Each of the three had over 900 yards receiving and Stroud was a Heisman finalist. Ohio State boasted the best trio of wide receivers in 2021 with Smith Njigba, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.

Smith-Njigba became primary target with Wilson, Olave opt outs They each threw for 576 yards in a bowl game. His yardage total is the third-most in bowl history behind only former Marshall QB Byron Leftwich and former BYU QB Ty Detmer. Stroud threw for 573 yards and became the first Ohio State quarterback to throw for over 500 yards in a single game. Rivers had been the only player to have more than 300 receiving yards in a bowl game. He breaks the previous record of 308 yards held by Hawaii’s Jason Rivers in the 2006 Hawaii Bowl. Smith-Njigba’s 347 yards on 15 catches are the most in the history of college football bowl games. Stroud hit Smith-Njigba twice more on the Buckeyes' final drive and Noah Ruggles kicked a 19-yard field goal for the win with nine seconds left.

Ohio State's offense had plenty of time, however. He was replaced by walk-on QB Bryson Barnes, a player who had never thrown a pass in his college career.īarnes promptly led Utah down the field thanks to a couple of Ohio State pass interference penalties and hit Dalton Kincaid for a TD pass with less than two minutes left. Rising was able to walk off the field after he was examined by trainers but went into the team’s injury tent and didn’t return to the game.

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