The countdown of Ohio State's top 25 plays from the last 25 years has reached its climax.
Ohio State’s Top 25 Plays of the Quarter-Century
Through incredible feats in all three phases, game-winning plays and iconic moments, we've relived 20 of the best plays from the quarter-century in four parts this week. Be sure to check out those stories if you haven't already. A quick rundown of the list to this point with the opponent and season attached:
25. Marvin Harrison Jr.'s acrobatic snag (Indiana, 2022)
24. Chris Gamble's pick-six (Penn State, 2002)
23. Noah Brown around-the-back (Oklahoma, 2016)
22. J.T. Barrett to Marcus Baugh to complete 18-point comeback (Penn State, 2017)
21. Justin Fields delivers bomb to Chris Olave through injury (Clemson, 2020)
20. Braxton Miller hits the B button (Virginia Tech, 2015)
19. Ted Ginn Jr. embarrasses Michigan's punt team (Michigan, 2004)
18. Steve Miller's College Football Playoff thick-six (Alabama, 2014)
17. Jaxon Smith-Njigba stamps record-breaking performance (Utah, 2021)
16. Ryan Shazier forces a Montee Ball fumble at the goal line (Wisconsin, 2012)
15. Antonio Pittman leaves Michigan in the dust (Michigan, 2006)
14. Ohio State clinches its first national championship in 32 years (Miami, 2002)
13. TreVeyon Henderson shocks Texas before halftime (Texas, 2024)
12. Tyvis Powell rescues Buckeyes in The Game (Michigan, 2013)
11. Michael Jenkins converts do-or-die 4th-and-14 (Miami, 2002)
10. Braxton Miller's prayer answered by Devin Smith (Wisconsin, 2011)
9. Joey Bosa's walk-off sack (Penn State, 2014)
8. Anthony Gonzalez makes "The Catch" (Michigan, 2005)
7. Evan Spencer, Michael Thomas pull off perfect trick play (Alabama, 2014)
6. 3rd-and-Jeremiah (Notre Dame, 2024)
The five that stand atop our list are irreplaceable parts of the last 25 years of Ohio State storytelling. Any list like this is going to feature a lot of subjectivity when compiling. Still, we did our best to rank each moment based on its importance, quality in a vacuum, the stage on which it occurred, how iconic it has become and how impactful it was to winning that game.
If you enjoyed this series, be sure to check out our five-part countdown of the Top 25 Games of the Quarter-Century, too.
5. Nov. 26, 2016: The Brooklyn Dagger
Curtis Samuel’s crescendo to the end zone was the climax of the most memorable three-play sequence in the history of The Game.
For the first, and still only, time in the history of the greatest rivalry in all of sport – as Urban Meyer famously called it – No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan had gone to overtime against each other after the Buckeyes tied the contest with a field goal with one second left in regulation. An exchange of touchdowns followed in the first overtime, then Michigan managed a mere field goal to start the second.
Facing 3rd-and-9 on its double-overtime possession, Ohio State dialed up a screen pass to Samuel. A horde of Michigan defenders met him, so he reversed field, usually an ill-advised move at the highest levels of college football. Another Wolverine tried to stop him well behind the line of scrimmage, Samuel ran into one of his blockers and reversed field two more times to go the opposite direction of the initial play and reach the line of scrimmage again. There, more defenders were waiting, but he cut back to slice through the crowd and dive forward 1 yard short of a first down.
Another famous saying is that if you can’t get a yard, you don’t deserve to win. So Meyer’s team went for it on 4th-and-1. On the now do-or-die play, Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett called his own number on a zone read and dove for the first-down line. Michigan safety Delano Hill hit him as he crossed the line of scrimmage, but a collision with the back of Buckeye tight end A.J. Alexander was what stonewalled Barrett at or near the line to gain.
Referees marked the spot as a first down. The call stood after replay review. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh let the world know he didn’t agree after the game.
“There wasn’t a first down by that much,” Harbaugh said, holding his hands about a foot apart.
In every way that mattered, however, the spot was good.
The next play, Samuel took a handoff to the left, cut back behind two blockers and dashed untouched 15 yards to the end zone for a game-winning touchdown. Ohio State fans poured from their seats to rush the field as Samuel’s teammates rushed him in celebration.
The Brooklyn native’s hometown inspired an iconic nickname for arguably the greatest Buckeye play against Michigan of the last quarter-century.
4. Jan. 3, 2003: Maurice Clarett chases down, strips Sean Taylor
On the biggest stage possible for a collegiate gridiron warrior, a freshman Maurice Clarett made what might be the ultimate effort play in the history of college football.
