Hello, I Must Be Going

He declared for the NFL Draft over the weekend, so now is as good of a time as ever to remember and reflect on his One Shining Moment in the building we all love and miss so much.

Well...this is awkward. You're trying to remember that touchdown, but you just can't place it. The Buckeyes only pulled off three home games in 2020, and wait did he score against Nebraska, Rutgers or Indiana? You're forgiven; last year - which took a decade to complete - is now a blur.

Here is Sermon's lone Ohio Stadium touchdown. *cue Buckeye Battle Cry*

Ah right, he scored on a pass from Ohio football legend Baker Mayfield, of course.

In total, just 112,342 fans got to witness Sermon's football exploits in the Horseshoe - and 109,088 of them were rooting against him back in 2017 when he found the North endzone for the only time. The Covid cardboard cutouts never got to celebrate him scoring any points.

One place Sermon did find is the very top of the Records page of the Ohio State media guide, and he'll remain there long after our time on earth has passed - so don't worry about missing him. He was here so briefly, but he's quite literally never going to leave.

Here's what the record book will look like when the 2021 media guide is released later this year:

We'll stop at the 11 best performances of all time, both because we like that number around here and since it represents an astonishing 101-yard gap in the OSU record book.

Those 11 performances transcend garden variety Ohio State football greatness. While the top two are in a stratosphere all by themselves, consider JK Dobbins' 211-yard 4-TD thrashing of the Michigan Wolverines in 2019. It's not listed because it only ranks 21st all-time, just 19 yards outside of the top 10.

The gap between extraordinary and ordinary greatness is razor-thin. Look at these legends:

There's as much yardage separating Sermon from Clarett between No.1 and No.11 all-time as there is separating Clarett and the eight Buckeyes tied for 245th.

What happened at the B1G Championship last month with the running back whose only Ohio Stadium touchdown counted against Ohio State was supernatural. Now that the season is over and the shock has almost worn off, we have to accept Sermon will be towering over every Heisman winner and beloved Buckeye Grove tree honoree f o r e v e r.

It's not going to be weird to not see Sermon in the backfield this fall, because he was barely there. What's going to be weird is being reminded for the rest of time about how nobody at Ohio State has ever done it better, once.

Archie Griffin held this record for 11 years before Keith Byars broke it. Eleven years later Eddie George took it from him. That was 25 seasons ago. The law of big numbers means these records only get harder to break with time. And Sermon put nearly as much distance between himself and Eddie as Clarett has between himself and Dobbins.

There's as much yardage separating Sermon from Clarett between No.1 and No.11 all-time as there is separating Clarett and the eight Buckeyes tied for 245th.

He entered the Northwestern game with 344 rushing yards in an Ohio State uniform. Sermon is the least likely record-holder in program history, finishing nearly 1,500 career yards behind Lydell Ross. He ended with 808 fewer carries than Griffin. Byars had more touchdowns on his record-breaking afternoon than Sermon had in an Ohio State uniform.

His other big game, where he rushed for 193 yards is the new 27th best single game rushing output in school history, just 18 yards behind Dobbins in Ann Arbor. He wasn't the MVP of the Sugar Bowl. Try to imagine how Woody Hayes would react to that.

Sermon finished his career in Columbus only playing in front of Miami Hurricane-like home crowds. The biggest game in Ohio State rushing history was nooner in Indianapolis in front of 3,178 fans. It existed only on television. There will be no Ed-die, Ed-die first person recollections of that moment as there still are from 25 years ago.

Sermon never heard his name chanted in the Horseshoe. Gus Johnson didn't have enough time or a warning to justify coming up with a nickname, just shouting Trey! Sermon! for what was basically one magical half of football.

The Buckeyes had an All-B1G running back in 2020 - and it was 2nd teamer Master Teague III. In those charts above, only James Bryant never made an All-B1G team.

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An appropriate reaction or response to what Sermon pulled off doesn't exist. There's no precedent or analog moment to an interloper arriving for a vacant season and then abruptly shattering a hallowed Ohio State rushing record in a passing offense against the stingiest defense in the conference, without any sort of a hint he would be a threat to do so.

J.T. Barrett played in 41 more games than Sermon did as a Buckeye, and they both left Ohio State owning school records that are next to impossible to break. If and when anyone ever rushes for over 331 yards in a Buckeye uniform, Sermon will have to settle for being...the second best, ever. Big if, small when.

So here's to the king of Running the Damn Ball in Columbus. Thank you for your service.