Counting Down the Top 10 Plays of Ohio State's 2025 Football Season

By Andy Anders on February 5, 2026 at 8:35 am
Carnell Tate catches a deep ball vs. Texas
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Ohio State’s 2025 season came to a disappointing end, but that didn’t mean there weren’t a few fantastic memories along the way.

The Buckeyes snapped their four-game losing streak in The Game in emphatic fashion. They opened the season with a win over the preseason No. 1 team in the land, Texas, and defeated each of their next 11 opponents by at least 18 points. Seven All-Americans, a number that tied a school record, fueled a litany of great plays throughout the season.

Star wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate were responsible for the most impactful plays of the season, but there were highlights scattered across the year. With more than a month having come and gone since Ohio State’s Cotton Bowl loss to Miami that closed its campaign, we’re counting down the top 10 plays from the Buckeyes’ 2025 season.

Honorable Mention: Davison Igbinosun intercepts tipped pass in Big Ten Championship Game

Ohio State’s defense made a calvacade of plays to keep the Buckeyes alive against Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game, despite the offense sputtering repeatedly in the face of a relentless Hoosier defensive front. Nickel Lorenzo Styles Jr. and cornerback Davison Igbinosun teamed up for the biggest Buckeye play of the contest, the former tipping a screen pass and the latter intercepting it to set the offense up for its lone touchdown drive at Indiana’s 25-yard line.

Honorable Mention: Julian Sayin connects with Jeremiah Smith on 4th-and-2 to claw back into the Cotton Bowl

Trailing Miami 17-7 early in the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, Ryan Day elected to go for it on 4th-and-2 rather than settle for a 31-yard field goal attempt. Smith split two defenders with his dig route, snagged a ball from Julian Sayin and raced around three defenders to the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown against his hometown team. It was the highlight of a game that finished on some of the lowest notes of Ohio State’s season.

Honorable Mention: 50-yard bomb puts Michigan on the ropes

More plays are to follow from this game in the top 10, but this strike from Sayin to Tate all but iced Ohio State’s snow-covered win at Michigan midway through the third quarter. It was clean pass protection and a good throw, but ultimately, a coverage bust left the speeding Tate open as a barn door for the score.

10. Caden Curry scoops and nearly scores his strip sack

Curry emerged as an anchor at defensive end for the Buckeyes throughout the course of 2025, finally getting his opportunity to start as a senior after providing great depth behind Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau for two years. Curry led Ohio State in both sacks (11) and tackles for loss (16.5) in 2025.

The Buckeyes never felt in danger of losing to overmatched Rutgers, but with Smith and Tate both out with injury, their offense struggled to get off the ground in the game. After carrying a mere 14-3 lead into halftime, Ohio State punted on its first drive of the second half. Then Curry grabbed a storm of momentum.

Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis dropped back to pass at his own 12-yard line as Curry came flying off the edge. He smoked a Scarlet Knight offensive tackle with a long-arm speed rush, clubbing Kaliakmanis as he cocked his arm back to throw and knocking the football free. Curry scooped up the loose change and tumbled toward the goal line, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run that put the Buckeyes ahead 21-3 en route to a 42-9 win.

Postscript: I’m still not sure Curry wasn’t robbed of what would have been his only career touchdown on a play that was never stopped for a review.

9. Silver Bullets stuff Arch Manning on 4th-and-goal

In 2024, Ohio State’s defense built a legacy as Goal Line Stand University (we have a shirt!) for its litany of critical goal-line stands in big games. The most famous of those came in the CFP semifinals against Texas, which culminated in the famous Scoop-and-Sawyer or Lone Star Heist (we have another shirt!) play.

That trend continued into 2025. With the Buckeyes clutching to a 7-0 lead in the second half of a defense-dominated season-opener against the Longhorns, Texas elected to go for a game-tying touchdown on 4th-and-goal at Ohio State’s 1-yard line. A quarterback sneak for the 6-foot-4 Manning seemed apt as a play call. The Silver Bullets had other ideas.

Eight different Ohio State defenders were involved in stonewalling a pile of Texas bodies well before Manning could break the plane. Defensive tackles Kayden McDonald, Eddrick Houston and Will Smith Jr. route hogged low to stop the momentum of the offensive linemen while Curry, Caleb Downs and Sonny Styles met Manning over the top to deny him the end zone and preserve the Buckeyes’ seven-point advantage in the 14-7 win.

