NATTY BOUND
A Jack Sawyer 83-yard strip-sack scoop-and-score secures Ohio State's 28-14 win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Ohio State has thrived off of a bend-don't-break style of defense all season, and in the closing stages of the Cotton Bowl against Texas, Jack Sawyer cemented that mentality with the biggest play of his life.
After a series of penalties gave the Longhorns the ball on the doorstep of the goal line with an opportunity to tie the game, the Silver Bullets on the Buckeye defense held strong to force Texas into a fourth-down situation. Sawyer went flying off the line of scrimmage after the snap barreling towards his former roommate Quinn Ewers, and what happened next will live on in the lore of Ohio State football forever.
JACK SAWYER SCOOP-AND-SCORE
— ESPN (@espn) January 11, 2025
Ohio State is one step closer to advancing to the national championship! pic.twitter.com/BPoV5FBRGZ
Kirk Herbstreit called the 83-yard strip-sack scoop-and-score touchdown return for Sawyer one of the three best plays he can remember in Buckeye football since the 1970s. It was the first turnover Jim Knowles' crew had managed to force during this season's College Football Playoff despite three stellar efforts from the defense against Tennessee, Oregon and now Texas.
Another angle of Jack Sawyer's scoop-and-score touchdown
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) January 11, 2025
( Instagram/timjanderson) pic.twitter.com/XDdl4rx0hb
It also proved to be the clinching score in the CFP semifinal. Ohio State would win by a final score of 28-14 to advance to the National Championship against Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame.
