Buckeye Bracket: Top OSU plays of the decade - WR Region

With everything in the sporting world shut down for likely the next few months, it gives us some time to reminisce on all the good times we’ve shared as Ohio State fans. While watching Buckeye football highlights to try and pass the self-quarantine boredom, it got me thinking: What is the best OSU play of the last decade?

Obviously, there is a nearly boundless amount of great plays from guys in Scarlet and Gray in the last 10 years, so it is hard to single out just one. That’s why I’m not doing it alone. Since there is no NCAA Tournament to fulfill our March Madness needs, we here at LGHL have put together a bracket of the 32 best plays in the last decade of Ohio State football, which you the fan will be able to vote on in the coming weeks as we look to crown a champion.

The bracket will be broken up into four regions, with the winner of each region competing in the Final Four before a championship matchup between the top two plays, as voted on by you guys. The regions are as follows: quarterback plays, running back plays, wide receiver plays, and defense/special teams plays.

On Tuesday we began with the quarterback region, and continued on Wednesday with the running back region. Today, we will move on to the wide receiver region. Of course, with so many big plays in recent history, some may have gotten left out. We tried to focus on those that were the most flashy/came in the biggest games.

Voting for the first round will end this Saturday, with the second and third rounds continuing next week. Let’s get to debating!

Wide Receiver Region

Here’s how this region of the bracket shapes up. Now lets get into the matchups.

No. 1 Seed (Thomas’ trick play TD vs. Alabama) vs. No. 8 Seed (Sanzenbacher’s snag vs. Penn State)

Another No. 1 seed in this tournament from Ohio State’s Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama in 2015, this was an amazingly designed and executed trick play. Jalin Marshall flips it on the end around to Evan Spencer, who in turn throws a perfect ball to a little-known guy by the name of Michael Thomas. The future NFL star was able to keep his foot in bounds for a huge TD before the half. This region’s No. 8 seed is pretty strong, however, as Dane Sanzenbacher was on the receiving end of a lucky bounce against Penn State in 2010 to create a highlight play.

No. 2 Seed (Smith’s one-hander vs. Miami) vs. No. 7 Seed (Hill’s one-hander vs. Minnesota)

The No. 2 vs. No. 7 matchup happens to be a battle of a pair of very different one-handed grabs by incredibly talented Ohio State wide receivers. Devin Smith’s spectacular catch against Miami in 2012 was probably the greatest grab in his long and impressive Buckeye career, going full extension and pulling the ball in with one hand in the end zone. K.J. Hill, one of the most sure-handed receivers OSU has seen, was able to snag the ball out of mid air with one hand while staying in stride for a long TD. Both great receivers, both great catches.

No. 3 Seed (Brown’s TD vs. Oklahoma) vs. No. 6 Seed (Campbell’s TD vs. Michigan)

Noah Brown was an incredibly interesting receiver for Ohio State. Deciding to enter the NFL Draft after just one productive season, the redshirt sophomore scored four of his seven touchdowns on the year in one game against Oklahoma in 2017. One of those TDs? This ridiculous catch in which he pinned the ball to the back of the Sooner defender with one hand. His opponent is the always electric Parris Campbell, who took this pop pass from Dwayne Haskins 78 yards to the house while chucking up the deuces to the Michigan defense.

No. 4 Seed (Victor’s TD vs. Penn State) vs. No. 5 Seed (Ruckert’s B1G TD vs. Wisconsin)

Ohio State’s last couple outings against Penn State have been intense, and 2018’s edition was no different. With the Buckeyes trailing by two scores midway through the fourth quarter, Binjimen Victor helped spark the comeback with this spectacular catch-and-run touchdown that almost seemed to move in slow motion. The opponent is another comeback-sparking play, and while Jeremy Ruckert is technically a tight end, he deserves some love for this miraculous catch. The sophomore hauled in a beautiful one-handed TD in the Big Ten Championship as OSU stormed back to win the title this past season.

Make sure to cast your vote for your favorite Ohio State wide receiver play of the last decade. The winner of each region will advance to the Final Four as we continue our quest to crown the Buckeyes’ best.

Just a heads up — the polls occasionally don’t load from the Twitter mobile browser, but show up fine when accessing from the regular mobile browser or a desktop.