COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The playcall was simple, but it wound up creating a complex problem for Ohio State.

The fix turned out to be pretty straightforward as well: If a “T-swing pass” goes haywire, make sure the football is in the hands of a truly special talent.

Curtis Samuel pulled off a patchwork fix on the fly against one of the nation’s toughest defenses in the pressure cooker of The Game to produce one of the most exciting nonscoring plays in the history of the rivalry.

Samuel has proven himself pretty useful at turning nothing into something, which made the junior H-back’s sideline-to-sideline, triple-juking, 8-yard reception in the second overtime even more memorable than his clinching touchdown in the 30-27 double-overtime thriller on Saturday at the Horseshoe.

“I can’t even tell you how that happened,” Samuel said. “I know I had to make a play for my team, and that just happened.

“I’ve got to go back and look at that one.”

Samuel’s clutch play is going to live forever on the lengthy highlight reel of the storied rivalry. And the clip of Samuel coming around the left side two plays later, behind a couple of pulling blockers, and smoothly easing his way into the end zone to break Michigan’s heart again, might wind up being more popular for the celebratory madness that ensued afterward.

But the Buckeyes probably never would have been in position to punch in that clinching score if not for Samuel’s extra effort on a third-and-9 play that looked destined to fail from the outset.

Lined up in the backfield to the right of J.T. Barrett, Samuel took a short toss from the Ohio State quarterback near the 30-yard line and had nowhere to go as he closed in on the right sideline with Michigan linebacker Jabrill Peppers in front of him. But after Samuel shook free with a cutback to his left while tracking backward, his work was just beginning. He tried another cutback to his right that was cut short, as he ran into offensive lineman Jamarco Jones in the middle of the field, and he was a full 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage as he probed left, looking for an alley to head upfield. One more stutter-step move sent two Wolverines flying past him, opening some daylight that allowed him to lower his pads and bulldoze to the 16-yard line to set up a manageable fourth-and-1, with everything on the line and Ohio State trailing by a field goal.

And, of course, none of that was how it was drawn up in Meyer’s power-spread playbook.

“I was worried we were going to be knocked out of field goal range and lose the game,” Meyer said. “But things happen. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever been around, and it’s good to see the ball in his hands near the end of a game.

“It was not designed for a great athlete to run around that way. That’s called recruiting.”

Samuel obviously isn’t the only elite player the Buckeyes have landed since coach Urban Meyer arrived and started raiding the country in search of dynamic playmakers and road-clearing blockers to surround Barrett as the centerpiece of the attack. And for all of the individual brilliance Samuel put on display as he covered seemingly every blade of turf between the sidelines on his dizzying run, he needed plenty of help from his friends along the way before winding up just short of the first-down marker.

“What was my responsibility? Try to block somebody,” center Pat Elflein joked. “You don’t block anybody in the back, first of all. You don’t want a penalty and take your team backwards. Just try to get a piece of somebody, and let the man make a play, because that’s what he’s good at.

“I saw him coming back this way, and I tried to pick somebody off and get a block. I think I got a block or two; I don’t remember. But that was all I was thinking at the time, trying to figure out which way he was going and try to set him up so he can head that way.”

There wasn’t much improvisation needed after that, with Meyer rolling the dice that Barrett and the physical front could move the pile enough to convert the fourth-down attempt and keep the Buckeyes' national title hopes alive.

“Man, I was trying to block somebody, but I ain't the best blocker,” Barrett said. “Yeah, I tried to block, but I think he went back like three times.

“So I'm glad he's really good, because everybody was trying to get a piece of somebody, but he just made everybody miss.”

Eventually, five Wolverines tracked him down. But by then, Samuel had already turned a near-disaster for the Buckeyes into perhaps his masterpiece on the way to one more victory in The Game.