Will Howard might not have the pain of four consecutive Michigan losses like many of his Ohio State teammates do, but there’s a clear ache and avoidance in his voice whenever the defeat has come up since.
After responding with some variation of “it hurts” several times when asked about the emotions of the past few weeks, Howard gave the most curt of his answers when someone asked him what he learned from his poor individual performance in The Game.
“Can’t turn the ball over,” Howard said. “We’re moved on, man. We’re moved on.”
Moving on has been the message for Ohio State as a program in the last few weeks. That’s what it should be. Learn from the loss, figure out what needs changed, then go on a run and try to rectify it in the College Football Playoff, an opportunity that hasn’t always been there for the Buckeyes.
But in Howard’s mind, there’s only one way to right that wrong and send he and his fellow seniors out the right way – by hoisting the gorgeous golden, oblong-shaped CFP National Championship Trophy over his head. It’s not just a goal for Howard, he views it as the only option, and that starts by setting his team back on the right path against Tennessee in the first round this Saturday.
“We can't go out any other way than winning it all,” Howard said. “That's the way that I see it. I want this for this team so bad.”
To dwell as briefly as on Howard’s Michigan performance as he did on Monday, it was the worst of his Ohio State career, with two interceptions, one that came after he was knocked out of the game for a few plays after a big hit to his head in the first half. To what extent that affected his play may never be known, other than by him and maybe those in his locker room.
Despite his 57.6% completion rate, 5.3 yards per attempt and pair of picks – all of which were his worst marks of the season – Howard is still having a great year overall, completing 72.3% of his passes for 2,860 yards and 27 touchdowns with eight interceptions. His 9.1 yards per pass attempt are sixth-best in the country. Ohio State’s coaching staff still has full faith in its signal caller.
“We always have confidence in Will,” offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. “I think he's the leader of our team on the offensive side of the ball and has had a tremendous season.”
Quarterbacks always serve a key leadership role, and that role called Howard to rally his team back after the catastrophic 13-10 defeat.
“It was hard, I’m not going to lie,” Howard said. “But yeah, my ability to push this team and to lead this team in this game is going to be crucial. And I know that. And I think that if we can maintain that edge that we had in that Indiana game and just come out there – and I need to be the one that sparks that. And I need to make sure that I'm bringing that all game.”
Howard added that his style of leadership is about positive reinforcement and bringing up the “energy” of Ohio State’s practices and keeping the team upbeat and engaged during games. He wants to make sure his teammates hear him “all game,” no matter what.
“He's doing great,” Ryan Day said. “He's had a good couple weeks of practice. He's ready to go. I know he wants to, just like all of us, move on and focus on Tennessee. There's certainly plays that he'll want to have back in that game. But one thing about Will is, he's got a very positive mindset. And he's very resilient. And you can see he's got a bounce and a step right now. He wants to get back on the field as fast as he possibly can.”
Entering The Game, Howard’s stated drive was to go out and win for the pain of Ohio State’s seniors. As much as he said he wanted to beat the Wolverines too, his first thought was to get it done for Day, for the teammates who’d welcomed him to Columbus. But his motivations on Monday seemed as personal as they were altruistic.
“I've been playing college football for five years now, and this is all I have left,” Howard said. “I have four games, max, left in my college career. There's no other option than to just empty the tank and leave it all out here because this is all we have left as college athletes. Ohio State or not, this is it. I'm just excited to finish it the right way because we have such a good group of guys, man. We have such an unbelievable team that we have here.”
Of course, Howard and his teammates only get one more game if they don’t vanquish the Volunteers on Saturday in the Shoe. A return to form from him will be critical, but so will patches to the offense surrounding him. Ohio State continues evaluating how to get the most from an offensive line that’s lost its two best players, which Day said will involve a new face in Luke Montgomery rotating at offensive guard.
It will also involve leaning heavier into Howard and the weapons he has to throw to at wide receiver. For his struggles against Michigan, things were much worse when the Buckeyes repeatedly tried to run the ball up the middle into unfavorable matchups, something both Day and Kelly acknowledged on Monday.
Whatever the solutions are, they’ll need to be implemented to their best extent by the time Tennessee’s top-five defense rolls into Ohio Stadium.
“This is what we're playing for, man,” Howard said. “This is a new season. It's the playoffs. But the fact of the matter is if we don't beat Tennessee, none of it matters. So we're worried about Tennessee right now and we'll look forward after this game. But this is the most important thing is beating Tennessee because once you get the first win, you're able to pick up some momentum.”
Howard’s previous experience and falterings as a youngster at Kansas State taught him that he can never cling to one bad play, one bad series, one bad performance write the story of the future. That’s his mentality as he gears up for the CFP.
“You can't let one thing, one mistake, one loss, you can't let that mess everything else up because that's when the real problems start,” Howard said. “And that's when the real problems started for me early in my career was when I let those little mistakes that I made in practice or during games or whatever it may be, when I let that affect me down the road, that was when the problems really started.
“That game, it sucked. It was terrible for all of us. Terrible loss. But, man, we can't let them beat us twice.”
