After Quinshon Judkins put the Buckeyes on top with a 1-yard run with 7:02 left, Jack Sawyer stripped Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers on fourth-and-goal from the Ohio State 8 and returned the fumble 83 yards for a touchdown.
Those scores set the final margin of 28-14.
Ohio State scored first when Judkins dodged a tackler in the backfield then darted behind right guard Tegra Tshabola up field for nine yards and a touchdown to cap the Buckeyes’ first possession.
They got off to a good start on their next drive until a penalty killed their momentum, something that would end up being a theme of the first half.
First was an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on TreVeyon Henderson. A drive later, Gee Scott Jr. was called for holding to set up a second-and-long the Buckeyes could not overcome. The drive after that was a similar story, except the holding flag was thrown against right tackle Josh Fryar.
Texas had a hard time gettin much going for most of the first half but mounted a drive late.
Taking advantage of getting the ball at their 41 with 1:51 on the clock, the Longhorns found the end zone when Ewers completed a rainbow pass to Jaydon Blue out of the backfield for an 18-yard touchdown.
That evened the game at 7 with 29 seconds left, but the tie lasted only 16 seconds.
On the ensuing first down, Howard found Henderson in the right flat with a screen pass, and the senior speedster picked up blocks from Tshabola and Carson Hinzman then sprinted 75 yards to the end zone.
Howard completed 14 of 19 passes for 200 yards in the first half. His favorite target was Carnell Tate, who had five catches for 54 yards, while Texas was able to hold star freshman Jeremiah Smith to one catch for three.
Ewers completed 10 of 20 passes for 133 yards in the first.
The Longhorns converted only 1 of 7 third downs in the first half, but they did get a key fourth-down conversion on a run by backup quarterback Arch Manning to keep their touchdown drive alive.
Texas tied the game late in the third quarter with a 12-play, 67-yard drive that nearly ended multiple times but was kept alive by Ewers’ guile.
Never was that more the case than when the quarterback was able to flip the ball to Quintrevion Wisner while being sacked.
Ewers got rid of the ball a fraction of a second before his knee hit the ground, and Wisner was able to scamper 14 yards on third-and-10. Nine plays later, the Longhorns caught Ohio State in a zone blitz and Ewers hit Blue out of the backfield for a 26-yard touchdown.
Sawyer’s sack was the fourth of the game and ninth tackle-for-loss for the Ohio State defense.
Howard was named the game’s offensive most valuable player after he completed 24 of 33 passes for 289 yards and a touchdown.
Judkins ran for 36 yards on nine carries while Henderson ran for 42 yards on six carries to go with his long touchdown catch.
Tate caught seven passes for 87 yards while Emeka Egbuka caught five passes for 51.
Ewers, the former Ohio State quarterback, completed 23 of 39 passes for 283 yards with two touchdowns and two turnovers.
The Buckeyes outgained the Longhorns 370-341.
Ohio State will be playing for its first national title since 2014 while the Fighting Irish last won it all in 1988.
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