Jack Sawyer’s epic fumble return for a touchdown seals Ohio State’s trip to the college football national championship game

CNN — Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer once lived with Quinn Ewers. On Friday, he earned a rent-free spot in the Texas quarterback’s head, stripping the ball from his former roommate and taking it 83 yards for a touchdown that sealed the Buckeyes’ place in the college football national championship game. The senior standout’s strip of Ewers and subsequent rumble to put the Buckeyes up 28-14 late in the fourth quarter of Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal in the Cotton Bowl will live long in Ohio State history, the capstone to an epic goal-line stand that sent the Buckeyes to the national championship game. Ohio State had taken a 21-14 lead with about seven minutes to go on another tough run from Quinshon Judkins, but Ewers and Texas looked like they had yet another answer in a brutal, physical game that had seen momentum swing back and forth. The Longhorns got to the Ohio State one-yard line and had four downs to try and punch in the tying touchdown. The Ohio State defense, the nation’s top-ranked unit, was beyond ready for the challenge. On first down, running back Jerrick Gibson was stuffed for no gain. On second down, a pitch out wide to Quintrevion Wisner lost seven yards and the scarlet-and-gray fans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, began to feel like something magical was about to happen. On third down, Ewers lined up in the shotgun and tried to pass for the tying score but the ball was deflected at the line and fell harmlessly incomplete. And on fourth down, Sawyer broke free of his blocker and tracked down his former roommate as Ewers shuffled to his left, looking into the end zone for an open receiver. Instead, the senior defensive end knocked the ball from his former roommate’s hand, pushed him to the ground, picked up the bouncing ball and had nothing but open field in front of him. As his teammates went insane next to him on the sideline, Sawyer cruised into the end zone for the score that sealed the game. “I was just put in a good position by the coaches, I saw the ball pop out right to me as I tackled him. I was just thinking, ‘I gotta stay on my feet,’” Sawyer told ESPN after the game. “Almost blacked out when I scooped it, saw nothin’ but green grass ahead of me.” After the game, Ewers summed up the feeling succinctly: “It sucks, man.” “It’s hard. All the work we put in, being in the final four back-to-back years and coming up short two years, it’s tough,” Ewers added. It was a legendary play that sealed a remarkable turnaround for the Buckeyes during these playoffs. After a demoralizing defeat to archrival Michigan on November 30, the fourth straight loss to the Wolverines, the Ohio State fanbase faced a crisis of confidence. There were calls for head coach Ryan Day to be fired and worries that home-field advantage in the opening round of the playoffs would be lost when Tennessee fans invaded Ohio Stadium ahead of the Volunteers’ game against the Buckeyes.