"I love Will Howard" - Fans give Ohio State QB his flowers for classy gesture with Quinn Ewers 

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard led the Buckeyes past the Texas Longhorns 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl Classic to secure their ticket to the national championship game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Howard tallied 289 yards on 72.7% completion, resulting in one touchdown and one interception, winning the quarterback battle against his counterpart, Quinn Ewers.

After the game, Howard initally refused to do any postgame interviews as he searched for the embattled Texas quarterback. Once he found Ewers, Howard embraced him, and the duo spoke for a moment before Howard finally agreed to conduct interviews.

College football fans reacted to Howard's kind gesture towards Ewers:

Most fans applauded the classy move by the Ohio State QB:

"I love Will Howard," one fan tweeted.

"Respect! I like that," another fan tweeted.

"Classy move," one fan tweeted.

Will Howard wins battle of QBs over Quinn Ewers

The clash between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl Classic was not just about two elite teams competing for a place in the national championship game; it also featured a showdown between two premier quarterbacks in Will Howard and former Buckeye Quinn Ewers.

During Monday's episode of "The No. 1 Football Show," analyst R.J. Young referred to the matchup between Howard and Ewers as the key battle of the Cotton Bowl.

"I have been beating a drum for Will Howard for the better part of a year," Young said (4:23). "There's a lot of Ohio State fans who still don't think he's that good. I gave a segment just the other day going, 'Compare his stats to Quinn Ewers, he's stomping out Quinn Ewers.'

R.J. Young further analyzed the statistical categories in which Howard outperformed Ewers, bolstering his argument:

"He's throwing for more yards, he's throwing for more touchdowns, he's got a higher completion percentage for people that wanna talk about Ewers missing two and a half games."

"What the hell does that got to do with him completing passes? I'm trying to tell all of y'all, all Will Howard has to do is play the kind of football he's been playing the last two games and it's not going to be close."

Despite winning the quarterback battle in the Cotton Bowl Classic, Howard displayed his kindness and sportsmanship by reaching out to Quinn Ewers. With the Texas Longhorns' exit from the college football playoffs, Ewers' future is now uncertain as he may enter the transfer portal.