Friend of the site Bill Rabinowitz has a new book out — Buckeye Brotherhood: How Ohio State Navigated a New World to Win a National Championship — a definitive, behind-the-scenes look at Ohio State’s 2024 title run.
We’re thrilled to share an exclusive excerpt of Chapter 26, “Scoop and Sawyer,” which dives into the moment that helped send the Buckeyes to the national championship: Jack Sawyer’s unforgettable fumble return against Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Rabinowitz, who also authored The Chase, once again brings unmatched reporting and insight to one of the most memorable seasons in program history.
Jack Sawyer said the play call was “Florida.” Jim Knowles said it was “Disney.”
The play on fourth-and-goal from the 8 called for a linebacker to serve as a spy to protect against Ewers scrambling. That meant Sawyer was free to rush without worrying about anything but getting to the quarterback. Cody Simon was the spy. He stepped toward the line of scrimmage across from the Texas right guard. That prevented the guard from double-teaming Sawyer with right tackle Cameron Williams.
“I’m thinking I’m going to get off the ball as fast as I can and see where the tackle is at by my second step,” Sawyer said. “If he’s slow off the ball, I’m going to try to continue outside. If he jumps quick, I’m going to go inside because we’ve got the freedom to do so in this defense.”
Williams, who missed the CFP quarterfinals with a sprained knee, was slow out of his stance, so Sawyer went to the outside. He swiped at Williams’ hands, causing Williams to lose his balance and lunge forward. Sawyer had a clear path to Ewers, who never saw him coming. Sawyer hit the quarterback, jarring the ball free.
“It’s funny when you’re playing,” Sawyer said, “and you have these subconscious thoughts constantly. In this moment, I’m thinking, ‘Man, I hope his arm wasn’t going forward so it’s incomplete, but I’m going to pick it up and run.’ I’m just trying to locate the ball.”
The ball floated to the turf and serendipitously bounced right back to Sawyer at the 17-yard line. He took off running down the Ohio State sideline, with Ryan Day and others sprinting along gleefully. Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner reacted quickly and was only five yards behind Sawyer when he picked up the ball. But Sonny Styles, gifted both physically and mentally, made an overlooked play. Styles had been covering Wisner and was four yards behind him when Sawyer scooped up the ball. But Styles sprinted past Wisner, got in front of him, and then slowed down to serve as a shield.
“I’d say I’m a pretty fast dude, but there’s a little bit of an urgency when those plays happen,” Styles said. “It’s like when someone breaks a tackle and hits another gear. That was almost like one of those, where you just hit another gear and find a way to make it happen.”
Styles said all of OSU’s players, defensive as well as offensive, are coached to simply get in the way of a potential tackler in that situation rather than risk being flagged for a crackback block.
“It’s just cutting someone off,” Styles said. “The whole point is to show the ref, ‘Hey, I’m not blindside blocking him. I’m not holding him.’ It’s really just trying to avoid a penalty. The guy trying to tackle him is not in a position to make a play, so there’s no need to block him. You’ve just got to get in his way, so he doesn’t catch him.”
Williams was the only other pursuer, and he wasn’t going to catch Sawyer, who by then had a convoy of Simon, J.T. Tuimoloau, and Jordan Hancock as well as Styles as he ran 83 yards through the heart of Texas to the end zone.
As Sawyer ran, he had a flashback of Will Howard and the stumble he had on the fourth-down conversion. “I was thinking, ‘Don’t fall, don’t get caught from behind, and if I do get caught, tuck that ball up and don’t give it back,” he said.
“I was telling myself the whole way that someone’s coming to knock it out. Someone is going to try to punch this ball out. As I’m looking, I see coach Hartline pointing. My favorite memory as a Buckeye, besides winning the national championship, is when I look back and all I see is Cody, J.T., Jordan, and Sonny all running with their hands up. It was a feeling I’m never going to forget.”
When he scored, an exhausted Sawyer dropped the ball to the ground. He had no memory of what he did with the ball. “At that point, it was such a blur,” Sawyer said. “It was a blackout moment.”
He got to the sideline and all he wanted was something to drink. “I got as much water as I could,” Sawyer said.
He barely had time to drink it. Larry Johnson gave him a big hug and sprayed him with water. The play and the adrenaline from it wiped Sawyer out. “I’ve never felt my heart beat that fast or be so out of breath as I was after that play,” he said.
