How We Choose to Remember

During the stretch between Krenzel's triumph in the BCS era and Howard delivering the Buckeyes the first College Football Playoff title under a 12-team format, seven of the top-10 passing touchdown leaders in Buckeye football history emerged. Six of the program's single-season leaders in passing yards delivered eight of the 10 best performances in that category since the last time OSU won a first edition of the CFP.

J.T. Barrett's 2,834 passing yards across only 12 games in 2014 remains the 10th-most prolific total for an Ohio State quarterback over a decade later, and made him a Heisman candidate. But that effort from Barrett largely falls by the wayside when reflecting on the success of that season.

The fond memories mostly reside within 85 Yards Through the Heart of the South and a guy that entered the campaign as the third-string QB that has since become probably the most unlikely person in the history of social media to earn a million-and-a-half followers. The hero under center during the 2014-15 CFP ultimately found himself benched in favor of Barrett eight games into the following season.

Barrett never relinquished his starting spot again and went on to break Drew Brees' record as the Big Ten's all-time leader in total offensive yards. Yet, despite having the same National Championship on his resume of achievements as Jones, Barrett's own legacy mostly resides in results of games that tarnished the fates of several great teams under Urban Meyer. He threw for 46 yards against Michigan State in 2015, suffered a shutout against Clemson during the 2016 CFP and then tossed a career-worst four interceptions at Iowa the following year in his final season.

Many folks have long referred to the NFL as a "what have you done for me lately" league, and the same can be said about one of the professional's game premier feeder programs at the moment. At a school that sets championship goals for itself every season, critics and fans alike become fixated on what went wrong when the final results fail to deliver on expectations. Appreciating any other success along the way often becomes an afterthought, until the memories of triumph along the journey fade entirely from view.

Among those aforementioned single-season leaders in passing yards, Howard now sits third all-time. The former four-year man at Kansas State no doubt earned his spot on that list, but also played in an unprecedented 16-game season for the Buckeyes. He could have potentially made a 17th start had OSU earned a spot in the Big Ten Championship.

What could C.J. Stroud have done with that many appearances? How about Justin Fields? Troy Smith? Braxton Miller? Terrelle Pryor?

The late Dwayne Haskins?

Almost three years removed from the tragedy itself, Haskins' death remains a profoundly unique moment of pain within the Buckeye football program and the culture of the sport in general. In a perfect world, the man that declared he wanted to be an Ohio State quarterback nine years before he made his first start in Columbus would have witnessed his alma mater secure the program's ninth national championship this past Monday.

The legacy of Simba would have played out as watching his pride reclaim the throne.

Instead, a narrative began to take shape that the death of Haskins largely reflected the immaturity and proneness to mistakes that had kept him from hitting his stride as a professional football player. One-third of the opening dozen words tweeted from the story's breaking reporter — a Michigan Man — stated Haskins was "struggling to catch on."

At the time, many facts needed to continue emerging from the circumstances surrounding the event. Another year later, Haskins' estate received an undisclosed settlement from the driver, owner and broker of the dump truck that struck and killed him as he attempted to cross the interstate. Although no party ultimately ever filed criminal charges, the suit also made several allegations against other would-be defendants in what the estate described as a "blackmail and robbery conspiracy" against Haskins.

Among the variety of frustrations within this tragedy remains the cold reality that those that loved him will never have the full truth of how he found himself in the circumstances that led to his untimely death. The bizarre and sudden nature of the event generated enough controversy that it continues to frequently take precedence in reflecting on Haskins over his accomplishments in school.

Brilliant players do not deserve this sort of reminiscence. So many Buckeyes deserve so much better.

The 2018 season exists as a great example of why the College Football Playoff needed to expand its format. Despite the fact that Ohio State upset a top-five Michigan team to the tune of a 62-39 evisceration and won a Big Ten championship the following week, the Buckeyes finished sixth in the final CFP rankings behind a Georgia team that lost twice as many games. Haskins had eight games to that point in which he threw for over 400 yards or at least five touchdowns, but none of it mattered when OSU ultimately missed the CFP.

It was a tough year to have a one-off evening given the top-four seeds featured three schools with undefeated records. Oklahoma earned the final spot after avenging its only loss to Texas months prior, and the selection committee probably felt compelled to ensure Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray had an opportunity to compete in the Playoff.

But the added slight of finishing behind Georgia in the eyes of the committee only intensified the scrutiny of the Buckeyes' lone loss earlier in that campaign against Purdue. At the time, the result also yielded the most prolific passing yards total in Ohio State history because Haskins spent the entire evening playing from behind.

That remained true for a month-and-a-half until Simba threw for one yard shy of 500 in the conference title game. Which of those performances lives rent-free in your head?