Miami entered the 2003 BCS national championship game as the defending national champions on a 34-game win streak. The Hurricanes were an 11.5-point favorite over the Buckeyes, at that time a record for the largest favorite in a national title game. Only Georgia’s 13.5-point spread over TCU in 2022 has bested it since.
That’s why Ohio State fans were still on pins and needles despite holding a 14-7 lead in the third quarter and the ball at the Miami 6-yard line for 1st-and-goal. Quarterback Craig Krenzel made a play-action fake and fired to tight end Ben Hartsock in the end zone, but he didn’t see Miami cornerback Sean Taylor lurking in zone coverage. Taylor leapt in front of Hartsock, intercepted the pass, and took off running the other way.
Clarett had been assigned pass protection duties after receiving the play fake from Krenzel and lay on the ground at the time of the pick. Many players would have stayed there and watched things unfold. But not Clarett.
Rising to his feet and sprinting to catch the runaway defensive back, Clarett fought through a block from Miami linebacker D.J. Williams, arrived at Taylor’s hip and clamped two hands down on the football cradled in his right arm. Clarett wrestled the football away from Taylor’s control as the two tumbled to the sod.
If Clarett doesn’t chase down Taylor, there’s a good chance he returns his interception 106 yards for a pick-six. Center Nick Mangold might have slid into frame ahead of Clarett after the play, but Taylor had already cleared him running up the sideline before Clarett made contact.
Clarett, quite literally, stripped Miami of all momentum in the national championship game with a prime showcase of hustle. Ohio State kicked a field goal four downs later to expand its lead 17-7, then eventually broke its 32-year national championship drought with a double-overtime upset win for the ages over the Hurricanes.
3. Jan. 10, 2025: The Lone Star Heist
Allow me to tell you the story of a young man from Pickerington, Ohio.
Jack Sawyer grew up in the shadows of the Horseshoe and never wanted to play anywhere else but Ohio State. Despite a five-star recruiting pedigree, he committed to the Buckeyes in February 2019, nearly two years before his 2021 recruiting class’ Early Signing Day and just one month after Ryan Day became head coach in Columbus.
Sawyer started at defensive end for three seasons at Ohio State and evolved from a disappointing 2022 campaign to the best defensive player on the team in the second half of 2023. That 2023 season became the second consecutive year he and his teammates ended the season with back-to-back losses, one to Michigan and one to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. He was one of a boatload of athletes from the Buckeyes’ 2021 recruiting class, then completing its third season, with significant NFL draft stock. But in postgame interviews, he all but committed to coming back for his senior year – the official announcement came later.
Then Sawyer set about recruiting the rest of his 2021 classmates to join him. Multiple later recounted swaying phone calls and text messages with their team captain. Eight of them came back, helping form the super team that enabled Ohio State’s 2024 national championship run.
A full-circle moment should have been Sawyer’s against Michigan, where he made a then-game-saving fourth-quarter interception on the goal line after dropping into zone coverage. It would have made this list had Ohio State won The Game. But the Buckeyes’ offense went three-and-out once again the following drive, the Wolverines drove downfield for a field goal and won 13-10. Michigan planted a flag at midfield, one Sawyer ripped from its pole in pain.
There was little faith from Ohio State’s fanbase at that point that the Buckeyes could go on a College Football Playoff national championship run. But after Sawyer had 1.5 sacks and two pass breakups in Ohio State’s 42-17 first-round win over Tennessee, he leaned into an ESPN camera and said something prophetic:
"They counted us out, but we're right here baby" - Jack Sawyer pic.twitter.com/cTUOJIRk20
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) December 22, 2024
Finally, we arrive at the play in question. Ohio State led Texas 21-14 with less than two minutes remaining in the CFP semifinal, held at the very same Cotton Bowl where Sawyer first campaigned to bring his fellow seniors back. The Longhorns drove down to the Buckeyes’ 1-yard line for a 1st-and-goal with a chance to tie the game, but were stuffed on first down, went backward seven yards on second down and tossed an incompletion on third down.
On 4th-and-goal, Sawyer, squaring off with a future NFL draft pick in right tackle Cameron Williams, flashed his hands high before dipping and ripping underneath the block. As Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers – Sawyer’s roommate when the two were freshmen at Ohio State – reared back to throw, Sawyer hit him from the side, scooped the ball from the turf and ran it back 83 yards to seal the Buckeyes’ berth to the national championship.
Sawyer is the embodiment of a Buckeye and now will forever be remembered in Buckeye lore thanks to this one play.