In the moment, Sawyer didn’t realize what an iconic play he’d made. “I was just thankful God put me in position to help the team,” he said. “It didn’t really sink in to me until afterwards. Obviously, my parents and my sister and everyone had a mix of emotions—so happy for the team and for myself. It was such a great experience. The ball bounced right to me. My teammates blocked their asses off the whole way. It was one of the most special moments I’ve ever had.”
Simon retrieved the ball in the end zone and gave it to a coach who saved it for Sawyer. He gave it to his parents for safe keeping. “It’s probably locked up somewhere,” he said. “I hope so.”
Michelle Sawyer, his mom, said months later that it was just sitting on their kitchen counter. Jack had even tossed it around on his visits home from training for the NFL draft.
THE PLAY BECAME instantly iconic. Months later, those on the Ohio State side remembered the play as if it had just happened. Here are their recollections:
Ryan Day
In your mind, you’re saying to yourself, “Are they going to go for it here or not?” They do. So now I’m thinking, “If we got the stop here, the ball’s going to be inside the 10-yard line. What do we do? What do we have for runs coming out?” Or they score a touchdown and now we’ve got to go down and kick a field goal to win the game. You’re going through all the scenarios in your head.[Jim Knowles] called a double coverage that really hadn’t run much all year. I think it forced Ewers to kind of double-clutch. Then as he got flushed, I saw Jack tracking him. As he made the play, you watched the ball bounce right up into Jack’s hands. That’s the bounce I feel we hadn’t gotten in the past.
Once he scooped it up and ran, Cody Simon and Sonny Styles made great plays to turn that play from a scoop where it gets returned for 20 or 30 yards into a touchdown. When that happened, I knew we were going to win the national championship.
I said to Jack [on the sideline], “You just became a legend!” We had talked before the game about how you become a legend. You become your own legacy by leaving something behind. How do you do that? By making a play like that is obviously how you become a legend.
Jim Knowles
We’re going to line up in a variety of funky ways with the linebackers up and with the safeties and corners in different positions, so they don’t know what we’re in.J.T. comes inside to the left so that if he’s going to scramble, you’re going to force the quarterback to his left. Cody is actually using up the guard next to Jack. He kind of pretends to rush. I call it a hypnotized technique on the guard, to kind of hypnotize the guard so the guard can’t help out with Jack. That let Jack rush out, so if he’s going to go to his left, Cody’s going to hit the guard, and then eventually if he would have broken out to the left, Cody would have looped around.
It’s the culmination of a lot of work. I would say, “Coverage and rush,” and the whole defense would say, “Working together.” It was the culmination of a lot of work and of that winning edge
of, “Okay, if we make the quarterback hold the ball, don’t give him any easy throws and show him something he’s not expecting, then the rush will be able to deliver.”And then, of course, you’ve got all those years of work, of Jack and Larry and all those drills and everything that go into it, of him really being perfect—everything he’s worked on for four years coming down to one play.
Larry Johnson
Cody walked into the gap, so he got the attention of the tackle. The tackle didn’t know where he’s coming from or where Jack is coming from. The tackle looked at Cody and then put his eyes back on Jack, but by that time Jack had a great get-off and hit his hands out with what we call a side scissors move. Then he had a burst to finish. You don’t get a sack going the same speed. When he got there, the ball was back. He was looking to hit the wrist, hand on ball, to have a chance to get a sack fumble.And then how lucky that the ball bounced back into his hands. It was just a perfect bounce. That’s all God. But it’s something Jack has done over and over again [in practice]. It’s just repetition. And then you get in the game, and you get one shot, one moment to recall those skills. That’s what Jack did, recalling something he’s done over and over again. He remembered all those little things to make that play happen. To me, that’s what makes it special.
It was a checkmate play. That’s when you knew God was with this team. It’ll be a play that we will all talk about for the rest of our lives.
Sonny Styles
As soon as he ran through the end zone, it was like, “Oh, my gosh. What did he just do? No way he made that play.” It was almost like I was in disbelief, which I’m sure a lot of people across the country were, too. It was a shell-shocking moment for me.
