ARLINGTON, Texas -- The call came down from the Ohio State coaches' booth. Not a play to be run, but a conclusion already made.
"Boy, they scored fast there," Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles remembered someone saying from above on the headphones near the end of Friday's College Football Playoff Cotton Bowl semifinal.
That was the mindset as Texas lined up first-and-goal from the Ohio State 1-yard line with just under four minutes to go. A tying touchdown to make it 21-21 seemed like a layup, a walk-in.
"They ain't scored yet," Knowles shot back to the coaches' booth.
And, indeed, Texas didn't. In front of their adoring fans in their home state with a national championship shot on the line, the Longhorns not only didn't score -- they were scored on.
The pride of Pickerington, Ohio, saw to it. They're calling defensive end Jack Sawyer's 83-yard scoop-and-score fumble return that sealed Ohio State's 28-14 win the biggest defensive play in program history.
It came after back-to-back pass interference penalties against Ohio State set up Texas at the one. It came after that precious yard to go. It came after at least one Ohio State coach assumed a score. It came after Texas was stuffed on first down, dropped for a seven-yard loss on second down, and threw incomplete on third down.
On fourth down? Sawyer time.
He came off the left edge and consumed Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, his old Ohio State roommate, more than he tackled him. The ball popped free, took one hop up into Sawyer's arms, and the former five-star was on his way. The Buckeyes followed and are now one game away from a national championship.
"He just became a legend in Buckeye history, in my opinion," coach Ryan Day told CBS Sports.
Sawyer's play was much bigger than that. It clinched a game that, to that point, looked altogether losable. The Buckeyes blew leads of 7-0, 14-7, and almost 21-14 -- this after dominating the first two rounds of the playoff, outscoring opponents by a combined 45 points.
This after outscoring opponents 42-0 in the first quarter of three playoff games. This game, though, was won by the defense. Sawyer's defense. The nation's No. 1 defense.
Ewers likely played his last game at Texas, coughing up that fumble and throwing an interception on the next series.
"The guys deserve all the praise in the world," Knowles said. "We're the No. 1 defense in the country. We have a bad play every now and then."
Not many lately.
Mostly, Sawyer's play was a bookend to what this season has become for Ohio State. This whole run might have started back on Nov. 30 following the Michigan loss.
You don't need another retelling of how the Buckeyes rebounded from that awful loss. You do need to know Sawyer's role in the melee aftermath.
It was the local kid who was singing "Carmen, Ohio" following the 13-10 loss when he heard a disturbance, turned around, and muttered something like, "F-this."
It was Sawyer who chased down those Wolverines trying to plant the flag, eventually wrestling it away. The resulting ugliness overshadowed Sawyer's game that day: four tackles and his first career interception near the goal line to stop a Michigan drive.
It wasn't enough.
Sawyer and the Buckeyes have spent the last six weeks making up for it. Late Friday night, Buckeye Nation collectively hit its knees in thanks.
"I missed it," Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said of Sawyer's score. "I was praying."
For Bucknuts everywhere, it will be one of those games where you remember where you were.
"I love this f-----' -- this damn team so much," Sawyer said, catching himself but not really. "I'd go to war for these guys over and over and over again ... Damn, what a moment."
Sawyer was Day's first recruit in his first full season after taking over for Urban Meyer, ranking as the No. 6 player in the class of 2021 behind quarterbacks Ewers and teammate J.T. Tuimoloau, among others. The Covid-19 pandemic meant Sawyer did not play his senior season at Pickerington North, but as a junior he was the OCC-Ohio Division Defensive Player of the Year with 37 tackles, 19 tackles for loss and 13.5 quarterback sacks.
Sawyer played both ways, never coming off the field on defense while also playing quarterback. As a junior, he passed for over 1,000 yards and rushed for 386 more, with six touchdowns on the ground, before being sidelined by an injury. Sawyer also made the varsity basketball team as a freshman.
For a while, the Ohio State coaching staff couldn't figure out exactly what to do with the 6-foot-5, 260-pound specimen, using him as a linebacker and defensive end. Sawyer turned down a chance to go to the NFL after last season. The second-team All-Big Ten talent then blossomed this year with nine sacks. He has been part of a unit that has 16 sacks in the three playoff games.
"Jack will never buy a drink again in the state of Ohio," offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. "For an Ohio kid to finish the Cotton Bowl that way ..."
Sawyer finished the night clutching the Cotton Bowl defensive MVP trophy and wearing a faux gold chain reading "Top 10." That supposedly was a reference to ESPN's top 10 plays. More to the point, the Cotton Bowl logo sewn to his jersey was torn half off -- a sign of the energy expended.
"We talked about it before the game," Day said. "How do you create a legacy and become your own legend? I think he just did it."
It's not possible to fast forward through the events that led to Sawyer's play that vaulted Ohio State into the national championship game for the first time in 10 years.
Ohio State scored on its first drive, punted on its next four possessions, and then got a squirrely 75-yard screen pass go for a touchdown late in the first half to go ahead 14-7.
With 29 seconds to go in the half, right guard Tegra Tshabola, center Carson Hinzman, and left guard Luke Montgomery looked like the Three Horsemen blocking out in front of tailback TreVeyon Henderson, who now has the two biggest gains of the postseason for the Buckeyes, a 66-yard run against Oregon and that 75-yard catch-and-run.
Texas linebacker David Gbenda added a bit of doubt when he intercepted Will Howard in the third quarter. Gbenda had gone an incredible 49 months between picks of Howard. He intercepted the then-Kansas State quarterback in 2020.
Ohio State got serious again with a drive that took almost half of the fourth quarter to go ahead 21-14.
For what seemed like the first time all night, the Texas offense then sparked to life with Gunnar Helm catching a 34-yard pass from Ewers. Helm then made the mind-fart decision to point at the defender he beat, earning a misconduct penalty.
No problem. Ewers then hit Matthew Golden tumbling backward for 27 yards to the Buckeyes' 13. On consecutive plays from the Ohio State six, safety Lathan Ransom and corner Jermaine Mathews were called for pass interference.
The ball was on the one.
"That's the most important place on the field when you're that close, trying to punch it in," Texas tailback Quintrevion Wisner said. "We had a sense of urgency."
Not enough of one. It was on this field a year ago that an Ohio State team decimated by injuries and defections lost to Missouri 14-3 in the Cotton Bowl.
"A sour taste in our mouth," is how Sawyer described it. "We heard a lot of things. Then we came back and heard the same things a month ago."
Failure is one heck of a motivator. Coming off the edge to destroy the quarterback is a heck of a rush, too.
"I felt like I was in quicksand," Sawyer said. "I was trying to get to the end zone so fast."
For the second straight year, Texas' season ended in a playoff semifinal, in the red zone, with everything on the line. Last year, the Longhorns' season ran out of downs on the Washington 12 in the Sugar Bowl.
"I think that's how life is," Ewers surmised. "You're going to get punched in the face in some hard moments."