Ohio State’s Trey Sermon has ‘set the world on fire’ before title game
Ryan Day and Ohio State had seen what Trey Sermon might do again in 2017, when Sermon accounted for 85 yards of complete offense and a landing in main Oklahoma previous the Buckeyes 31-16 in simply the second game of his school profession.
“I remember everything about that game,” Sermon stated. “To me it felt like my first big college game, so I remember it vividly. I mean, I just remember just being able to make plays. It was just an exciting moment.”
Followed by three straight convention video games with not less than 90 speeding yards, the first half of Sermon’s freshman season appeared to sign the begin of an excellent school profession.
There’s nothing mistaken with being excellent, particularly as one among the key items on groups which have made 4 straight appearances in the College Football Playoff. Sermon has carried out at an all-conference stage by a lot of his three years at Oklahoma and this season at Ohio State, the place he landed in March as a graduate switch.
“I just wanted a better opportunity for myself,” Sermon stated, “and I felt like it was just a good fit for me to come here.”
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Brilliance, on the different hand, had eluded Sermon till this previous month, when the senior started a run that has written him into Ohio State historical past and left the Buckeyes one win from capturing the program’s ninth nationwide championship.
“It’s really remarkable what he’s done,” Day stated. “I think you’re seeing the best version of Trey.”
Sermon has risen to the event throughout wins in opposition to Northwestern for the Big Ten championship and Clemson in the nationwide semifinals, working for a mixed 524 yards with three touchdowns and one other 65 receiving yards as the Buckeyes have rounded into type amid questions on their postseason credentials.
“Trey Sermon, he set the world on fire,” stated former Ohio State working again Archie Griffin, the solely two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy. “I’ve been watching him all the way. This kid’s got it. He’s got it.”
As a lot as anybody on the Ohio State roster, Sermon has embodied the group’s late-season surge main into Monday evening’s championship game in opposition to Alabama.
His arrival from Oklahoma, the place a knee damage value him the house stretch of final season, got here simply as groups throughout the Bowl Subdivision have been shutting down and scattering resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Both components contributed to a sluggish acclimation interval for a high-profile switch anticipated to play a big position in serving to the Buckeyes substitute former starter J.Okay. Dobbins, who ran for two,003 yards in 2019.
“It was pretty rough in the beginning, just coming here and not being able to be around everybody, and then everything gets shut down and then picks back up,” Sermon stated.
He spent Ohio State’s first 4 video games in a secondary position behind Master Teague III, by no means drawing greater than 13 carries or exceeding 68 speeding yards, and had simply 4 touches in the second half of the Buckeyes’ 42-35 win in opposition to Indiana on Nov. 21.
“The start of his career at Ohio State didn’t exactly go perfectly,” stated offensive lineman Josh Myers. “Never not one time did he complain. Never not one time did he ask for more carries. He never had a bad attitude, he just kept coming to work.”
The turning level got here throughout practices main into the Michigan State game two weeks later. Feeling extra comfy with the scheme and in lockstep with Ohio State’s offensive line, Sermon earned a bigger position in the Buckeyes’ game plan and capitalized together with his first 100-yard speeding game in additional than two years.
“Once I got that feeling, again, I just started to just try to be consistent, continued practicing hard, running a little extra, just doing all of that,” he stated. “I felt like it translated over, and, I mean, it kind of showed in the Michigan State game.”
His season might be break up into two: Sermon ran for 232 yards in his first 4 video games and 636 yards in his subsequent three, going from one among the Buckeyes’ many choices to a essential piece of the offensive puzzle.
Sermon’s latest efficiency has been in comparison with Ezekiel Elliott’s play throughout the Buckeyes’ championship push in 2014, when Elliott put collectively three straight 200-yard video games and 696 yards general in wins in opposition to Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon. Sermon would want 173 yards in opposition to Alabama to set an Ohio State three-game speeding file.
In the game in opposition to Northwestern, Sermon went for a program-record 331 yards and two scores to offset quarterback Justin Fields’ two interceptions and carry the Buckeyes to a fourth consecutive Big Ten championship. His 193 speeding yards in opposition to Clemson teamed with Fields’ six landing passes to avenge final yr’s loss in the Fiesta Bowl and arrange an intriguing matchup with Alabama to determine the nationwide championship.
The Buckeyes will meet the Crimson Tide’s scoring machine with a newfound sense of stability: Sermon and Fields give Ohio State a backfield pairing and offensive identification to match wits with Alabama large receiver DeVonta Smith, this yr’s Heisman winner, and teammates Mac Jones and Najee Harris.
“It’s a good feeling that everything started to progress as the season went on,” Sermon stated. “We’re all playing well, and we got to where we wanted to get to, so everything turned out pretty good. Now we’ve just got to finish.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports schools reporter Paul Myerberg on Twitter @PaulMyerberg