Cody Simon
My only job is to make sure that guard cannot double-team Jack or the defensive tackle, but it’s usually the end, so the end can get a free rush. I’m technically a spy. I’m not going to take any credit for the play, but it’s 11 guys all doing our job so Jack could make probably the greatest play in Buckeye history. I’ve got the guard, making sure he can’t double and then I’m wrapping around for the quarterback. Once I saw Jack free, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this is going to be a big play right here.”
J.T. Tuimoloau
I got moved down to 3-tech. I did a spin move on the guard and was like, “OK, I think I can get this.” And then I see another red jersey. I’m like, “Damn, who is this?” and I see it’s Jack. Oh, he got the sack. Then I saw it was a forced fumble and I’m thinking we’ve got to pick this up. Once it bounced to him, and he was off and running, the last thing we want is for him to get hawked down. He had it happen to him in the Up North game. Once we got to the 50-yard line, I was like, “I’m already here. I might as well run all the way,” and I ended up sprinting just out of excitement and passion. Never again will I run that far. That was the dagger of the whole thing. I was like, “This has to be the greatest play in Buckeye history.”
Chip Kelly
We were just talking like we normally do at the end of a game about a two-minute plan [to score] or a four-minute plan to run out the clock]. When the ball bounced out, I was obviously excited about the play, but selfishly, I was like, ‘I don’t want to deal with a four-minute offense, so I said, “Score!” and he’d only taken like two steps. Keenan [Bailey] looked at me and said, “What?” I said he’s going to score. It wasn’t like I was cheering him on. I was like, “He has to score. We don’t need to go back on the field offensively.” Then he got to about the 25-yard line and I was like, ‘He actually may score on this thing.” I didn’t think when he first picked it up that he was going to go the distance. But our guys just took off after him and there was nobody on Texas anywhere near him. I was like, “He actually is going to score. Holy shit.” Because it was Jack and everything about Jack is awesome, it was so cool that he could finish off that game that way.
Ross Bjork
At different places I’ve been when there’s been a key play, sometimes I’ll just go stand behind the bench and put my head down. I was like, I’m going to go back there and just pray. I put my head down and said, “God, just put us in the best position.” I have my head down and I hear the crowd, and I’m thinking we just stopped them on fourth down. I kept my eyes closed and the crowd just starts getting louder and louder. Then I open my eyes and walk toward the sideline, and I see Jack walking into the end zone. President Carter and I jump up and down and grab each other. Carey Hoyt, our deputy AD for football, and I are hugging each other. Logan Hittle was down there. A couple of former players and my son Paxton was there, and I’m like, “What happened? How did he get the ball?” I had no idea he got by his guy, stripped him, and picked it up.
Caleb Downs
On fourth down, they motioned to a stack on the boundary. Somebody had to make a call, and I was like, “Let’s play triangle on my side,” which is a three-over-two stack on defense. They tried to isolate me. I thought he was going to throw the ball at me. But I covered my guy up pretty well, and then I turn around and see captain Jack make the best play I’ve seen in my life. That was a crazy moment for me just watching that. (There’s a photo of Downs dropping to his knees in the end zone and praying.) That was a miracle, and I had to thank God in that moment for that. I’m like, “God, nobody could have foreseen that play happening, so thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Mitchell Melton
I was on the sideline. I had seen that move from him countless times. I used to call it his patented move because whenever he would get into the rhythm of the game, he would hit that move. I know that because me and him would watch hours and hours of film in preparation for all those teams that we played. It was like a T.J. Watt sack. I was standing there next to either KJ [Kenyatta Jackson] or Kayden [McDonald]. And I saw him hit the move on No. 56 and I literally said in my head, “Sack.” Literally after that, it was a blur. I’ve never been a part of such pandemonium in my life.Do you ever just find yourself in a moment where you don’t think it’s real? And instead of enjoying it, you’re just questioning it. I was like, there’s no way this is real. There’s no way this is happening. And then I see the score and I see him [get a] touchdown and I see the replay, and I’m just shocked. But I couldn’t have been happier for him because he was literally the catalyst. He was one of the main motivators that literally rallied this team together after everything that happened. So just to see that for him and to see him accomplish that moment on one of the biggest stages and be immortalized in Buckeye history, it was awesome.
Lathan Ransom
I was in coverage on that play. [Ewers] looked into the boundary, to our way. I think that me, IGB, and Caleb did a great job covering up in the boundary to where he didn’t have a quick throw. Then Jack won so fast off the line and made the tackle look silly. I just remember running behind and just so happy, so excited, so in disbelief. Whenever we needed a big play like that, Jack came through. I was happy to watch from afar because I couldn’t catch up to him, I was so tired.
