GLENDALE, Ariz. – Even in defeat a gutsy performance should still be remembered.

Usually a heroic performance pushes a team through to victory, but the Buckeyes were unable to capitalize on the gutty showing from J.K. Dobbins. During the final offensive drive, the junior captain looked to cap off a storybook ending on his hobbled ankle, but the script ended on a sourer note and the Buckeyes going home empty-handed.

“J.K. is a Buckeye legend for everything he’s done for this program and the heart and soul he poured into it,” Josh Myers said. “That was one of the more gutsy performances I have ever seen from a guy.”

Dobbins exploded in the first half for the Buckeyes, who are not strangers to big performances from running backs in the playoff. In the inaugural playoff, Ezekiel Elliott was able to dash for 230 rushing yards and two touchdowns against Alabama; this performance came on the heels of a Big Ten Championship game performance in which Elliott ran for 220 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Playing possessed all season, Dobbins seemed to be on a similar postseason trajectory as the now Dallas Cowboy through the first half of the Fiesta Bowl. In fact, Dobbins was able to explode onto the scene, gaining 141 rushing yards on six carries in the first quarter. Similar to Elliott, Dobbins had excelled in the Big Ten Championship, tallying 172 rushing yards and a touchdown.

The Texas native announced himself in the game when he was able to bust a 68-yard run to mark the game’s first touchdown and increase the score to 10-0. The run made Dobbins the Ohio State record holder for most rushing yards in a season, passing Eddie George’s previous record of 1,927 rushing yards.

Dobbins was also able to run another for 64 yards before being tripped up at the Clemson eight-yard line. He would finish with 144 rushing yards in the first half.

“Couple of those first runs in the first half, he came out of the back end of those things, he looked powerful,” Ryan Day said. “What a gritty performance by him to come back in the game and play.”

The night was going smoothly for both Dobbins and the Buckeyes until an untimely two-yard loss with just over two minutes remaining in the first half resulted in Dobbins leaving the game with an ankle injury.

Going from up 16 points to only up two and Dobbins’s health up in the air, the Buckeyes had lost all momentum going into halftime. On the first offensive play for the Buckeyes in the second half, Dobbins came up lame running a route and immediately was taken back to the locker room.

“He had an ankle there. He had to fight through that. He got it taped up. He came in, he came out,” Day said. “He was really working through that, but I think it did affect his play a little bit. He didn't have that, like I said, explosion.”

It is in the bleak moments that legends are born, and Dobbins was able to reemerge and trot back onto the field for Ohio State’s next drive. Dobbins would only rush for 30 yards in the second half on nine carries, but his impact was made in his presence in the passing game.

“Well, they made some good adjustments up front,” Day said on Clemson's defense. We were throwing the ball a lot in the second half. Receivers and the protection and Justin [Fields], they made some big plays. But it was hard to run the ball. They were kind of coming at us different ways.”

On a wrapped-up ankle, Dobbins was able to haul in six catches for 47 yards in the second half. The grit was especially on display in the most crucial drive of the season for the Buckeyes.

With the Buckeyes trailing 29-23 with 1:49 left in the fourth quarter, Ohio State needed to go 75 yards to the end zone to advance to New Orleans. Dobbins was able to deliver on 31 of these yards on three catches, but the drive would result in an interception, ending Ohio State’s title hopes.

A season in which he rushed for 2,003 yards and 21 touchdowns would conclude without its storybook ending, but there is no denying that Dobbins, who will likely enter the 2020 NFL Draft, possessed the heart of a champion when the Buckeyes need him most.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that just want to win and want to do it for their brothers,” Dobbins said after the game. “We just didn’t make the plays we needed to make tonight.”