Ohio State’s nightmare finish to its 32-31 loss to Oregon on Saturday, ended with fifth-year starting quarterback Will Howard sliding down in bounds with apparently no time left as the officials ruled the game was over. The Buckeyes were pushed back to the Oregon 43-yard line from an offensive pass interference from freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith a couple of plays prior, but they still had one last chance with the ball on the Oregon 38-yard line with six seconds to go in the game.
It was there that Howard faked like he was going to pass and then decided to scamper for a 12-yard gain to get the Buckeyes back in field goal range to kick what could have been a go-ahead last-second field goal.
Instead, Howard’s run was the last play of the game as thousands of Oregon fans spilled onto the field. According to Howard and head coach Ryan Day, the Buckeyes should have been allowed to run one more play.
“I thought I was down with one second, but they didn’t feel like clearing the field with all of the kids that were already on it,” Howard said. “It’s tough, but we always talk about leaving no doubt, so I probably should have gotten down even quicker to make sure that we didn’t leave any doubt there.”
In the hours after the Oregon game, pictures of Howard’s last run circulated on Twitter, where the Buckeyes’ signal-caller appeared to start his slide, which marks the ending of the play, with one second left on the clock. With Howard’s slide being so close to the game clock expiring, Ohio State needed to call a timeout as soon as Howard started his slide. Day said that’s exactly what he did, and that Ohio State sent the play in to be reviewed by the Big Ten.
“We sent (the play in to the Big Ten), they said there was no time left,” Day said. “Brandon (Inniss) was calling a timeout, I was right next to the referee calling a timeout, you can see it on the coach’s copy, and they said time had run out.”
