Breaking Down Will Howard’s Performance in Ohio State’s Win Over Michigan State in East Lansing

Will Howard fought through a little adversity at times but got the job done in the end in East Lansing on Saturday night, helping lead Ohio State to a lopsided win over Michigan State. 

Like he did in Ohio State’s previous two games against Marshall and Western Michigan, Howard started the game with plenty of accuracy, completing each of his first nine and 12 of his first 13 passes overall. After TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins dominated on the ground against Marshall a week prior, getting Howard in a rhythm early seemed to be part of the game plan against Michigan State. After Howard attempted just 20 passes against the Thundering Herd, he attempted 13 passes in the first quarter and 16 in the first 16 minutes of the game against the Spartans.

Although he only completed nine of his final 18 attempts, including misses on four of his first five throws to begin the second quarter, Howard finished with 21 completions on 31 passes for 244 yards, two touchdowns – both of which came on fourth down – and an interception in three quarters of work against the Spartans.

"I thought he was solid. He was poised, made some big, big, big throws," Day said of Howard's performance in his first road game as a Buckeye. "And then a couple of runs, a couple of tough runs in there that you can see what a difference it makes when you have somebody who can run."

To take a closer look at how Howard performed in Ohio State's win at Michigan State, we charted all 31 of his passing attempts in the game. (Note: The passing chart is categorized by how many yards the quarterback threw the ball in the air past the line of scrimmage on each attempt and whether the ball reached its target inside or outside the hashes, though the stats listed include yards gained after the catch on each completion.)

Much like his first three games, Howard didn't throw many deep passes, completing his lone pass over 20 yards through the air to Jeremiah Smith, who made an incredible one-handed catch for a 27-yard gain.

Cant forget how insane this Jeremiah Smith catch was either. pic.twitter.com/VZ5gJiiCxz

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 29, 2024

That said, Howard continued to lean on his short and intermediate passing game, allowing Ohio State's playmakers to get the ball in their hands as fast as possible in order to make a play on their own.

After he combined to throw 17 passes in the intermediate part of the field in non-conference play, completing 12 of those, he competed six of nine attempts between 10 and 19 yards downfield for 121 yards and a touchdown in East Lansing.

Howard attempted nine passes (seven completions, 50 yards) behind the line of scrimmage and 12 passes (seven completions, 46 yards, one touchdown and an interception) within nine yards of the line of scrimmage, both of which were season-highs.

With seven completions more than 10 yards downfield, it was the first time this season Howard completed more than six passes in the intermediate or deep part of the field.

Unlike the first three games of the season, Howard had more pass attempts without play action than he did with it. While the fifth-year senior continued to perform well in the play-action passing game, completing seven of 10 passes for 67 yards, it was his fewest attempts and fewest yards in that area of his game this season. Conversely, he completed 14-of-21 passes for 177 yards, two touchdowns and an interception without play action, which were all the most this season to date.

Part of it might be Day, Chip Kelly and company continuing to evaluate the parts of Howard's game he is best at while getting him as many reps in as many different formations as possible while the season rolls along before Ohio State's biggest games of the season down the road, beginning at Oregon in just two weeks.

One major thing Howard must continue to improve is his efficiency under pressure. After completing just 1-of-3 passes under pressure against Michigan State, he has now completed just 2-of-12 passes (16.7%) for 14 yards while under pressure this season. Comparatively, he completed 46-of-102 passes (45.1%) for 565 yards under pressure at Kansas State in 2023.

While he has struggled in a small sample size under pressure, especially compared to 2023, Howard has performed better when kept clean and when he is blitzed compared to last season.

Howard continued to add to his rushing touchdown total against Michigan State, running for a score for the third straight game and showing off his ability to make plays and be a threat with his legs. He had a season-high six carries for 14 yards and a touchdown against the Spartans.

Will Howard can run, too! pic.twitter.com/EezgmziEpr

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 29, 2024

In yet another convincing win for Ohio State, the backups received plenty of well-earned playing time, which could prove vital in what is projected to be Ohio State's longest season ever. While he received some late-game snaps, Devin Brown came up big in the second quarter when Howard got the wind knocked out of him and was forced to the sideline. While Smith made the insane one-handed snag, the freshman's second one-handed catch in a four-play sequence, it was Brown who put the ball where only his receiver could get it.

