and six plays later he hit Chris Olave for a touchdown and a 7-0 Buckeye lead.
Early in the second quarter, Ohio State found itself off schedule facing 2nd-and-10 before Haskins peeled off an 8-yard run setting up a manageable 3rd-and-2. Haskins found Luke Farrell for a first down and six plays later he hooked up with Olave for another touchdown and a 14-6 OSU lead.
Both of those were important plays with the game still in doubt.
Haskins added an 11-yarder on 1st-and-10 with Ohio State up 16 in the fourth quarter paving the way for a Haskins-to-K.J. Hill touchdown toss sealing the win at 55-32 good guys with just under seven minutes left in regulation.
Again, 34 rushing yards in a game in which the Buckeyes offense racks up 567 total yards may not seem significant but Haskins' adjusted mindset on the run has undoubtedly been a factor in Ohio State's offense finding even more solid footing over the last two weeks.
Keeping that same mojo going Saturday against Northwestern will go a long way in determining if the Buckeyes can win impressively enough to earn a College Football Playoff berth depending on what other chaos does or doesn't happen.
