Ohio State head coach Ryan Day on what propelled his team to a win over Texas at the Cotton Bowl: “I believe that the resilience that we’ve had to show throughout the entire season and through some of these guys’ careers has led us to this opportunity to win this game and go play for a national championship. We talked before the game about how you can leave a legacy. (You do that by) becoming your own legend, and there are some guys on this team today that I believe will become legends in Ohio State history. We also talked about how we want to keep this team together. It’s a great team. They’ve been through a lot. They’re resilient, and they’re great people. They do everything the right way. And so now they get 10 more days together and an opportunity to tell their story if they go win one more.”
More from Day on the team’s resilience and character: “We’ve been through difficult times together. How do you know about someone’s character? When you go through tough times with them. Everything is easy when things are going well. Everyone can be a front-runner. So I think we talk about those things because our story has been – the last couple years has been ups and downs. But to see the team play the way that they did in the fourth quarter today, I think that’s why that’s relevant. That’s why we’re talking about it. Because I don’t think without
going through those things, we would have come through the way we did in the fourth quarter. And now we have the opportunity to play for a national championship, and I couldn’t be prouder of our guys, I couldn’t be.”
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian on his initial thoughts of the Cotton Bowl thriller: “Hell of a football game. Two really good teams balling. They made two big plays. They hit the screen at the end of the first half and got the sack-fumble on fourth down there for a touchdown. Give a ton of credit to Ohio State. They’re a very good football team, well-coached. I’m really proud of our players for the resiliency they showed tonight to fight back to get into the game. As I told them, today’s game is the life of a competitor. You put yourself in this arena. You compete your tail off. But we have nothing to hang our heads about because of the way they competed, not only tonight but this entire season.”
Ohio State senior defensive end Jack Sawyer on his game-sealing, 83-yard scoop-and-score touchdown: “It just means everything to me. What a play. I kind of blacked out on the run over (to the end zone) when I picked it up, but I was just put into a great position by the coaches. I saw the ball popped out right to me after I tackled (Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers), and I was just thinking, I just need to stay on my feet, because like I said, I almost blacked out when I scooped it and I saw nothing but green grass ahead of me.”
Ohio State senior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka on Sawyer’s touchdown: “It was like something out of a movie or something like that. I was just screaming, everybody was screaming. It was probably the most legendary play that I’ve ever seen in person. It’s going to go down as one of the greatest plays in Buckeye history if we win the one next week.”
Ewers on his perspective of his former Ohio State roommate’s scoop-and-score: “I felt him. I started drifting away. I thought I was going to be able to get the ball off before he got there, obviously. It’s not like I tried to give them the game. But I saw Jack running with the ball down the sideline. It sucks, man. But he’s a great player, great individual, great person. We were roommates when I was up at Ohio State. So, it just sucks. It sucks. Jack’s a good player, and he made a good play.”
Sawyer on what he said to Ewers after the game: “I just said ‘Great season.’ He’s a good guy. He’s a great dude. He’s had a lot of success, and he’s a great person. I just told him, ‘Keep your head up. You played a great game, and you have a great future ahead of you. Stay in touch with me soon.’ Shoutout to Texas. They’re a great team, a great group of coaches on that staff. They punched us hard a few times, and it was a battle all the way to the fourth quarter the way we knew it would be.”
Ohio State fifth-year quarterback Will Howard on how motivated he was to beat Texas for the first time in his career: “Yeah, that was a motivation for me. But, man, that didn’t mean as much as keeping this team together. That’s all we wanted to do. We talked about that this whole playoff. We’re fighting for another chance to wear this jersey again and to be with this group again.”
Howard on the offense’s 13-play, 88-yard drive that gave the Buckeyes a 21-14 lead late in the fourth quarter: “That was a statement drive. It took a lot – 13 plays, 88 yards. We talked about it before the game. ‘We’re going to have to work this game, and we’re going to have to methodically move the ball down the field.’ I’m just so proud of our offense that we were able to get the game – we talk about it all the time – get the game to the fourth quarter, and that’s where we’ll win it. We leaned back on our training. And all that work that we put in, that’s for that time. I’m just so proud of our guys. The O-line played great.”
Ohio State senior offensive lineman Donovan Jackson on if it felt like a “drop your nuts” moment for the offensive line on that touchdown drive: “It certainly did. Man we had to drop our nuts in that quarter. We knew the momentum was going to and from, and we felt as an O-line that the run lanes were starting to open up a little bit. When that happened, we were in the huddle, (Ohio State senior offensive lineman Josh Fryar) and I were yelling, ‘We have to go now.’ This is the drive we have to execute on. Being able to execute there, that’s a ‘drop your nuts’ moment right there.”
Jackson on what the overall message was in the huddle before Howard’s key 18-yard rush on fourth-and-2: “We have to have it. I know it’s an obvious answer, but in that situation, at that point of the game, we knew we had to have it. Coming off the sideline, Coach Day was like, ‘The time is now. If you want to be great, you have to be great now.’ So on fourth-and-2, running the ball, obviously Will trips up – I’m going to give him crap for that later – but being able to execute in that situation was a testament to everyone’s hard work and drive to be successful.”
Day on if advancing to the national championship with a win at the Cotton Bowl just one year after losing to Missouri in the same stadium is a full circle moment for him and the team: “Yeah. I mean, it’s not finished, though. It’s not finished. We did just walk in here and say the same thing. What a difference a year makes, but we’re not done yet.”
