Two former Kansas State teammates reunite in Oregon-Ohio State CFP showdown

Oregon faces Ohio State on Wednesday night in the College Football Playoffs.

It features Ducks safety Kobe Savage facing Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard. Howard and Savage were teammates at Kansas State from 2022-2023.

Savage said it’s “amazing” to have this opportunity against his former Wildcats teammate.

“He’s a great competitor, a great guy, a great leader, a great teammate, someone you always want to go out and compete with,” Savage said. “It’s really cool to see him on the other side, competing with him the last two years and in practice at Kansas State. It’s really cool to finally play against him again, and it’s crazy to be able to play against him twice this season.”

Savage said he knows Howard can produce at the highest level. The quarterback threw for 3,171 yards, 29 touchdowns and nine interceptions in his first season at Ohio State.

“Without a doubt,” Savage said. “He’s always risen to the occasion, especially at Kansas State playing in the Big 12. Playing that backup role, I think he’s always done a good job of performing on the highest stage.”

Meanwhile, Savage talked about what Oregon’s defense can do to perform better in its first postseason game.

“We’re really finding our edge with the details,” Savage said. “We lost a lot of battles, there are a lot of key details we could have worked out. Just the little things in our preparation will help.”

Jayden Armant graduated from Howard University’s School of Communications and contributes to the Kansas State Wildcats at SI. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.