Anybody that watched that season will tell you the defense shoulders the blame for every inexplicable shootout the Buckeyes found themselves in. However, Ohio State also only scored three points on the five possessions of consequence in the first half against Purdue and failed to get into the end zone before the final 10 minutes of the evening. Although it was effectively a garbage-time play, Haskins' pick-six with roughly two minutes left in the game to give the opponent a four-score lead routinely receives replay whenever the Boilermakers or ESPN look back fondly on that night.

Defensive scrutiny continued to define that season when OSU allowed Anthony McFarland Jr. to rush for nearly 300 yards in what nearly evolved into an overtime upset at the hands of Maryland. It was a performance used to discredit the overall team and its CFP bid, overshadowing one of the best games of Haskins’ career. Simba paid tribute to his predecessor Barrett that day by rushing for three touchdowns to match the trio he also had through the air.

Even after delivering a Rose Bowl win to end the schedule on a high note, the failure for one of the most spectacular offenses in OSU history to even have a chance to contend for the national title made the season feel like a letdown. Subsequently, Haskins departed from Columbus with an aura of "what could have been" despite shattering single-season passing records within his school and conference alike.

Enter Justin Fields.

The legacy of the first and arguably greatest acquisition the Buckeyes have made in the transfer portal era sits in a much more positive position than the other quarterbacks of late that failed to deliver on national championship expectations. He never lost a regular season game at Ohio State and followed-up Haskins' glassing of the Wolverines with a similar razing of Ann Arbor a year later. Fields re-entering The Game after a brief injury scare to throw a 30-yard touchdown pass immediately after re-taking the field remains the most recent positive memory Buckeye fans have of the rivalry. He was in fact so good that Jim Harbaugh called in sick for the rematch.

Conversely, Fields' first game against Clemson in which he threw two interceptions largely finds itself excused due to one of the most infamous overturns of an on-field ruling in college football history and subsequent redemption in the next Playoff. But it's also easy to forget prior to prevailing against the Tigers that scrutiny around him had intensified during the COVID campaign after Michael Penix Jr. out-dueled Fields against Indiana. A short time later, he played arguably the worst game of his Ohio State career against Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship. He thankfully found himself bailed out by performances from Master Teague III and Trey Sermon in each respective case.

The enduring memory of the national title game from that season will always remain Tuf Borland haphazardly pursuing a Heisman-winning wide receiver in man coverage. But many Buckeye fans forget that game found itself knotted at 14 points apiece early in the second quarter before Alabama ultimately went on a 38-10 run to end the evening. Fields did what he could to make the game competitive, but too many three-and-outs doomed Ohio State from keeping pace given what was unfolding on the other side of the ball.

Fields remains the only member of OSU's top 10 career leaders in total offensive yards that played merely two seasons at the school. However, his impact as an all-time Buckeye exists with some level of underappreciation because each of his years ended in CFP losses.

Now, despite setting several franchise records with his running ability as the Chicago Bears' quarterback, the common football fan has painted him as an inaccurate turnover machine that owes his collegiate success to the 10th, 11th and 12th picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. This has happened despite the fact that he nearly won as many games this past season as his successor in only a third of as many starts that he received for the Pittsburgh Steelers prior to an unwarranted benching in favor of Ciara's husband.

The "what might have been" mentality claims yet another victim. Surely this won't keep happening, right?

The man with the most prolific passing performance in Ohio State history — one which took shape in a Rose Bowl — often finds himself remembered for failing to beat Michigan twice and coming up short in the College Football Playoff.

When the Buckeyes put a beatdown on Oregon in their rematch with the Ducks a few weeks ago, the effort immediately found itself as the frontrunner for the best first half of football Ohio State has played in the last decade. It's remarkably easy to forget Stroud threw for 393 yards and completed six touchdown passes to four different receivers in the opening 30 minutes against a No. 7 Michigan State team at the time in 2021. He missed only two of his 31 throws during that stretch.

Stroud finished that season with half of all the top 10 single-game highs in passing yards across Buckeye football history. Haskins owns four of the others.

In his four losses across two seasons, Stroud averaged nearly 394 yards passing and threw 11 touchdowns against only three interceptions. But his legacy somehow suffers because his teams couldn't overcome their rival, he never appeared in a conference championship and lost his only CFP appearance.

Lending itself to the idea that the lowlights can overshadow otherwise remarkable careers, Stroud arguably only lost to Georgia because the most accurate kicker in OSU history missed his final attempt at the school. The particularly unaesthetic nature of that shank nearly memory-holed an entire season on its own.

Except, of course, for The Game that nearly cost Ohio State a spot in the CFP that year. Details that have since emerged about the Wolverines casting aside any regard for the sport's code of conduct in the pursuit of victory have only intensified the attention paid toward that day and the preceding chapter of the rivalry.

