COLUMBUS, Ohio — Will Howard has checked off practically every box in terms of what the expectations were for him as Ohio State football’s starting quarterback, and it’s resulted in a career year.
His 72.9 completion percentage is 11.6% better than any year he had at Kansas State. He’s already tied his career-high of 24 touchdowns last season, while cutting his 10 interceptions in half.
He might not be putting up the yards in the run game that he did as a Wildcat, but his six rushing touchdowns are second only to his nine last season, and the threat alone of him running is enough to help the Buckeyes.
Through nine games, Howard was what OSU wanted: efficient in his decision-making, and never trying to do too much that it got him in trouble, at least not in a way the rest of the roster couldn’t overcome.
Nine games in, only one thing was missing. Then he played Northwestern.
“Throwing deep balls is throwing deep balls,’ Howard said before Saturday’s 31-7 win at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. “You either hit them or you don’t.”
The deep ball has become a polarizing conversation for Ohio State this season. The metrics even before this past weekend suggested Howard was among the nation’s best at completing those passes. The eye test told you that the Buckeyes were leaving points on the board because he wasn’t consistent.
Not every missed opportunity has been his fault. Jeremiah Smith has had a few freshman moments that have added to some of those incompletions, including one that led to Howard’s first interception as a Buckeye. Others have been on Howard, such as misses to Carnell Tate that have been off-target or underthrown.
“Sometimes I try to get a little too cute with it and try to place it,” Howard said. “When I do hit them, I just let it rip. That’s the biggest thing for me is not trying to place the ball and just letting these guys run under it because we have unbelievable team speed out there. When I get my feet moving and I don’t let them go dead, as long as they’re active and alive back there and I just let it rip and let them run under it, that’s when we have success.”
Despite those loud misses, he still came into OSU’s final road game ranking 10th nationally in terms of deep ball efficiency, which Pro Football Focus defines as any throw past 20 yards.
But those efficient numbers were also a small sample size. It’s why the Northwestern game was so important.
“A big part of it is footwork,” OSU coach Ryan Day said. “It’s being able to time up your footwork with the route. That’s something we’re gonna continue to work through and with Will on.
“He’s thrown some really good balls down the field and then sometimes he’s been a little bit late with his feet. We’ll keep working on that. When his feet are right he throws a good ball.”
Howard ranks second nationally in deep ball efficiency with a Pro Football Focus grade of 95.8, second only to Florida’s DJ Lagway. Other notable names in the top 10 include Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke (94.9), who plays against the Buckeyes on Saturday, at No. 7; and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel (94.7), who may see the Buckeyes in the Dec. 7 Big Ten championship game, at No. 8.
Howard’s completed 50% of his 30 attempts — which most college coaches consider as a quality percentage — for 533 yards and four touchdowns.
That depth is also where you can find 13 of his 17 “big time throws,” which are passes with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further downfield and/or into a tighter window. And only one of his nine “turnover worthy plays,” which are passes that have a high percentage of being intercepted or plays that reflect a failure to take care of the football, like fumbles.
“For me I just need to continue to rep that and do that and see that in practice,” Howard said. “We’re getting better at it, I need to be better at it overall for those guys because we’ve got some stuff down the field that we’re gonna be able to hit down the stretch of the season.”
The Northwestern game was about opportunity. Howard got to show off his arm, and the result was a career-high five big time throws. It unlocked the one part of Ohio State’s offense that anyone still had questions about. Just in time for him to start playing in games where that throw and his ability to outplay the opposing quarterback could decide a win or loss.
“As he gets more and more comfortable in what we’re doing, you’re starting to see him play at a really high level,” offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. “He’s doing a really good job but there’s still improvement and he knows that. If we finally can get it all together it’s gonna be really impressive what will and do.”