Starting quarterback Will Howard was able to lead the Ohio State Buckeyes to victory over the Texas Longhorns in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Friday night as the team punched its ticket to Monday’s national title game. And Howard did it despite suffering a rather gruesome injury.
During the first quarter of Saturday’s game, Will Howard suffered an injury on his left throwing hand after taking a hit from a facemask of a defender.
The injury presented itself as a rather large knot near the knuckle of his left hand, perhaps due to swelling or fluid buildup.
That's a big knot on the left hand of Ohio State QB Will Howard. #CFP pic.twitter.com/F55vvt8IxF
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 11, 2025
Despite the unsightly and gruesome injury, Howard continued to play and did not even miss a snap for the Buckeyes. In fact, the broadcast indicated that he didn’t even mention the injury on the sideline.
But that certainly didn’t stop fans from offering their reactions on social media.
“Not good news,” one person wrote on X.
“Yikes… and this won’t get better til after the game,” someone else wrote.
“That’s going to sting in the morning,” another person wrote.
“That does not look good,” someone else added.
“Will Howard 100% has a broken bone in his hand,” another person said.
“Maybe not an issue when passing, but that could be a problem if he runs or has to protect the ball under pressure,” someone else said.
The good news for Howard is that it was not on his throwing hand, so it did not cause him any problems throwing the ball downfield in the game.
Still, it was a pretty gruesome injury to play through.
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