Last week, we began our look back at all 19 of Ohio State’s touchdowns from the Buckeyes’ 2024 College Football Playoff national championship. The countdown began with numbers 19 through 11 — largely supersized due to four nearly identical 1-yard runs by Quinshon Judkins.
This week, we continue reviewing Ohio State’s historic four-game run through the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff with a look at touchdowns No. 10 through No. 6 in the countdown. This is, admittedly, completely subjective, but I did consider some criteria to make my decisions.
Among those was the degree of difficulty of each scoring play, the magnitude of the moment (i.e., how clutch they were), and the “wow” factor. Was I consistent in applying these criteria? I don’t know. As always, I’m just a guy with a keyboard who loves college football.
10. Will Howard to Jeremiah Smith from 43 yards vs. Oregon
We open the Top 10 in the Rose Bowl, with the transfer quarterback firing a bomb to the freshman. As Pat McAfee says in the clip, Smith was “wide-ass open,” but it was the way he got open that makes him so special.
Blazing down the field, Smith was inexplicably left in one-on-one coverage with Tysheem Johnson. Although the clip I chose (poorly, but it does include the requisite desciption of how open Smith was) doesn’t show the end zone look. Smith sold a move to the left with his head and entire body lean.
Johnson, not realizing Smith is a literal wizard instead of a typical freshman wide receiver, bought every bit of that fake. Smith broke back to his right while Johnson was literally running the other direction. That’s why Howard only had to make sure he didn’t overthrow his receiver.
The Buckeyes were already up 17-0 when this play occurred early in the second quarter, and the Rose Bowl felt done and dusted when Smith crossed the goal line.
9. TreVeyon Henderson’s 66-yard run vs. Oregon
Although the Rose Bowl felt over two minutes earlier, it was seriously over with just under nine minutes remaining in the first half. Ohio State took over the ball after stopping Oregon and added to its big lead.
Carnell Tate provided the eye candy for some backfield misdirection as Howard handed off to Henderson. The speedy tailback followed Donovan Jackson into a gaping hole up the middle and then cut sharply to the outside on the right, making mincemeat of the defensive back’s angle.
From there, the play was over as long as Henderson stayed in bounds, which he did, blasting down the field and into the end zone to extend the Buckeyes’ lead over the Ducks to 31-0 with more than eight minutes remaining in the first half.
At this point, Ohio State fans were happy to relax and enjoy the rest of the beatdown, knowing a spot in the semifinals was all but assured.
8. Henderson’s 24-yard run vs. Tennessee
It wasn’t as long of a touchdown run that extended Ohio State’s lead to 42-10 against Tennessee in the Horseshoe, but it was an impressive run. Henderson took the handoff on second-and-10 and promptly ran into a wall a yard behind the line of scrimmage.
Giving ground, Henderson broke left, then set up his defender and cut sharply straight up the gut, racing 24 yards to the house early in the fourth quarter. It was time to get the backups into the game and make Rose Bowl travel plans.
7. Howard to Judkins from six yards vs. Notre Dame
Leading by one score late in the second quarter against the Fighting Irish, the Buckeyes made a smart play on second-and-4 to take control entering the break. While it wasn’t the most flashy play, there were a lot of moving parts.
Howard did well to field a low snap in the shotgun and surveyed the field. Feeling the pressure from his right, Howard stepped up and realized that he had three defenders closing on him. The math wasn’t there to make anything of the play with his feet, and Howards wisely kept his eyes downfield.
Judkins found space and threw up his hand to show Howard he was open. The quarterback pulled the defense toward him and sent a harder-than-it-looks pass back across his body to the running back to extend Ohio State’s lead in the national championship game with less than half a minute to play in the first half.
It was a critical play in a tight game with everything on the line.
6. Howard to Smith from 37 yards vs. Tennessee
The touchdown that set the tone for Ohio State’s run to the natty came early in the game against Tennessee. The Buckeyes went on offense first and started their first postseason possession of the 12-team College Football Playoff at their own 25-yard line.
It wasn’t a drive for the ages. The Volunteers extended what would have been a three-and-out with a facemask penalty, and the drive included a 1-yard loss on a Judkins run and a false start by Ohio State. Howard found Henderson to get the Buckeyes into plus territory and then went to work down the field.
Smith got single coverage on the left, and Howard let fly a perfect strike into the corner. Rickey Gibson III interfered with Smith, pulling down the freshman’s right arm before the abll arrived. That didn’t matter to Smith, who was strong enough to fight through the contact and haul in an over-the-shoulder catch to open the scoring.
The play electrified the Ohio Stadium crowd, gave the Buckeyes early momentum, and set the stage for a 42-17 dismantling of Tennessee.
That’ll do it for the second part of this three-week look at Ohio State’s touchdowns in the College Football Playoff run. We’ll bring you the top five next week.
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