Quarterback Dwayne Haskins leads the way, as the Ohio State Buckeyes win the Rose Bowl over the Washington Huskies to send Urban Meyer out as a winner.
Only a few weeks ago, it was announced that Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer would be stepping down at the end of the season. He is retiring from the coaching profession for medical reasons. While he was coaching through obvious pain in the latter part of the Big Ten season, Meyer had one last big game to win.
That game was the 2019 Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual. Ohio State’s opponent was none other than the Pac-12 Champion Washington Huskies. Though Washington has been a top-10 program under head coach Chris Peterson since he arrived in Seattle, his Huskies were no match for Meyer’s Buckeyes on this New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California.
Ohio State might have been one of the first two teams out of the College Football Playoff, along with the Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC. However, Ohio State didn’t play like it was mailing it in. The Buckeyes had a game to win for their head coach, to send him off right into his retirement.
Ohio State leaned on its star quarterback Dwayne Haskins in this ball game, beating an outmatched Washington squad to the tune of 28-23. Haskins, who was a finalist for the 2018 Heisman Trophy, might have played his last game for Ohio State.
Though only a redshirt sophomore, Haskins stands to be arguably the best quarterback prospect that could enter the 2019 NFL Draft. His biggest competition for that honor would have been Justin Herbert of the Oregon Ducks, but Herbert opted to return to Eugene for his senior season. This is so that he could play with his younger brother, who will be a freshman tight end for the Ducks in 2019.
In what might have been Haskins’ final game playing for the Buckeyes, he completed 25 of 37 passes for 251 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. While it wasn’t his best game of the season, Haskins looks to be ready enough for the NFL, despite a large sample size of collegiate starts.
Sure, Haskins could return to Columbus to begin the Ryan Day era of Buckeyes football off with a bang. However, he is pretty much a lock to be a top-10 pick in this year’s upcoming NFL Draft. Teams like the New York Giants and the Jacksonville Jaguars are desperate to find their new franchise signal-caller. Haskins looks to be an answer to their quarterbacking prayers.
For the last time as the coach of Ohio State, Urban Meyer gives his postgame interview. pic.twitter.com/wQUayViAHN
— ESPN (@espn) January 2, 2019
As for Meyer, we know that he will be out of coaching in 2019. This isn’t the first time that he retired from coaching due to a medical issue. He left the Florida Gators program in shambles leaving after the 2010 NCAA season. Meyer would spend a year in television before taking over for another downtrodden program in Ohio State in 2012.
At Ohio State, Meyer went 83-9 over seven seasons. He won three Big Ten Championships, a share of five division titles, made the College Football Playoff twice and won the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014 by defeating Oregon.
Meyer also went 12-0 in his first season in Columbus, despite being ineligible to play in the Big Ten Championship or a bowl game due to sanctions stemming from the Jim Tressel era. Maybe even more important than you’d think, Meyer went 7-0 against the rival Michigan Wolverines in The Game at regular season’s end as his time as the Buckeyes head coach.
Overall, Meyer’s coaching legacy is complicated. He won everywhere he went, but didn’t always leave the program better than he found it. Controversies at both Florida and Ohio State off the field certainly hurt his reputation. That being said, he was one of the most preeminent college football coaches of the 21st century, likely only trailing Nick Saban in that department.
Next: 30 bucket list items for college football fans
While Haskins could be leaving Ohio State, we know that this will be all she wrote for Meyer in Columbus. It’s a new dawn of a new day, as in the Day era of Buckeyes football. Day might be a great head coach one day, but he has massive shoes to fill with Meyer sailing off into retirement as not just a winner, but a Rose Bowl Champion.
Add us as a preferred source on Google