'We really wanted to win': Ohio State's Will Howard gets revenge on Penn State

Michael Cohen

College football and college basketball writer

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – One by one, the bodies bounced off Will Howard, the Ohio State quarterback whose skin was covered in sweat and dirt and the grass-stained remnants of the sweetest slide he'd ever slid a sealed victory over a program he once dreamed of representing. Seven days had passed since Howard, a former three-star prospect from Downington, Pennsylvania, a western suburb of Philadelphia, boldly announced the impending matchup between the two Buckeyes and no. 3 Penn State meant to him the love he grew up loving for it Nittany Lions and viewed this trip to Beaver Stadium as a homecoming. “They didn’t think I was good enough,” Howard said, referring to Penn State’s coaching staff, during a postgame press conference in late October. “But I guess we’ll see next week if it was me.”

Ohio State QB Will Howard slides down for the first time to give the Buckeyes a 20-13 win over Penn State. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

It was the kind of comment that sparked a moment of stunned silence in the media room at Ohio Stadium, the site of a sloppy and error-filled win over Nebraska that set off a week of consternation both inside and outside the program. The offensive and defensive lines were vilified for their poor performances. So did the members of the Ohio State University coaching staff who had primary responsibility for these individual units, from offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and offensive line coach Justin Frye to defensive line coach Larry Johnson and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Finally, after Saturday's game against Penn State, head coach Ryan Day admitted that the Buckeyes had talked behind closed doors about being at “a crossroads” after two consecutive troubling performances: a one-point road loss to Oregon, at in which Howard accidentally ran out the clock because his jump toward the turf took a second too long, and a narrow home win over Nebraska in which Ohio State trailed in the fourth quarter despite leading by more than 25 points.

Howard once turned around the left side of the offensive line for a 7-yard run and slide that gave his team a 20-13 victory over Penn State, and once he completed the final kneel-down that gave the Buckeyes their first road win against Having secured a top-five opponent since 2006, the Kansas State transfer was denounced by officials from all corners of the program. There were teammates who hugged Howard and others who shoved him adoringly. There were trainers who wrapped their arms around him and others who aggressively grabbed his chest plate. “Are you kidding me?!” Howard shouted in the middle of the commotion. And nearby, prominent players and passersby praised Ohio State for rallying from an early 10-point deficit. “That's how you recover, baby!” “Edge rusher JT Tuimoloau screamed while the alma mater was sung.” “Do you f—– love that?” a reserve offensive lineman yelled. “Yeah, you love that f——!” he answered his own question.

“One of the things we talked about this week was that in life you're going to have these opportunities where you have to go there yourself to win,” Day said. “You have to take something. You have to find a way to get the thing done – whether it's for your family, for your career or in football. And our guys did that today. They did it.” . And I'm really happy for this team, I'm happy for the seniors and I think this will be a stepping stone for us going forward.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day speaks with FOX Sports' Jenny Taft following the Buckeyes' win over Penn State. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

That Ohio State emerged unscathed from its cauldron of expectations revealed a spirit of resilience that many felt was sorely lacking in the program, and especially Day himself. Not only did Day start the weekend with a fleeting 2-7 record against top-five opponents – a statistic that had been making the rounds since the Buckeyes' 32-31 loss to then-No. 3 Oregon in mid-October — but Saturday's game also marked the first time since 2017 that Penn State entered this rivalry as a higher-ranked team, reflecting the Nittany Lions' previously unblemished record. Not only would Ohio State have to deal with the largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history – the announced attendance was 111,030 fans, with only a small percentage wearing scarlet and gray – but they would also do so behind a makeshift offensive line headed by Donovan Jackson kicked outside to play left tackle, and Carson Hinzman, last year's starting center, appeared for the first time in three snaps against Iowa in Week 6, filling Jackson's traditional left guard position. Not only were the two standout pregame shows broadcast live from Happy Valley to preview one of the most anticipated matchups of the season – a game that could have serious implications for the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff come December – but there was also a laundry list of more than 20 NFL scouts and talent evaluators on the qualifying list, including five franchises that were expected to send multiple representatives to State College: the Washington Commanders (x4), the New York Giants (x3), the Baltimore Ravens (x2), the Carolina Panthers (x2) and the Houston Texans (x2).

So many of those highly trained eyes were on Howard, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound quarterback where the dichotomy between physical attributes and on-field performance is somewhat jarring. Staff members from the Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals stood a few feet away from Howard during pregame warmups and assessed his physique, mechanics and demeanor before the pads were applied. One of them even grabbed cell phone video of Howard's throwing motion, which can be discussed and analyzed for months leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft – just as scouts and general managers will surely discuss the mesmerizing pick-six he threw at Ohio State first pass of the game, the poor ball security he displayed as he reached for the pylon on a play that was ultimately ruled both a fumble and a touchback, and the inaccurate deep pass he made toward Wide receiver Carnell Tate launched what should have been a touchdown but instead drifted out of bounds.

“It wasn’t pretty,” said Howard, who completed 16 of 24 passes for 182 yards and two scores while carrying the ball 12 times for 24 yards. “I probably played my worst game of the year. (I think that) right now, just walking off the field. But man, I mean, we wanted this game. We talked about it at the beginning of the week, man. We said, 'We've got to put in the effort to win this game.' And that's how we played, man.

“I can’t give enough credit to my teammates. You saved me. To win a game like that, man, in my home state, it’s unbelievable.”

Most of the saving grace came from Ohio State's defense, which gave up just 270 yards of total offense and limited the Nittany Lions to just three total points on three trips to the red zone. A stunning interception by cornerback Davison Igbinosun, who said God helped him wrestle the ball away from wideout Harrison Wallace III in the end zone, deprived Penn State of a chance to take the lead just before halftime. And with the Buckeyes defending a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, the defense put together an impressive goal-line stand, with Knowles' unit holding off running back Kaytron Allen on three consecutive runs before forcing tight end Khalil Dinkins to score Overcome forced an incompletion on fourth down. The same Penn State offense, valued for its creativity under former Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki in its first year, failed to score a touchdown for the first time since head coach James Franklin's debut season in 2014.

And so it was the Ohio State University offense that shaped the game on Saturday and ended the final with 5:13 minutes with an impressive drive of eleven consecutive runs. Inch by inch, yard by yard, the Buckeyes fought their way from the shadows of their own goal line to Penn State's 47-yard line, needing nothing more than a single conversion to secure the victory. That's when Howard pulled left and rumbled across the line of scrimmage for the most cathartic quarterback slide.

“That was huge,” Howard said. “We are determined to win this game.”

Ohio State QB Will Howard threw for 182 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the Buckeyes' win over Penn State. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports, with a focus on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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