8. Jeremiah Smith snags a ricochet one-handed to seal Penn State win

A 31-14 fourth-quarter lead likely holds up for Ohio State against Penn State, perhaps the most disappointing team in college football this past season. But this catch put the perfect exclamation point on the Buckeyes’ ninth straight win over the Nittany Lions.

Penn State safety Zakee Wheatley leapt to deflect a pass from Sayin that, all things being fair, should have been intercepted by cornerback Elliot Washington II. The problem is, Smith is an inherently unfair player.

Smith picked up the tip with incredible reaction time and tracked it directly into his right hand, snatching it with far too much ease for an 11-yard touchdown. It put FOX play-by-play broadcaster Gus Johnson into a voice crack that never seemed to end – hysterics that are warranted. Add it to the long list of Smith’s superhuman plays with still one year to go in his college career.

7. Bo Jackson turns a 2-yard loss into a 36-yard gain at Michigan

Jackson became the latest freshman to post a legendary performance in his first-ever Michigan game, racking up 166 yards from scrimmage in 22 runs and four receptions. He should have been dead to rights on his biggest run of the afternoon.

Star Wolverine linebacker Jimmy Rolder had Jackson squared up in the backfield with help arriving from defensive back TJ Metcalf. Jackson threw on the brakes, stutter-stepped to his left, then dashed back out to the right as both men grasped air on their tackle attempts. With help from a great downfield block by Tate, Jackson coasted away from the Michigan defense until a pair of players at last forced him out of bounds at the 3-yard line.

Ohio State settled for a field goal, but it set the tone of an iconic performance from Jackson and leveled the momentum as the Buckeyes cut their early deficit from 6-0 to 6-3.

6. Kayden McDonald steals a football

McDonald’s breakout junior season saw him earn unanimous first-team All-American honors as arguably the nation’s best defensive tackle, racking up an unbelievable stat line of 65 tackles, nine TFL and three sacks. This play against Illinois stands out as one of the best individual defensive efforts from an Ohio State player this season.

Fighting Illini running back Ca’Lil Valentine took a handoff and was met at the line of scrimmage by Buckeye safety Jaylen McClain. He spun out of that initial tackle, but into the waiting arms of McDonald, who grabbed hold of the back through a block before latching onto the football in Valentine’s arms as he spun to the ground.

McDonald ripped the pigskin from Valentine’s grasp and emerged from the pile of bodies, hoisting it as the Buckeyes would the Illibuck trophy later that day. The takeaway gave Ohio State the ball back with a 13-0 lead in the midst of a 34-16 road victory. Valentine, unfortunately, sustained a season-ending knee injury on the play.

5. James Peoples hurdles to the end zone

Peoples’ sophomore season didn’t go to plan, part and parcel why he’s since transferred to Penn State. But he delivered the most memorable rushing highlight of Ohio State’s season before his departure.

As the Buckeyes led UCLA 17-0 in the final 90 seconds of the first half, Peoples took an inside handoff and looped behind a stout downfield block by right tackle Phillip Daniels. There, Bruin defensive back Cole Martin appeared to have an angle. But it’s hard to have angles on the very sky above you.

Peoples sprung what felt like 10 feet into the air to avoid all contact from the UCLA defender, landed in stride and dashed the remaining 7 yards to the house for a 19-yard touchdown. The hurdling score put Ohio State ahead 24-0 as it entered halftime.

4. Lorenzo Styles Jr. ends 15-year kick return touchdown drought

It’s strange that two of Ohio State’s top five plays of the season come from an otherwise forgettable 48-10 evisceration of UCLA, but the feats of both are undeniable. Especially the excitement of something that hadn’t happened for the Buckeyes in far too long.

When Styles first brought a kick return out from 2 yards deep in the end zone against the Bruins, it seemed to be a fool’s errand. Then he ran left and glided past two UCLA defenders at his own 10-yard line. Then he picked up a block from walk-on linebacker Joey Velazquez and flew past two more.

Two more blocks from wide receivers Brandon Inniss and Bryson Rodgers left the Bruins’ kickoff unit dusted as Styles unleashed the full danger of his speed for a 100-yard kick return touchdown, the longest possible at the college level, which doesn’t account for additional yards from within a player’s own end zone.