2. Jan. 1, 2015: 85 Yards Through the Heart of the South
You are now viewing the moment Alabama, the gold standard of college football at the time, was dethroned by Ohio State in the first year of the CFP.
The Buckeyes and Crimson Tide had an iconic clash in the 2015 Sugar Bowl. Ohio State trailed 21-6 in the first half but clawed back to 21-20 by halftime thanks to a trick play pass from Evan Spencer to Michael Thomas (No. 7 on our top 25 plays of the quarter-century), took a lead on a 47-yard touchdown strike from Cardale Jones to Devin Smith and expanded their lead to 34-21 on a pick-six by defensive end Steve Miller (No. 18 in the top 25).
However, the anxiety crept back into the guts of Buckeye fans when the Tide scored for the first time since the first half late with 1:01 remaining in the third quarter to make it a 34-28 ballgame. An exchange of punts only heightened the nerves, especially when one gave Alabama the ball at Ohio State’s 23-yard line, but a Vonn Bell interception regained possession for OSU.
Jones leaned forward for a first down on 3rd-and-1, setting up the Buckeyes with 1st-and-10 at their own 15-yard line. It was time to make history.
Ezekiel Elliott, who had already amassed 145 yards against Alabama’s vaunted defense, took a handoff for an outside zone to the left. Spencer, setting up his second game-changing play of the night, delivered a devastating crackback block on Crimson Tide linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton and took out linebacker Trey DePriest in the wreckage. Elliott scooted through the hole and sprinted by the remnants of Alabama’s secondary for an 85-yard touchdown to put the game on ice.
“Elliott's got an opening. Elliott, off to the races, can they catch him? No, they can't. Touchdown!”– Rece Davis' call of 85 Yards Through the Heart of the South
Spencer made his third big play of the game when he made a spectacular snag of an onside kick later, then a Tyvis Powell interception sealed Ohio State’s vanquishing of its SEC foe and spot in the national title game. There, the Buckeyes took down Oregon, 42-20, to win their first national championship of the CFP era.
1. Nov. 9, 2002: Holy Buckeye
Two words describe Ohio State's biggest play of the last 25 years: Holy Buckeye.
Everything had been going wrong in an ugly game at Purdue for Ohio State. The unranked 4-5 Boilermakers outgained the No. 3 10-0 Buckeyes 341 yards to 267. OSU's defense kept its anemic offense afloat with three interceptions, but a 32-yard field goal made the score 6-3 Purdue with 7:50 to play. Ohio State's offense sputtered again, but its defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back.
With the undefeated 2002 season on the line, the Buckeyes faced a 4th-and-1 at the Purdue 37-yard line, and Craig Krenzel threw the ball into the gray and windy West Lafayette sky. Michael Jenkins adjusted his route and used his body to shield off Purdue's Antwuan Rogers, then cradled the pigskin in his clutch hands for the game's only touchdown.
The play was called "King Right 64 Y Shallow Swap" and was designed for tight end Ben Hartsock to be the primary receiver. However, Hartsock, who caught a 13-yard pass on the previous play on 3rd-and-14, was taken away by the Boilermakers' defense. When Krenzel recognized that his No. 1 option was not there, he stepped up in the pocket and threw his prayer toward Jenkins.
“Krenzel's going to throw for it, Gotta get it off. They go for the ballgame ... touchdown! Touchdown! Michael Jenkins! On 4th-and-1, would you believe it? Craig Krenzel strikes with a minute-and-a-half left. Holy Buckeye!”– Brent Musburger's Iconic Call
When asked about the touchdown following the game, Jim Tressel said, "Now, I have to admit that when Krenzel heaved that pass, my first reaction was, 'What? We just need two yards. Oh no, no.' The percentage chance of hitting the deep ball is not great. We didn't need a touchdown at that point; we just needed a first down. But when the ball was caught in the endzone for a touchdown, my 'Oh, no' turned into 'Yes!'."
Holy Buckeye kept the Buckeyes' perfect season intact, and the team went on to defeat Illinois in overtime and held on for a five-point victory over Michigan to complete the regular season with an undefeated 13-0 record. Their national championship win over Miami followed.
This concludes our countdown of the top 25 plays in the last 25 years of Ohio State football. For those who wish to commemorate and flex some of the greatest moments of this list, we have T-shirts in the Eleven Warriors Dry Goods Store honoring the Brooklyn Dagger, the Lone Star Heist, 85 Yards Through the Heart of the South and Holy Buckeye.
Thank you all for your support, whether that’s with your merchandise purchase or just your readership. Here’s to Ohio State creating another set of memorable plays in 2025.
