INDIANAPOLIS – It was not pretty, but the Buckeyes managed to ride the hot hand and powerful legs of Trey Sermon with an uncharacteristically bad day from quarterback Justin Fields. Sermon's 331 yards, a Big Ten Championship game record, would help the Buckeyes erase a deficit that went well into the second half as the Buckeyes found the end zone at the most critical of times and secured a fourth consecutive Big Ten Championship over Northwestern, 22-10.

That 331 yard outburst breaks Eddie George's mark of 314 yards for the Buckeyes single-game rushing mark.

The Buckeyes were down 22 players for this game with a second COVID outbreak knocking starters like Chris Olave, Drue Chrisman and Baron Browning. Ohio State was also without starting safety Marcus Hooker, who was with the team but did not suit up.

This forced the Buckeyes to shuffle the deck and might explain for a very disjointed effort on offense as executions and play calling could both be called into question for much of the game.

Justin Fields was 12-27 on the day for 114 yards and two picks along with no touchdowns. Obviously his worst day as an Ohio State player, obviously missing Chris Olave out there but credit to Northwestern for having Fields number on Saturday. FIelds said during a postgame interview that he had sprained his thumb, which also could have led to a subpar outing.

Ohio State put together a long drive on its first touch of the ball and appeared to have scored a touchdown on a Fields keeper but a holding penalty by Harry Miller took those points off the board and then a sack of Fields would force the Buckeyes to settle for a field goal, an all too familiar trend in the half. That would mark the first time that the Buckeyes did not score a touchdown on their opening possession all season, but then again, Ohio State scored zero touchdowns in the opening two quarters of the game.

Northwestern would march down the field on its first drive, going 75 yards on seven plays and capping off with the half's only touchdown on a nine-yard run by Cam Porter.

The half was also summed up by Ohio State's last possession before going to the locker room, the Buckeyes would break a big run with Sermon and then would put the run away and continue to pass, ultimately ending with a Brandon Joseph one-handed pick in front of Garrett Wilson.

It was not really until midway through the third quarter that the Buckeyes decided to making running a priority and it paid off as the Buckeyes finally found the end zone for the first time on a nine-yard Sermon run, putting the Buckeyes up for the first time since the opening possession, 13-10.

The Buckeyes would have more opportunities after a Josh Proctor interception that did not lead to points and then a Ramsey fumble would lead to three points, putting Ohio State up by six with 12 minutes to go.

Ohio State would finally determine that the best offense was with Sermon and would keep it on the ground almost exclusively and Sermon would cap things off with a three-yard score to give Ohio State its first two-score lead of the game, 22-10.

The Buckeyes tried to get Sermon one more score and the final drive ended inside the 10-yard line but Ohio State held on to the ball in the final 30 seconds and got out of town with the 12-point win.

Now Ohio State has to sit back and see what is next for them. It would also be nice to get that 21-day Big Ten COVID rule modified as well.