Stroud started two full seasons in Columbus and finished with the second-most total touchdowns in program history behind only Barrett's amount compiled across four years of play. He had 22 more than the next-closest man on that list in Fields.

Can this lack of appreciation when reflecting on recent results only subside when the final outcome manifests itself in the sport's ultimate prize?

The forerunner to Howard hardly came close to displaying the magic of the one-season wonder that Haskins cast across the field. Yet, McCord still owns a top-10 season in passing yards at Ohio State and finished with more than Barrett ever posted by that same standard, despite playing only 12 games and not earning the full-time job until his third start that year.

McCord's final game in a scarlet and gray uniform cemented his legacy among the Buckeye faithful. He gave a pregame speech to his teammates in which he emphasized the importance of not making mistakes, then promptly turned the ball over on Ohio State's first possession after staring down a receiver he had leaned on since his teenage years. His final throw of his OSU career was also an interception.

The Buckeyes missed yet another Playoff because they couldn't beat That Team Up North, in this case one that went on to win that season's National Championship. Critics immediately branded McCord as too thin-skinned to consistently deliver for a program that demanded a victory from every performance.

Over a year prior to the Buckeyes facing Notre Dame for a third time in as many seasons, Ohio State nearly lost in South Bend before a goal line plunge put the team ahead as the game clock struck zero. The final play receives all the attention in wake of that evening not only due to the timely lead change, but also the Fighting Irish inexplicably putting only 10 defenders on the field.

Go figure, too commonly lost in the recollection of that final drive is how the Buckeyes even found themselves in that sort of scoring position with only precious moments left in regulation. Who delivered the ball on 3rd-and-19 outside the red zone with less than 15 seconds remaining when OSU could not settle for a field goal?

Ohio State vs Notre Dame (2023) pic.twitter.com/3A4ELiS6ib

— Buckeye Highlights (@OSUBuckiHighlit) September 24, 2023

McCord promptly exited Columbus despite never losing a game in the town and vengefully broke the single-season ACC passing record in his only year at Syracuse. Will fans of the Orange remember him for his five interceptions and three pick-sixes against Pittsburgh, or for out-dueling Cam Ward in Syracuse's final regular season game to spoil Miami's conference championship and CFP bids?

Regrettably, at The Ohio State University, you can end your football season with a win, a loss, a touchdown, an interception or an absence from duty entirely. You will still find yourself remembered for the few times you suffered defeat as opposed to any success you enjoyed — unless you and your teammates deliver a national title.

How can you vilify anybody for not living up to that standard?

Ohio State's latest National Championship-winning quarterback got an opportunity at redemption that McCord, Stroud, Haskins and several others in Buckeye football lore never received for themselves.

Howard became the third QB in OSU history to eclipse 4,000 yards through the air in one season on his way to winning the CFP. But 1,150 of those yards arrived during the postseason, and under previous formats, the Buckeyes would have missed out on the Playoff after losing two regular season games.

In that universe, assuming Howard sits out the consolation bowl game as the man before him did, he finishes with 2,860 passing yards — good for the ninth-most in a season in school history instead of third. His final performance at Ohio State serves as easily his worst in a result many fans would describe as the most embarrassing defeat in the modern era of Buckeye football.

All of that despite the fact that Howard — in only one season — would have finished with more games completing 80% or more of his passes than any other OSU QB before him across their entire career. Instead, he would find himself remembered as the latest signal-caller to come up short in The Game and for not downing the ball one second earlier against Oregon in what was otherwise among his best performances in college.

But this year marked an entirely new world in which college football finds itself, one much more forgiving of shortcomings in its first three months than what the previous format allowed. The sport adopted these changes in the interest of crowning the most rightful champion possible and rewarding talent that had previously manifested in less-than-perfect results.

Howard, presented with such an opportunity after three weeks to regroup from a failure that had previously doomed the fates of several great Ohio State players before him, responded in resounding fashion. He played four of his best games of his life against four straight top-10 opponents. He was named the Offensive MVP of the Buckeyes in the National Championship.

He earned immortality. Most of the others before him that failed to do so themselves still got to witness their alma mater’s return to the mountaintop, a joy several legends at other schools will never experience in their lifetimes. But how many others before Howard could have also similarly answered the call if given that same opportunity?

At a program commonly heralded as one of the most historically impressive in college football, eight of its best 10 seasons with respect to passing yards have transpired within roughly the last decade. Four of the quarterbacks responsible have all played under the current head coach. Only one earned a national title.

The faces of Ohio State football have never shone more brilliantly. They all deserve to live forever. Even the ones no longer with us.

Keep this in mind when the glow of this National Championship finally begins to dim. Players such as Julian Sayin, Tavien St. Clair and the countless Buckeye legends yet to have their stories told will deserve such newfound grace long after they are gone.