Top 10 Plays Of The Ohio State Football Season: No. 2 – Shaun Wade Saves The Indiana Game
This story is the ninth of 10 that comes from the print edition of Buckeye Sports Bulletin, where the staff selected the 10 best plays from the 2020 football season.
It was not the strongest year for junior cornerback Shaun Wade, who elected to return to Ohio State after debating entering the 2020 NFL draft, but one play from Wade stands out among the rest.
The Buckeyes’ pass defense against Indiana was not spectacular, allowing 491 passing yards from Hoosiers quarterback Michael Penix, but one particular play from Wade changed the course of the game.
After facing a 35-7 deficit, Indiana had scored 14 unanswered points and once again had the ball. On second-and-10, Penix looked the way of Miles Marshall, and Wade read the route and jumped it, intercepting the ball and returning it 36 yard for a touchdown to give the Buckeyes a 21-point lead.
“The pick-six, just watching film I knew it was coming,” Wade said. “They run outside on that bunch, so I knew it was coming.”
Those were the last points Ohio State scored in the game and, despite Indiana’s best efforts, was the game winning score in a 42-35 victory for the Buckeyes.
“Shaun Wade’s pick-six was huge,” head coach Ryan Day said. “That was a big, big play. Anytime you get a defensive score like that, that was big.”
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