Three red faces reproach the mind when pondering on the Jack Sawyer scoop-and-score that Hollywood screenwriters would be laughed out of a room for pitching.
The cinematic conclusion to the chief storyline of Sawyer and his 2021 recruiting class should have been his on Nov. 30. In a 10-10 game in the fourth quarter against Michigan, with the Wolverines in a goal-to-go situation, the defensive end made what should have been a game-saving interception.
Instead, his offense went three-and-out for what felt like the 50th time that game, the Wolverines waltzed downfield for a field goal and won 13-10. After they planted a flag at midfield, Sawyer ripped it from its pole, then yelled red-faced at the Wolverines filled with pain in his heart as a Pickerington, Ohio native and lifelong Buckeye realizing he’d gone winless for his career against the team he’d been bred to hate.
Revisiting the melancholy of that moment is only to bring into focus the jubilation of Sawyer’s next two red faces. Strife makes elation that much sweeter.
His second rouge complexion came as he huffed and puffed and chugged down the field, stamping his name permanently in the minds of every Buckeye fan watching with each step as he ran a ball he stripped from Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers back 83 yards to the house to stick a dagger in the Longhorns with 2:13 to play in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
“I hit about the 30 (yard-line), I looked back, I’m like, ‘I hope I get some blockers, I’m running out of steam here,’” Sawyer said with a laugh after the game. “They were running with me side-by-side. That speaks volumes to who this team is too, you know. We always have each other’s back. It was a special moment.”
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
The final red face came as he embraced Ryan Day, the coach he committed to just a month after he was hired and almost two years before the five-star Sawyer signed his National Letter of Intent, on the sideline as the seconds ticked away on Ohio State’s Cotton Bowl victory.
For all his red faces, Sawyer will be remembered as a consummate wearer of Scarlet and Gray – especially if Ohio State defeats Notre Dame to win a national title on Jan. 20.
This moment between Ryan Day and Jack Sawyer pic.twitter.com/tedn2lArIL
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) January 11, 2025
Speaking of red things, Sawyer’s been the very lifeblood of Ohio State’s 2024 football team. In about the thousandth bit of full-circle symbolism one can express about his fumble return for a touchdown, it was in the very same stadium the Buckeyes played Friday that Sawyer first hinted at his intention to bring back his fellow rising seniors from the recruiting class of 2021 for one last run.
Ohio State had just lost to Missouri 13-3 in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29, 2023, in another game where the offense let the defense down, but Sawyer all but revealed his intention to come back and was already talking of a campaign for others to join him. In the offseason, he spearheaded the retention of eight classmates with NFL draft stock.
“It’s almost poetic, man,” left guard-turned-left tackle Donovan Jackson, one of those classmates, said after Friday’s game. “He played a key role getting a lot of guys back. Shit, he called me every day, like three times a day to get me to come back. Seeing him do that, it’s just a testament to his hard work and (him as) a leader.”
After exploding on the scene in the second half of 2023 with a run of elite play, Sawyer has once again been Mr. November, December and now January for Ohio State. He’s racked up six sacks in his last five games. He earned Cotton Bowl Defensive Player of the Game honors by adding three tackles and two pass breakups to his scoop-and-score, giving him an unbelievable seven PBUs – as a defensive lineman – in three CFP games.
“The guy over there, I don't know if there's – I mean, sure, we can argue about it, I'm sure, who loves being a Buckeye more," Ryan Day said. "But this is somebody who grew up in Columbus, who has always wanted to be a Buckeye, who has always waited for a moment like this. So to see him get the moment that he had today, I mean, he's become like family to me. He has, to me and my wife and my kids.”
Not only was Sawyer Day's first commit as a head coach, he's gone to bat for the Buckeyes' head man on numerous occasions, saying he'd commit to Day "100 times over" and calling him "the best coach in college football by far."
Of course, it took some help from teammates to set up Sawyer’s 83-yard run through the heart of the Lone Star State. Two penalties on the Ohio State secondary set Texas up with a 1st-and-goal at the 1-yard line. The Longhorns tried to plunge up the middle to tie the game at 21 in the waning moments, but were stuffed at the line of scrimmage by JT Tuimoloau.
Texas tried a toss play on 2nd-and-goal, but safety Caleb Downs diagnosed it in a heartbeat and shot through the B-gap like a cannonball to derail running back Quintrevion Wisner in the backfield before fellow safety Lathan Ransom cleaned up the rusher for a 7-yard loss. A 3rd-and-goal incompletion with quick pressure from Sawyer and tight coverage from cornerback Davison Igbinosun followed. Ohio State’s defenders have often been quoted as saying “Give us an inch of grass, we’ll defend it,” and they lived up to that mantra.
“I think it just comes down to family,” defensive tackle Ty Hamilton said. “Every time we step on the field, we've got 11 guys playing as one. Like I said, being able to go out there and play as one and play as hard as we can. We know that. We look to the guy next to us and they're playing as hard as we are.”
But the climax of that goal-line stand came on a clinical pass rush by Sawyer, who clubbed the shoulder of Texas right tackle Cameron Williams and ripped through to knock the ball out of Ewers’ hands, pick it up and race uncontested all 83 yards the other way. A convoy of Sonny Styles, Cody Simon, Tuimoloau and Jordan Hancock cut off any threat to chase Sawyer down. Sawyer roomed with Ewers when they were freshmen, by the way, just to throw another bit of unbelievability onto this tale. Ewers transferred to Texas after that 2021 season.
“I'm proud of him, dog,” Tuimoloau said of Sawyer. “Just to be able to see what he's been through, and us growing up together for four years. And just, I mean, shoot, just seeing him get Defensive Player of the Game, man, I'm proud of him. That's my brother, and when I see him win, I'm just excited for him ‘cause I know the work he's put in.”
Another angle of Jack Sawyer's scoop-and-score touchdown
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) January 11, 2025
( Instagram/timjanderson) pic.twitter.com/XDdl4rx0hb
There’s not a player on Ohio State’s roster it could have been more fitting for to have such a play that will live on in Buckeye lore for decades. But the luster will dim some if OSU can’t finish the job in the CFP national championship game against Notre Dame.
Hopefully, Sawyer will get a jubilant red face once more.
“I'm just so thankful to be able to play for this coach and this team each and every week,” Sawyer said. “We get 10 more days with each other, and that's what means the most to me, is we're going and competing for a national championship now, which is something I've always dreamed of bringing back to Columbus since I was a little kid throwing the football in the backyard with my dad with an Ohio State jersey on. I'm just really looking forward to that. And I was fortunate enough to make a big-time play, like a lot of guys did and like this guy (Will Howard) did all night long.”
