By Kyle Golik
It’s always interesting how life deals with situations and offers opportunities for you to overcome obstacles or at times avenge slights that have occurred in your life. The difference of being successful or not in these endeavors come down to if you are prepared for the moment.
In my mind, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard was every bit prepared for the moment, as he saved Ohio State’s season from going into the abyss following a 20-13 win in Beaver Stadium against Penn State.
“I cannot wait. It’s gonna be a homecoming for me. I grew up a Penn State fan. I wanted to go there my whole life. They didn’t think I was good enough. I guess we’ll see next week if I was,” Howard, a Downingtown West native, said following Ohio State’s close call against Nebraska.
Howard was high school teammates with Penn State tackle Drew Shelton. Shelton even caught a touchdown pass from Howard. So the expectation for Howard was to take the success they enjoyed at Downingtown West up to Happy Valley and create more.
Ultimately, Penn State’s James Franklin and his staff did not feel Howard was good enough and this led Howard on a journey to Kansas State where he bided his time and came in relief to lead Kansas State to their first Big XII Championship since 2012.
After a successful 2023 campaign, Howard made a bet on himself that he could find an upgrade elsewhere in the nation in the transfer portal. When Southern California and Ohio State got in the picture, Howard knew he had a good home to go to.
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With Riley looking more at Miller Moss, it made the Ohio State option that much more attractive and Howard seeing a date in Beaver Stadium, it may not have been his first motivator but sometimes a deep motivating factors that game against Penn State was there for him.
Howard’s high school coach Mike Milano has been observing him from afar, Howard “has been under the microscope for a long time. To see him go through all that with the success that he’s had, and to end up at Ohio State with a chance at a national championship is pretty awesome,” Milano said.
When time ran out in Eugene, it wasn’t a fatal blow to Ohio State’s national championship aspirations, but it severely dented it.
Looking less than solid against Nebraska made Ohio State seem vulnerable especially with the injuries and rotations on the offensive line.
Even through the maelstrom, Howard entered the game against Penn State with four 80% or high completion percentage games in the last five, with a 72% completion percentage, and had 17 total touchdowns responsible for (13 pass, 4 rush).
If anything, Howard was ready for the challenge and before he could be in a rhythm, Penn State defensive back Zion Tracy took a Howard pass back for a touchdown.
“I thought to myself, ‘Man, I really made that a lot harder than it should have been.’ Regardless, the mindset can’t change,” Howard said during postgame about the pick-six. “If you let that play affect the next play, then that’s when it becomes a problem. How you respond is how you come back.”
How Howard responded was the difference. Unlike Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, who seemed not 100% physically or even in his decision-making, Howard waded through the 10-0 deficit.
Howard was a magician in the option game knowing when to pitch or keep. He kept Penn State guessing, on the first touchdown to wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, his ability to go to the weak side and draw Penn State’s defense toward him and read the strong side and hit Egbuka with no one around him was a big deflator.
Overall the numbers might not be his best: 16 for 24 for 182 yards, a pair of touchdowns, the Zion Tracy pick-six, fumbling the ball on a potential 13-yard rushing touchdown, and 42 yards rushing (if you don’t count sack yards, 24 net rushing yards if you do), but it was exactly what Ohio State needed.
If Ohio State goes onto bigger things, like winning a Big Ten championship or making a deep run in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, a seminal moment for the 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes will be the final possession where Ohio State went 11 plays, ran on each play, gained four first downs, and drained the final 5:13 of playing time off the clock.
“That was huge. We willed ourselves to win that game. We put the ball on [Quinshon Judkins] and Trey [Henderson] and the O-line’s back. Let them win the game for us, I think we’re averaging like five yards carry on QB sneaks right now. Like, our line is unbelievable at that so getting the ball out—the biggest thing on that drive was that quarterback sneak on first play. Getting the ball off the five-yard line from a QB sneak is huge. Another couple of big runs, by Q and Trey, that was huge,” Howard said.
Following the game, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day summed up his quarterback and the motivation he had:
“What he gives us is a toughness at quarterback. Having him as a weapon running the ball is great. After the fumble, he regrouped and kept playing, which is a sign of someone who is resilient, someone who’s been through it before. He had a look in his eye all week that he was not going to lose this game between it being a top five team and being from Pennsylvania, wanting to be a Nittany Lion, it all played into it. Having that mentality from him helped us win today.”
Howard felt following the game he played his worst game of the year and that Ohio State had to will themselves to a win. All wins aren’t created equally and all aren’t perfect, Ohio State will tell you that, but this was a character win that showed the grit and toughness that Ohio State won’t be an easy out moving forward.
Their quarterback demonstrated leadership when it needed it and got the victory for the team. Howard got something even sweeter, he was able to hand Penn State head coach James Franklin a second loss, because Howard proved he was better than Penn State, that is why he is in Columbus winning big games and not trying to figure out how to win them like Franklin.