For the first time since a Jordan Hall runback in 2010, Ohio State had a kick return touchdown. A 15-year drought was snapped by the former wide receiver turned cornerback. It was a rare special teams highlight for the Buckeyes in 2025.

3. Carnell Tate Mosses two Wisconsin defenders at once for an explosive touchdown

For the handful of readers unfamiliar, the football slang term “Mossed” is a verb used to describe the action of a receiver leaping over a defender to make a spectacular contested catch, coined from the play of Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss, who made a career out of explosive catches of such a variety. The term rose to greater prominence through Moss’ role on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, which featured him hosting a segment highlighting top catches from around the world of sports called “You Got Mossed.”

On October 18th, 2025, Carnell Tate Mossed two Wisconsin defenders on one play.

Sayin took a shotgun snap on 3rd-and-11 and evaded an initial interior rush from the Badgers. Then he planted his feet and fired toward Tate, who ran a skinny post route through the middle of Wisconsin’s secondary.

Tate seemed to float through the air as both Badger defenders converged, snagging the ball with two strong hands as he slammed to the ground in the back of the end zone with enough force to rip his helmet off. He emerged from the grasp of both hapless defensive backs with a shout and the game’s first touchdown on a 33-yard reception. 

Ohio State won 34-0 in Madison. Afterward, Moss sent Tate a pair of signed gloves that read, "You got Mossed!"

Tate will aim to Moss many more men in the NFL as a projected top-10 pick in the 2026 draft.

2. Carnell Tate’s spectacular scoring grab makes the difference against Texas

Tate occupies the No. 2 spot on this list, too, for making the biggest play of Ohio State’s second-biggest win of the season, its triumph over Texas. Michigan was the biggest win of the campaign, of course.

For years, now-former Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline raved about the strength and consistency of Tate’s hands for catching all sorts of contested and toe-drag catches. He put it on display throughout 2025, but the first warning to the nation of just how sure his hands were came on this play on the biggest season-opening stage in Buckeye history.

Texas cornerback Jaylon Gilbeau recovered beautifully after mimicking burnt toast at the beginning of Tate’s go route. He stood in a good position to break up an underthrown ball from Sayin, and indeed placed his arm directly between Tate’s hands to knock the ball loose when it hit his backside and a leaping Tate’s grasp.

But Tate, in a frighteningly simple maneuver, released the football, then grabbed it again to pin it against his chest and roll backward over Gilbeau across the goal line for a 40-yard touchdown. Another Mossing. As the snag put Ohio State up 14-0, it proved to be the game-winning score in a 14-7 victory over the then-No. 1 Longhorns.

1. Jeremiah Smith, Julian Sayin flip the momentum of The Game with 4th-down double-move touchdown pass

Ohio State took Michigan’s soul with a dominant win in inclement Ann Arbor weather on Nov. 29. A 27-9 victory left no doubt. But The Game didn’t start that way.

Michigan snapped off a 36-yard run on its first play from scrimmage to set up a 45-yard field goal for a 3-0 early lead. Sayin came out the next possession and tossed an interception to Wolverine defensive back Jyaire Hill, setting up another field goal drive off a short field to make it 6-0 for Michigan. Ohio State’s next drive made it all the way down to the 1-yard line for a 4th-and-goal, but a false start penalty forced the Buckeyes to settle for a field goal as UM took a 6-3 advantage into the second quarter.

An early interception. Untimely penalties. Unfinished drives. The first quarter of the 2025 renewal of The Game carried a similar feeling to Ohio State’s past four losses to its greatest rival. Then, rather than settle for a 52-yard field goal try or punt on 4th-and-5, Day elected to stay aggressive. He and Hartline dialed up a double-move to Smith.

Smith’s release, agility, burst and technique on a classic slant-and-go (sluggo) route left cornerback Zeke Berry’s feet in concrete. Sayin dropped the ball straight into the window between Berry and safety Brandyn Hillman. Smith hauled it in and strode into the end zone for a 35-yard go-ahead touchdown, giving Ohio State a 10-6 lead it never relinquished.

The play was reviewed for a bobble to see if it should be a Buckeye fumble and touchback to give Michigan the ball, but the call stood. The impact, ballsy play call, excellent route and precise throw make it stand as our No. 1 Ohio State play from the 2025 season, too.

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