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Ohio State Football: 3 takeaways from 2020 Big Ten title win over Northwestern

By James Costanz

Dec 19, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Trey Sermon (middle left) holds the Big 10 Conference championship trophy as quarterback Justin Fields (middle) and head coach Ryan Day (right) look on after defeating the Northwestern Wildcats at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 19, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Trey Sermon (middle left) holds the Big 10 Conference championship trophy as quarterback Justin Fields (middle) and head coach Ryan Day (right) look on after defeating the Northwestern Wildcats at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 19, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Northwestern Wildcats running back Cam Porter (20) runs the ball against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 19, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Northwestern Wildcats running back Cam Porter (20) runs the ball against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Northwestern played well, but couldn’t take advantage of key stops

This was a great effort by Pat Fitzgerald and his squad. They had Ohio State on the ropes from start to finish by playing great defense and effective offense.

The Wildcats were just not able to capitalize when Ohio State made mistakes. Ohio State had two interceptions and one missed field goal. Northwestern was not able to muster up any points off of those mistakes.

The defense was really great for most of the day. They played bend don’t break defense inside the redzone forcing Ohio State to kick three field goals.

There was no answer for Trey Sermon, but they were able to bottle up Justin Fields. The interceptions they forced came at very key times. But again not being able to capitalize and turn Ohio State mistakes into points hindered the ability to pull off this upset.

Peyton Ramsey had a game that was a tale of two halves. The first half he was efficient and reliable for the Wildcats’ offense. But, in the second half he made a number of key mistakes that did not allow the Northwestern offense to put up the production they needed.

Last year, Northwestern finished 3-9 and had the fourth-worst offense in the FBS. This season, they took the reigning Big Ten champs to the limit and almost shook up the entire playoff picture. There are no moral victories, but the Wildcats have a lot to feel good about moving forward.

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