Josh Fryar
I was sitting on the bench right next to Gee Scott and I was holding his hand, and I think I was holding Tegra’s hand to the left of me. I was saying to myself, “Please, God. Give us an opportunity. Just give us a chance.” He gave us one. Jack came around the edge, double swipe-barred the right tackle, and then the ball popped out and popped right in his hands, and he started running. I just sat there in awe, just watching it happen. As the field goal unit was running out [for the extra-point kick], I was still sitting on the bench. Then I was like, “Oh shit, I’ve got to go out for field goal,” and I started sprinting out there. It was crazy. It felt like a made-up story.(Fryar blocked against Sawyer often in practice. He gave his perspective on how Sawyer beat Williams on the play.)
He punched with two hands against Jack, and Jack’s really good about swiping. He punched so far that he leaned forward where you’re imbalanced and your weight is over your toes, so you can’t get back into a good body position to push Jack by the quarterback. You want to push him by the quarterback by having your hands out and head out. Then if Jack swipes your hands, you still have your feet to recover against him. But that guy, he had his weight over his toes, and he was leaning so far to where he couldn’t recover. And then Jack popped that ball out and scored.
We’ve gone against each other a shit ton in practice, and he might’ve gotten me once or twice on that specific move out of hundreds of reps because I know he’s a hand swiper.
Donovan Jackson
The offensive line, we were busy drawing up plays because we though we were going to have a four-minute situation where we had to drive down the field and probably score late. So we were drawing up plays, and we look up at the giant Jerry World Jumbotron, and I see Jack dip around the right tackle. I was like, “Oh, that’s a sack.” I saw the ball bounce right to him. I was like, “Oh my gosh, he’s gone.” And then we started losing all our minds.
Tegra Tshabola
I probably had the best view to it because I was just a little bit behind them [on the sideline]. I’m watching Jack get in the stance, and I knew exactly what he was going to do. The tackle from Texas ends up reaching and bending at the waist. He hits a chop around the corner and he bends the corner and I’m watching him like he’s running towards me. I’m like frozen at this point. Oh, man. He’s about to sack him, maybe a sack fumble, and then we’ve got the ball, and we get to go back in. But he hits him, and the ball hits the ground, and it might’ve been the most perfect bounce I’ve ever seen. It bounced right in his hands, almost like a basketball. I’m like, “Okay, he might get some yardage out of this.” And then I see Sonny start to get in front of the running back and block him. I’m like, “Wait, he’s going to house it?” I was basically frozen watching that whole thing. I didn’t jump up and down. I didn’t do anything. I was just frozen and looking around me. I was almost caught in shock.
Davison Igbinosun
I had my eyes in the backfield. I saw Jack stripping and I saw Jack pick it up. I’m like, “Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.” I feel like Jack deserved that play because if you remember the game against Team Up North, Jack caught a pick. That was a big-time moment, but because we ended up losing, nobody showed it love, so him doing it against Texas was the culmination.
Carson Hinzman
We’re all sitting on the O-line bench and just got cold rags on our heads. [On the first three plays of the goal-line stand] I’m like, “I can’t look.” Then I was like, “All right, well, maybe I’ll look for this last play.” Thankfully, I did, because that was pretty cool. I take my wet rag, and I throw it right in the face of someone who’s like the closest fan to us. I can’t even remember if they were from Texas or not. I was running on the field hugging everybody. It was crazy. I think Hero [Kanu] punched me in the chest so hard. I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” But that was a pretty cool experience.
Mickey Marotti
Fourth-and-8, I’m like, “There’s no way they’re going to score.” I just felt we had ’em. I was standing on the 20, and I’m like, “Oh shit, he’s going to sack him.” And the ball bounced right back to [Sawyer]. That never happens to us. It always bounces out of bounds or we miss the [critical] field goal or [Jeff ] Okudah strips the guy [in the 2019 Clemson game] and it’s not [ruled] a fumble. We don’t get calls [or breaks] ever. Never! Never! I’m like, “Oh my God, he’s got the ball. It’s in his hands and he’s taking off.” I kept looking for a flag because we always get a flag.
