COLUMBUS, Ohio – A play in the 2016 game against Michigan will have an indirect impact on how the 2019 matchup between the Buckeyes and Wolverines turns out.
It is a late-November day in Ohio, and the ball sits on the left hash of the 15-yard line. No. 2 Ohio State trails No. 3 Michigan 27-24. The game not only has Big Ten Championship implications, but it acts as a play-in game to the College Football Playoff.
On first and 10 in the second overtime, J.T. Barrett hands the ball off to Curtis Samuel, who on the previous third down was able to scamper around and get the ball into a fourth-and-one situation.
When Samuel touched the ball at the beginning of what would be the final play, he had 71 yards from scrimmage on the day. The final 15 yards he was able to accumulate before crossing into the endzone and sealing the game are what people remember the most, however.
Samuel finished his Ohio State career with 2,535 yards from scrimmage and 24 total touchdowns, but his career will forever be remembered for a play that lasted about five seconds and is worth six points.
That is how important the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is. The game can cement legacies, and a team’s performance in the heightened atmosphere can have an impressionable impact on recruits.
One of the recruits that was in the stadium at the time of Samuel's touchdown was current Ohio State linebacker Pete Werner.
“I saw that and I was like, ‘Woah, are you kidding me? I gotta come here,’” Werner said on the play. “It was just one of those plays. I think I’m not the only one to say that, too. I was right next to other recruits and they were like, ‘Wow, this atmosphere.’”
Even after the game, Werner was still in awe of what he had watched transpire.
“I remember talking to Urban Meyer after the game and it sold me from there” Werner said. “He was like, ‘Wow, did you see that play? Did you see this game?' And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah I did.’”
Werner was watching an integral piece of the 2016 team make the clutch play in the biggest game of the season. For any Ohio State player, it is a dream to make the big play against Michigan, and it is this potential that draws certain players to Ohio State.
For Werner, Ohio State was truly unlike any school he looked at, and the unique atmosphere of The Game helped convince him to be a Buckeye.
“If I went to another school and I saw them perform well and I saw a great tradition there, I would be in wow of that. I came here and saw that and felt like they did it better than any other team in the country and I was sold.
Three years later, Werner is now a pivotal contribute to an undefeated Ohio State team that will be tasked with going to Ann Arbor, Michigan in order to keep a magical season alive.
Ryan Day, the coach at the helm for the Buckeyes, also had Samuel’s run stick out to him as a key memory of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
“One of the most heated rivalries. I remember watching it. I remember being in a hotel room watching when Curtis Samuel scored in double overtime,” Day said. “So many memories of what this game means. No mystery throughout the country that it's the biggest rivalry in all sports.”
While the Buckeyes make their final preparations before Saturday, just know that the journey to this game has been longer than a week. Some may say that the preparation begins in the offseason, but one could argue that the path to this game spans the length of a player’s recruitment and career.
“In recruiting we talk to them right from the get-go. That's one of the reasons why some people come to school here, is for the rivalry,” Day said. “We make such a big deal of it.”
Who knows what impact this game could have on the future, but just know that there is a potential that it could sway a key contributor down the line to don the Scarlet and Gray.