Jeremiah Smith is unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/puaxrnm2dP

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 29, 2024

"Devin stepped up in a big way, came in for Will and delivered that throw," Day said. "It was a clutch play. He put it there and we told him, if you have the opportunity to throw it, rip it. Only throw it where the receiver can catch it. He had a couple of different options there. If nothing was there, just throw it out of bounds and kick the field goal. And he did that. He gave him a chance. And so it was good. It was good to see him make that play in that big spot."

Howard believed that throw, incredible catch and touchdown sealed the game near the end of the first half.

"I think that was the game right there, man," he said. "That series, taking the ball down, and we talk about the middle eight all the time, winning the middle eight, and that's the last four minutes of the first half and the first four of the second half. We exemplify that on offense, and I thought Devin did an unbelievable job of being ready when his number was called, and that's competitive excellence.

"We talk about that all the time. I really think that throw and that catch right there that those two made, that really sealed the game, and I think they put them out of it. I'm just so proud of Devin for stepping in and being ready," Howard continued. "(Devin) went out there and made a play, and it was a big time."

Brown completed 2-of-4 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown while Julian Sayin completed 3-of-5 passes for 23 yards in the fourth quarter.

Below, we take a look at three good throws by Howard including one on fourth down, a bad decision and near-interception and his worst throw of the night.

Good Throw: 19-yard Pass to Emeka Ebguka

Howard gets the ball over the cornerback but underneath the incoming safety for a first down to Egbuka on third down.

Bad Throw: Should-Be Interception on Third-and-Goal

Luckily for Howard, the Spartans weren't able to capitalize on his mistake. The quarterback found Gee Scott Jr. for a three-yard touchdown a play later.

Worst Throw: Interception and Big Michigan State Return

While there seemed to be no receivers open on this play, throwing into double coverage is never ideal, even if it was a good play by Michigan State linebacker Jordan Turner. Had he thrown the ball away, Ohio State could have at least punted to put the ball back in Michigan State territory; instead, this interception set up the Spartans’ only touchdown of the night.

BIG INT for @MSU_Football pic.twitter.com/PxyjfMLMgM

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 29, 2024

"The biggest one (that he wants back) is the interception," Day said. "He knows. I mean, that was not a good play and it could have cost us. So that's something to learn from. We just have to move on from it and work through his progression there. But when you're going through learning a new offense and everything, there's got to be some of these growing opportunities and learning from those opportunities.”

Howard blamed it on a bad decision because he rushed the throw, something that he will learn from going forward. That said, he's proud of the way the offense responded.

"They went cover two there. We wanted them to go some sort of man on that play," Howard said. "The play clock was running down. Ended up just kind of rushing the decision and forced it into there. Really should have just gone back side and worked my spread concept back to the field.

"But that's something we can learn from. I think the thing that I'm most proud of, and I said this last week, was that nobody batted an eye. Those guys came over to me on the sideline and were like, ‘Dude, you're fine.’ I was like, ‘I'm not worried about it.’ Nobody's worried about it. We bounced right back, came right back down and scored. I think that's the biggest thing, man. The mental toughness is your ability to move on to the next most important thing. I think we did a good job with that."

Egbuka was impressed with the way Howard bounced back following that interception.

"I mean, we were kind of harping on it all week, when you go on the road, especially in the Big Ten, this is our first away game of the season, there's going to be adversity that strikes, it comes in different forms," Egbuka said. "It happened to be an interception early in the game, and Will was able to bounce back from it. I think this is something that we knew he would be able to do coming in, just being a fifth-year senior guy, having that experience under his belt, knowing that mistakes don't define you and coming back and making a statement later in the game."

Good Throw: 20-yard pass to Emeka Egbuka

Howard feels the pressure, takes a slight step up in the pocket and delivers a strike to Egbuka before he goes out of bounds for a first down on second-and-long.

Good Throw: 33-yard Touchdown to Emeka Egbuka

Howard finds Egbuka in stride, puts the throw just out of reach of the Michigan State cornerback and Egbuka does the rest of the work for the score on a 4th-and-5 conversion.

With Ohio States offense facing 4th-and-5, Will Howard and Emeka Egbuka deliver a 33-yard touchdown. pic.twitter.com/zI0A3dRTRz

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 29, 2024

"I mean fourth down first and foremost, you know, the trust that our coaching staff has in us to be able to go for it on fourth down and not take the field goal, says a lot about this team, so we were happy to be able to go out there as an offense and execute on fourth down," Egbuka said of the play. "I mean, you guys can watch the replay, but Will put an amazing ball out there, really easy for me to catch and turn up the sideline. There really wasn't too much to it, it was a great ball, I didn't have to do much."

Howard's passing chart through four games in the 2024 season: