Ohio State was looking for a spark.
And to find it, the Buckeyes sent Heisman candidate QB Julian Sayin to the sideline.
It was fourth-and-3, and Lincoln Kienholz came in at quarterback.
Ohio State ran a rollout pass to the left, and Kienholz threw incomplete, but then their drive was extended by a roughing the passer penalty.
Kienholz stayed in for the next play, handing off to the running back out of the shotgun.
Sayin jogged back onto the field at that point.
Clearly, Sayin wasn't injured. He immediately threw a touchdown.
But for whatever reason, OSU sought out a change of pace.
Ohio State was only leading 7-3 late in the first half against 5-5 Rutgers when they made the brief change.
Kienholz is known as a strong runner, so it made some sense to try him on fourth-and-short. And then OSU put a pass out of that look on film, which could help them down the road.
Ohio State fans were very briefly worried that Sayin was hurt, so it was good news to see him come back in and throw a touchdown.
It just appears head coach Ryan Day may have found a new way to unlock some offense when things aren't going quite as well.
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