Haskins, Dobbins bail out Ohio State to keep Big Ten hopes alive

In a stunning thriller, the Ohio State Buckeyes barely held on to take down the Maryland Terrapins, in large part thanks to Dwayne Haskins and J.K. Dobbins.

With all of the constant shots of Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer looking miserable on Saturday, you would have thought that he wasn’t going to make it through the end of the game. After a failed two-point conversion in overtime from the Maryland Terrapins, however, Meyer looked a whole lot better.

The Buckeyes narrowly avoided an upset on Saturday that would have potentially ended their hopes at a spot in the Big Ten Championship. Instead, Ohio State led a come-from-behind victory to win 52-51 in overtime, and were bailed out by their two star players in Dwayne Haskins and J.K. Dobbins.

Despite a defense that gave up 50-plus points and 535 yards, Ohio State’s offense kept them in the game the whole way. Haskins aired it out to the tune of 405 passing yards, while scoring six total touchdowns, including three on the ground. Meanwhile, Dobbins was a reliable workhorse in the backfield, carrying the ball 37 times for 203 yards and a score.

The two weren’t without their share of mistakes, however. Dobbins coughed up a fumble inches away from a touchdown before the first half ended,  and then Haskins started the second half by throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

All of these mistakes, mental errors and defensive lapses didn’t matter at the end of the day on Saturday, but these issues have been evident for a solid month now. Slow starts have had the Buckeyes on upset alert against teams like Nebraska, Michigan State and now Maryland, and yet they still control their own destiny in the Big Ten.

There’s still one big roadblock in the way, however, and that’s the Michigan Wolverines, and that team matches up very well with this year’s Buckeyes. A strong ground game, arguably the best defense in college football and a legitimate quarterback in Shea Patterson means that the Buckeyes will have their hands full on both sides of the ball next Saturday.

Ohio State’s luck has to run out eventually. The entire conversation about this team would be a lot different if Maryland had converted on the two-point conversion for the win in overtime. To make matters worse, the two-point conversion should have been successful with a receiver wide open, but a poor throw cost the Terrapins the game.

For the time being, Buckeyes fans can take a few seconds to breathe and know that there is still hope for this team to win yet another Big Ten title.

However, if the Buckeyes can fix these constant mental errors, turnovers and defensive issues, they might as well sit out of next week’s game against the Wolverines.