INDIANAPOLIS -- Ohio State football’s Wyatt Davis said his right shoulder hurt more when it popped out of its socket Saturday night than when an athletic trainer popped it back in.
Speaking after the Buckeyes rallied for a 34-21 victory over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, Davis actually could not remember the sensation of the shoulder returning to its correct position.
“I couldn’t even tell what it was doing, because the pain was so intense,” Davis said. “... All they said is, ‘Your shoulder’s back in place now.’ "
Davis said that sequence was the first time he had ever been down on a football field, injured and unable to get up. He adjourned to the medical tent while the Buckeyes drove for their first touchdown. Branden Bowen moved inside to right guard and Nicholas Petit-Frere came in at right tackle.
Davis called missing that scoring drive “bittersweet.” However, he was back on the field to begin the second half, and he helped block for a five-play, 75-yard scoring drive capped by Justin Fields’ 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeremy Ruckert.
That drive helped the Buckeyes find an elusive groove that carried through the rest of the game.
Ohio State scored on each of its first five possessions to begin the second half, accounting for 27 unanswered points. J.K. Dobbins rushed for 97 yards on his 18 second-half carries, and the OSU front began to better withstand the Wisconsin pass rush that had led to three first-half sacks of Fields.
After allowing five total sacks against Wisconsin — the same number surrendered to the Badgers in an Oct. 26 win at Ohio Stadium — the Buckeyes rank 94th in sacks allowed per game. Five different Wisconsin players were credited with one sack apiece.
“They were just bringing so much stuff and blitzing that we were having a hard time picking it up,” Davis said. “Once we talked about it, and after that first half when we came back in here and made adjustments, it was a lot easier to pick up in the second half.”
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