Breaking Down Will Howard’s Performance in Ohio State's Dominant Win Over Northwestern

But the box score never tells the full story. Saturday's game at Wrigley Field is a great example of that, at least for Howard.

In Ohio State's 31-7 win over the Wildcats, Howard started and ended the game not playing his best ball. He completed only three of his first five passes to begin the game and just two of his final six passes to conclude it. In all, Howard completed 15-of-24 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. His 15 completions were his second-fewest of the season, and his 62.5% completion rate was also the second-lowest of the season.

When you consider that three of those nine incompletions were throwaways, ones that Howard acknowledged that he was proud he made to continue Ohio State's drives, and a few others were accurate passes that were well-defended, Howard showcased his arm on Saturday with some of his best throws downfield all season against Northwestern.

"A lot of it’s kind of just getting in that mode and into that flow state. Just feeling good and trusting my guys knowing that they’re going to be there," Howard said after the game. "They did some good things. Those windows closed quickly. I’m just getting more comfortable dealing out there and feeling my reads and feeling comfortable in the pocket."

To help prove that Howard's completion percentage doesn't tell the full story, he had the second-best QBR (95.9) behind only Georgia's Carson Beck (98.0) in Week 12, according to ESPN. Pro Football Focus gave Howard the highest passing grade (90.6) of any quarterback for the week.

To take a closer look at how Howard performed in Ohio State's win over Northwestern, we charted all 24 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.)

For the first time this season, Howard had as many throws 10-plus yards downfield (12) as he did within nine yards or behind the line of scrimmage (12). He took advantage of the intermediate passing game against Northwestern, as Howard completed 5-of-7 passes between 10-19 yards downfield for 128 yards. After he completed 4-of-6 passes for 82 yards throwing 10-19 yards downfield between the hashes in the first nine games of the season, Howard completed 4-of-5 passes for 116 yards in that area against Northwestern.

Howard's five pass attempts thrown at least 20 yards downfield were a season-high, matching last week's total against Purdue. While he only completed two of those throws for 59 yards and a touchdown, one of the quarterback's best passes of the season came on a long incompletion that was nearly a 37-yard touchdown catch by Jeremiah Smith.

While Howard's underthrows and inconsistencies throwing the deep ball have been his biggest flaw at times this season, his 95.8 PFF rating on throws 20-plus yards downfield is the third-best in the FBS among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 20 passes that distance.

Although Howard didn't have his best game passing the ball with play action, completing only 7-of-11 passes (63.6%) for 92 yards and a touchdown on those plays, he is still one of the best play-action passers in the country. Howard has completed 77.9% of his passes with play action, the ninth-best mark in the FBS among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 20 passes with play action.

A game after Howard completed a season-high 84.6% of his passes without play action against Purdue, he completed a season-low 58.3% of his passes without it against Northwestern.

Northwestern blitzed on only six of Howard's dropbacks, which likely played a part in his completion rate at Wrigley Field given the extra defenders in the defensive backfield, but he continued to do well under pressure. With at least one pass-rusher applying pressure in the backfield, Howard completed 4-of-6 passes for 47 yards and a touchdown against the Wildcats.

After Howard completed just two of 12 passes for 14 yards while under pressure in the first four games of the season, he has done exponentially better under pressure since then. Over the last six games, he has completed 24-of-33 passes for 307 yards, five touchdowns and an interception under pressure.

Howard's 57.4% completion rate under pressure is the seventh-best in the FBS among quarterbacks who have attempted at least 25 passes under pressure, per PFF.

Howard had only one rushing attempt (for zero yards) against Northwestern, the fewest since he only ran once in Ohio State's second game of the season against Western Michigan.

Below, we take a look at six of Howard's best throws and his worst throw against Northwestern.

Good Throw: Near 37-yard Touchdown to Jeremiah Smith

One of Howard's best deep throws of the season, he threw it to only where his receiver could make a play on it. While Smith couldn't come down with the miraculous one-handed catch, this is the type of downfield throw that Howard has to be more consistent throwing.

This was initially ruled a 37-yard touchdown catch for Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith, who appeared to make a one-handed snag in the end zone.

But it was overturned to an incomplete pass after review (ball hit the ground).

Incredible effort from Smith, though. pic.twitter.com/MXDF5GJ2B6

— Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom) November 16, 2024

Good Throw: 20-yard pass to Emeka Egbuka

Even with a defensive end closing in on his blind side, Howard found Egbuka between a bunch of Northwestern defenders for a first down.

Ohio State keeps its drive alive with this 20-yard connection between QB Will Howard and WR Emeka Egbuka.

Northwestern DL Aidan Hubbard nearly got to Howard there. pic.twitter.com/tZzBhGDbxy

— Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom) November 16, 2024

Bad Throw: Misses High Over the Middle to Emeka Egbuka

When a quarterback passes the ball down the middle of the field, the one thing he does not want to do is miss high. If that happens, the outcome is either that the receiver gets lit up or an interception much of the time. Luckily for Howard, neither of those things happened and Ohio State's offense lived to see another down.

Good Throw: 14-yard Pass to Carnell Tate

While this was an outstanding catch by Tate, the throw was a very good one as well. Howard threw it to where only his receiver could catch it and also led Tate away from taking a hard hit from the incoming Northwestern safety.

Chicagos own Carnell Tate. pic.twitter.com/TdhKuppWSi

— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) November 16, 2024

Good Throw: 34-yard Pass to Gee Scott Jr. Down the Seam

One of Howard's best deep balls of the season. He dropped it in the bucket to Scott.

Hell of a throw by Howard to gee Scott. HELL of a throw pic.twitter.com/cr5cCZrmCf

— Brodie (@BrodieKnowsBall) November 17, 2024

Good Throw: 25-yard Touchdown to Carnell Tate

Again, Howard threw it to only where his receiver could make a play on it and Tate did just that, the first of two touchdowns for Tate back in Chicago.

Chicago's own Carnell Tate scores a touchdown at Wrigley Field pic.twitter.com/RaPAIbS5i3

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 16, 2024

Good throw: 8-yard Touchdown to Carnell Tate

With a Northwestern defensive lineman closing in, Howard remained calm and found Tate for the wideout's second touchdown of the game.

Chicago's own Carnell Tate scores ANOTHER touchdown at Wrigley Field pic.twitter.com/u54lwqhmMJ

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 16, 2024

For the season, Howard has the fourth-best QBR (85.3) in the FBS. His 9.7 yards per attempt are tied for the fourth-most in the FBS.

Howard's passing chart through 10 games in 2024: