You can probably hear the trailer already with its piano keys and deep-voiced narrator.
What if I told you…
Justin Fields wants Ohio State to fill in the rest of the sentence this fall.
If all goes as planned throughout the next few months, the star quarterback feels as though this team should have an ESPN-made documentary to remember the 2020 season. He’s already had a first-hand look at the Buckeyes’ uncertainty surrounding the season in the summer, along with his team’s fight to get on the field. So, should they achieve their goal and capture their first national championship since the 2014 season, he believes the year needs to get remembered a certain way.
“If we end this season like we want to, I think we should definitely have a “30 for 30” for sure,” Fields said on Friday. “Because at first, we weren't supposed to have the opportunity to play, but we just fought so hard to get it back and we're just all so excited for the opportunity. I definitely think it's going to go down in the history books. We're just hoping that we have a great season and get to be out there on the field.”
The on-field goals remain hanging in the balance. Ohio State wants to run the table in the regular season, beat Michigan, capture the Big Ten title, earn a College Football Playoff bid and win the national championship.
If Ohio State can do all of those things after the offseason it’s gone through, Fields thinks a 30 for 30 is possible.
He, of course, played a front-facing role as a Heisman Trophy finalist battling to get the Big Ten to play its season in the fall. Fields appeared on Good Morning America, made his points on his social media platforms and created an online petition that garnered more than 300,000 signatures.
“I definitely think it had an effect,” Fields said. “I don't think it was the only thing that had an effect on it, of course, but I do think it was part of it. If it didn't end up having an effect, I don't really care because at the end of the day we all got what we wanted and that was the opportunity to play. I was really just trying to do whatever I could to get this season back, not only for me but my teammates, coaches and players because I know how bad we wanted to play and I know how hard we worked in the offseason.
“Just seeing the passion throughout the facility and the fight that we've all had through this tough time, it was really just encouraging when the Big Ten allowed us to play this year.”
A number of college football 30-for-30 documentaries have been made since they started getting created in 2009, including those that chronicle the 1980s Miami Hurricanes, SMU’s “death penalty,” USC’s rise and fall under Pete Carroll and Colorado’s Bill McCartney-led teams. The only Ohio State-centric 30-for-30 documentary was “Youngstown Boys,” which followed the stories of Jim Tressel and Maurice Clarett.
It’s far too soon to know whether this Ohio State season will end in a way that makes the series interested in its campaign. Fields, though, sees it as feasible.
“All the things, our efforts and just trying to get the season back, I think it's definitely going to go down in the history books for the way we fought back,” Fields said.
And maybe, just maybe, it’ll end up memorialized with a documentary if this fall goes as Fields hopes.
