With Ohio State happily running the clock out late in the fourth quarter in their eventual 28-17 win over Penn State on Saturday and faced with a fourth-and-5 situation, Buckeye head coach Ryan Day decided to call a pass play with an eye on a dagger into the end zone.
What happened, however, was a Penn State sack of quarterback Justin Fields, who then laid on the ground appearing to have suffered some kind of injury.
A once-frenzied Ohio Stadium crowd sat in relative silence. Too terrified to speak. Too busy watching the 2019 season pass before their eyes.
“It was fourth and four, didn’t want to kick a field goal at that time and have a low-trajectory field goal get blocked at that point,” Day said of his decision to throw the ball. “I didn’t think it was smart. And it was fourth and four. And at that point running the ball doesn’t eat the clock out. We had been running the ball in the fourth quarter because I felt strong about the defense and I felt like they were playing well. And we need to eat the clock and kind of get out of the game was the way I felt on offense. So, I wasn’t as aggressive.
“But that fourth and four, it was a chance to shoot the ball in the end zone. They came on a blitz. They did a really good job with it. We didn’t pick it up. I would have liked Justin to throw it away, not take the hit. He was trying to make the play. Those are things that happen; you make the decisions and do the best you can.”
Eventually, after more than a minute laying prone on the turf, Fields was eventually pulled to his feet and he jogged off the field to a huge applause — as well as some musical accompaniment from TBDBITL.
Justin Fields trots off the field eventually. Costumed fan can be heard imploring him to get up. pic.twitter.com/AFz9DV8mBg
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) November 24, 2019
After the game, Day was asked for an update on Fields’ condition.
“He’s good. He’s good. He’s a warrior,” Day said. “I’m telling you, he’s tough. He ran the ball today. He extended plays on third down. Heart of a lion. I love that kid. He’s tough.”
Fields certainly did run the ball, carrying it a career-high 21 times — including three sacks — for 68 yards. He was an oft-used weapon for the Buckeyes. OSU went with a large number of empty sets, which allowed them to spread the defense out and give Fields running room on the quarterback draw plays.
This was not a surprise for Fields, who had a perfect understanding of what was going to happen on Saturday.
“He knew,” Day said of the gameplan for Fields to carry the ball a bunch on Saturday. “And he’s up for the challenge. And again some quarterbacks they look at you sideways when you have that conversation. He doesn’t; he looked back, ‘Whatever it takes Coach.’ You talk about a tough kid, he is tough.”
Fields didn’t speak with the media following the game, which is fairly atypical for the Buckeye quarterback, but not unusual following any kind of injury.
Fields did come out for the final kneel downs of the game, which should tell you that maybe things weren’t as bad as they looked when he was laying on the Ohio Stadium turf.
Expect another update on Tuesday from Ryan Day when he speaks to reporters for the only time this week.