The Big Ten Championship turned into a tale of two quarterbacks and the Indiana Hoosier was the difference on Saturday night.
Going into the Big Ten Championship, one of the main storylines was at the quarterback position. Both Ohio State Buckeyes' Julian Sayin and Indiana Hoosiers' Fernando Mendoza were both having the best years of their careers and were both a legit threat to win the Heisman Trophy.
Many thought that the Heisman would be decided after the game tonight and that estimation is probably right. Unfortunately for the Buckeye faithful, the upper hand went to Mendoza after the performance he put on against the daunting Ohio State defense.
The veteran gunslinger finished the football game going 13-23 for 222 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The interception that he threw was more of a fluke deflection than a bad decision by Mendoza.
His Heisman moment, however, came in the third quarter with his team trailing the Buckeyes 13-6.
The Hoosiers got the football back after a Buckeyes punt on their own 12 yardline, staring down 88 yards between them and the lead. Mendoza answered the call and took advantage of his opportunity.
On the drive, he finished 2-3 for 68 yards and a touchdown. Both of his completions came on third down, and both of his completions were big-time throws. The first one was a 51-yard connection on 3rd and 2, and the second was a 17-yard touchdown on a perfectly thrown slot fade.
When the chips were down, Mendoza answered the call and was the difference for the Indiana Hoosiers.
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On the other side, Sayin wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but he was not as clutch as his counterpart.
Sayin's memorable moments from tonight came inside the 10-yard line. The first one was when the Buckeyes were facing a 4th and 1 from the 5. They chose to go with a quarterback sneak, and Sayin slipped after some initial pressure.
His slip resulted in his knee touching the ground short of the line to gain, and the Buckeyes flipped the ball back to Indiana when they were going in to score.
The other moment was on third and one from the nine-yard line. The Buckeyes decided to go with a play-action rollout and the Hoosiers had it covered up. Sayin tried to force it into a covered tight end, and the attempt went by the wayside.
The very next play, Jayden Fielding missed a 27-yard field goal, and the life was sucked out of the Buckeyes.
When there are two very evenly matched teams on the field, the difference often comes down to one big play. On this night, Mendoza made the plays necessary to win the football game, and Sayin didn't.
It's as simple as that.
Ohio State falls to the Indiana Hoosiers and awaits their playoff fate on Sunday morning.