Will Howard continues to prove Ohio State football can win with him ...

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Since August, the college football world has side-eyed Ohio State as Kyle McCord carved up defenses at Syracuse. And while the ex-Buckeye has rightfully been praised for a season in which he threw for 4,779 yards and set an ACC single-season passing yardage record, some of that praise has twisted into ridicule of first-year Kansas State transfer Will Howard.

In the College Football Playoffs, scrutiny of the quarterbacks is heightened. Drew Allar’s stock has risen for Penn State as the Nittany Lions have advanced to the semifinals, and Quinn Ewers was lauded for leading Texas to a gritty win over Arizona State earlier Wednesday. Yet, for whatever reason, reactions to Howard's performances seem muted.

REQUIRED READING: Ohio State routs Oregon in College Football Playoff, advances to semifinals vs. Texas

Howard started Ohio State’s 41-21 Rose Bowl win over Oregon in impressive fashion, completing 6 of 9 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka hauled in the bulk of those yards (135).

Smith and Egbuka combined for 12 catches, 259 yards and three touchdowns (and have 23 catches for 443 yards and five touchdowns in their past two games). In fact, the only time Ohio State’s offense did sputter was when it went into a shell on its first series of the second half.

The Buckeyes, however, did what great teams do: They learned. Chip Kelly opened the next series with four straight passing plays, including 10- and 16-yard completions to Smith.

Smith and Egbuka are dynamic receivers, deserving of the hype, and Howard trusts his best players. He threw one of his best balls in the first quarter, perfectly nestling a dart from midfield over the Oregon secondary to Egbuka for his second touchdown.

“Will does a great job in practice,” Smith said. “Just trusting us, just you know, throwing the ball out there. We tell him, 'Just throw it out there we’re going to make a play for you. Don’t matter if it’s a bad ball or not.’

"We've just got to make our quarterback look good. But Will playing with that confidence that he has, you know, just being a leader out there, I feed off his energy. Great guy. I love Will to death and I’d do anything for him.”

After the game, Howard was all smiles.

"We came out, and we played angry,” he said. “And I think it showed. And we jumped out to an early lead and it was hard for them to come back. And we knew they were going to come back and do something. They're too good of a team to not score any points. We knew they were going to mount some sort of a comeback. It wasn't going to be perfect. We just had to weather the storm and make sure we won the game when it counted."

Howard has had rough patches as a Buckeye, but he has learned and improved. Now, as Ohio State goes into the CFP semifinals with a combined score of 83-38 against Tennessee and Oregon, it looks like the team nobody wants to play.

Next up will be Texas in what will amount to a road game at the Cotton Bowl, where Howard will go up against former Ohio State quarterback Quinn Ewers. As the Buckeyes look for their first national title in 10 years, it seems Howard has unlocked something. And he’ll keep turning that key as long as people continue to doubt him.

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