Ohio State quarterback Will Howard was blocked from entering the Rose Bowl stage after leading the Buckeyes to a famous win over Oregon on Wednesday.
Howard outdueled Heisman Trophy finalist Dillon Gabriel as Ohio State advanced to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff, demolishing the unbeaten Ducks 41-21 in California. As the Buckeyes roster gathered on stage to celebrate the victory, there was one notable omission as their quarterback was nowhere to be seen.
A video has since emerged of Howard desperately trying to join his teammates on stage but being denied access by security. In the video, Howard can be seen pleading with security, while telling reporters that he’s being “blocked” due to a “weight issue”.
Howard eventually appears to give up, and the video ends with him running down the side of the stage as the ceremony proceeds. It was an unfortunate ending after a brilliant individual performance by the quarterback, but his focus remains on their next test against Texas.
Ohio State now has a huge opportunity, and Howard has the chance to silence his critics this season. The Ducks were 13-0 before Wednesday night, but Howard believes that the “angry” approach adopted by the Buckeyes was the difference.
“We came out and played angry and I think it showed,” Howard said after the game. “We jumped out to an early lead and it was hard for them to come back. We knew they were going to come back and do something, theyre too good of a team to not score any points.
“We knew they were going to mount some sort of a comeback. It wasnt going to be perfect so we just had to weather the storm and make sure that we won the game when it counted.”
Howard had 319 yards and three touchdowns on the night, and Oregon head coach Dan Lanning admitted that his team was second-best all evening. “They clicked tonight and we didnt,” Lanning said. “And I didnt get our team prepared.
“And thats a great team. When you play a great team like Ohio State, you cant not be clicking on all cylinders. And they were. They were clicking on all cylinders. We really didnt have the ability to stop them, and we didnt have the ability to get something going for us on offense.
“And we havent faced a lot of moments like this all year. Its an unbelievable team. Coach Day and his staff have done an unbelievable job there.”
Mentally, it was a huge win for the Buckeyes after losing 32-31 against the Ducks earlier this season. Howard was delighted to get one over Oregon but knows he must look forward and forget the past. “Its unbelievable,” Howard said. “A younger me would be in awe and I just got to take it all in and enjoy this with my boys and we got two more [games], so were not done yet.”
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