Welcome to The Hodgepodge.
Shortly following the biggest moment of his life, Jack Sawyer stayed grounded.
By now, everyone within 100 miles of Columbus knows the story. With the game on the line, Jack Sawyer sacked his former roommate, forced Quinn Ewers to fumble, scooped it up and scampered the length of the field to cement a Cotton Bowl victory for Ohio State.
JACK SAWYER, THE MAN THAT YOU ARE pic.twitter.com/tQrhrXBqoF
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) January 11, 2025
He was given a conquering hero’s welcome when he returned to the OSU sideline. Will Howard greeted him with primal screams and the friendliest punches to the chest you’ll ever see. Ryan Day might have been more excited than Sawyer was and jumped into his senior defensive end’s arms to celebrate the moment.
You didn’t need two guesses to figure out who the defensive player of the game was going to be, as Sawyer stood on the podium beaming. On his way out of the stadium, he found his family and shared a brief moment of jubilation.
As he resumed his exit of the playing field to head back to the locker room, Sawyer eyed a group of Buckeye faithful who stayed in their seats to witness the trophy presentation ceremony. He looked up, held a single finger in the air and shouted a simple message: “One more to go. We have to win one more game.”
As Jack Sawyer left the field Friday night, he held up a single finger to a contingent of Buckeye fans. The message was simple: "One more to go." pic.twitter.com/fvdsD3bGrc
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) January 11, 2025
On the night when Sawyer cemented he’d leave Columbus a Buckeye legend, he let himself soak in the moment, but only temporarily. He knew the magnificent run his team has put together in the past month would feel hollow if it can’t secure one more victory.
“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,” Sawyer said after the game. “I'm just really looking forward to that.”
A month ago, the Buckeyes entered the College Football Playoffs with only a select few giving them the benefit of the doubt and the hardest path to the championship of any contender. Weeks later, Ryan Day and OSU are 60 minutes away from completing the most impressive playoff run in the history of college football. When the bracket was first revealed, I wrote that Day would probably deserve a statue if he can navigate through Tennessee, an undefeated Oregon team, Texas in Texas and whoever emerged from the other side of the bracket.
And who else emerged from the other side of the bracket than a former Buckeye fan favorite turned Notre Dame coach, Marcus Freeman.
Freeman’s Fighting Irish may be independent, but they sure gave their fans a glimpse into what it’s like being a Big Ten heavyweight facing Big Game James in a big game spot. In the other semifinal, Notre Dame erased a double-digit deficit, forced Penn State and quarterback Drew Allar into making crucial mistakes at inopportune times and escaped with a victory feeling like you had just been in a brass-knuckle fight yet somehow knew you were going to win.
You know, basically every Ohio State vs. Penn State game we’ve ever watched.
Now, the Fighting Irish and Buckeyes will square up for the national title, with television executives already counting their dollars from projected astronomical television ratings headed ESPN’s way.
Maybe Texas’ defensive gameplan against Ohio State gives the Fighting Irish some hope they can slow down the Buckeyes enough to make this a one-score game. And in fairness, Notre Dame’s defense has been a one-way wrecking ball throughout this postseason. But the defensive line, on paper at least, doesn’t scare you nearly as much as Texas’ did, especially with standout defensive lineman Rylie Mills out for the season. The Fighting Irish also play Cover 1 about 50% of the time defensively. If that trend continues, I’d expect a big day from the OSU offense.
This will be the third straight year the Fighting Irish and Buckeyes have clashed, so you can expect a lot of Lou Holtz and Ryan Day jokes that get stale quickly over the next week. Probably a lot of 10 men on the field quips, too.
The Buckeyes opened the season with national title or bust expectations. As Sawyer pointed out on his exit from Texas, they have only one more to go.
Ohio State spotlight of the week: Run defense
Run defense hasn’t been a problem in each of the past two games, with the Buckeyes limiting Texas to less than 60 yards rushing and preventing Oregon from even recording positive yardage. But in Notre Dame, they’ll face a team whose bread and butter offensively is with the ground game.
Jeremiyah Love is one of the more talented running backs in the sport, and Riley Leonard is probably a better scrambler than he is a passer. Mobile quarterbacks have been able to pick up some chunk yardage against the Buckeyes this season, so that will be something to account for this week from Jim Knowles’ perspective.
Picking the championship
Only one more pick to make this season. Somehow, it feels like an easy one.
Semifinals record: 1-1
Overall record: 67-56
Ohio State at Notre Dame, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
Pick: Ohio State -8.5
Breakdown: Despite being plagued with injuries on both sides of the ball, I’d expect Notre Dame to come out of the gates swinging and put together a good game plan against OSU. I just don’t know how the Fighting Irish are going to score consistently against the Buckeyes, who I think will both win and cover against a very scrappy Notre Dame team.