Jayden Fielding
I hadn’t gone in the game in probably 20 or 30 minutes of real time, so I had my helmet off. I was warming up because it’s late in the fourth quarter and I’ve got to get ready to maybe kick a game-winning field goal. I’m not even looking at the field. Then I just hear this [hush sound] and then the roar of the crowd. I look up and Jack is running down the sideline, and I start running. And then I’m like, “Oh shit, I’ve got to go in the game” for the extra point. So I had to run all the way back down the sideline, grab my helmet, and run all the way back. I had to catch my breath. I was telling Joe [McGuire, the holder], “We’re going to the national championship! We’re going to the national championship game.” And he’s like, “Breathe. You’ve got to make the extra point.”(Fielding’s extra point made it 28–14. Caleb Downs had an interception on Texas’ final possession to ice the victory.)
It was a crazy moment. That was the best play on defense that I think I’ve ever seen.
Luke Montgomery
I think all of us on the offensive line were holding hands on the bench. When we were looking at the big screen and saw the strip sack, we all stood up as fast as any fat guys could stand up and started running down the field with them, us 300-pound big boys.After the play, I was on the kicking team, and I saw Pat McAfee behind the end zone. Everyone has a picture of me throwing the “Horns down” after that play. I wasn’t doing it to the Texas fans. I was actually doing it to Pat McAfee because I know he picked Oregon over us the game before.
RJ Day
I was on the opposite 30-yard line on the sideline looking up at the Jumbotron. I held my breath when they snapped the ball. I saw Jack break, and I saw the ball pop out, and I looked down to see it in real time. I just saw him running, and I started jumping up and down with tears coming down my face because I knew in my heart that Notre Dame wasn’t as good as Texas was.Everything that happened leading up to that point — all the hardships, everything that we had to go through — just came back in that moment as I saw him run into the end zone. I looked for my mom and I just started punching the air, looking at her, and she’s crying. And I looked to my dad and he’s jumping up and down. It was just a full circle moment for everything that we had gone through.
Nina Day
I’m in the crowd in the first row. When he hit Quinn, I turned around and put my hands in my face. I was sitting with Matt Dufour, who’s one of Ryan’s best friends from back home, my best friend. His father was my dad’s assistant coach for 40-plus years and he’s like family to us. I just fell into his arms and didn’t see the play at all. Everyone was screaming and I was just asking, “Is there a flag? Is there a flag?” So I never saw it. I could see what was about to happen and I thought, “I can’t watch.” There’s a picture of me in the stands with my back turned and my head down in my hands.When he got into the end zone, I started jumping up and down. I have a soft spot for Jack. I always have. I remember sitting in the stands at a basketball game with him when he was still in high school, and we were sharing Swedish Fish and just talking. After the natty, he’s like, “From now on, you’re aunt Nina and he’s uncle Ryan.” He’ll always be family.
Will Howard
I had my head in a Gatorade towel and my head in my hands. As the ball got snapped, I looked up and I see Jack tearing off the side. Quinn slides to the left a little and then I see Jack hit him, and the ball popped out. I immediately jumped up, put my hands in the air, and started screaming. He’s carrying the ball down the sideline, and I just started losing my fucking mind. I don’t know what noises were coming out of me, but I was screaming bloody murder. I’m going crazy, jumping up and down, yelling, “Run, Jack! Go, Jack!” It was one of the craziest feelings of my life. It was just the adrenaline pumping through me.When I came over to the sideline and started screaming at him, and that video went viral of me shaking him. I think I said, “Are you fucking kidding? Let’s fucking go, man!” I was talking to Jack the other night, and he said he has no memory of what I said. He just knows I was going crazy in his face.
Quinshon Judkins
It was a surreal feeling. It almost felt like it wasn’t real. I just remember running down the sideline, screaming at my teammates and all of us were just jumping full of joy. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We’re just screaming, like, “We’re going to the national championship!” That’s just the moment that you dream of, when I revert back to when it was snowing and it’s cold and you’re sitting in that car with Will Howard [after first transferring] and we were like, “Let’s go fucking do this shit.” To foreshadow that to where we were at that point, it was like, “Wow, we actually did it.” It’s crazy. We’re at where we want to be and on track and the sky’s the limit. To witness that and be a part of it and help contribute to it, it’s something I’ll always remember.
Buckeye Brotherhood by Bill Rabinowitz is out now.
