Ohio State walked into Saturday with its season hanging in the balance and walked out with a mess on its hands.
The Buckeyes came out fast at Ohio Stadium, scoring touchdowns on their first two drives and building a 14-0 cushion. For a brief stretch, it looked like the home team had steadied itself after last week’s loss at USC. Then Oregon started swinging.
Dan Lanning’s Ducks took a bold approach and never backed off. A fake punt helped fuel one touchdown drive, then Oregon picked off an Ohio State pass late in the first half and turned that into a 17-14 halftime lead.
From there, the game tilted hard. Oregon opened the second half with a 45-yard touchdown run and kept pouring it on, racing to a 38-14 advantage before finishing off a 41-28 win in front of a stunned sellout crowd of 103,551.
“We are extremely disappointed,” OSU coach Ryan Day said. “Really from the point where the fake punt happened to where it became a three-score game, we just couldn’t get anything going on offense. That whole swing right there where you lose two possessions on the fake punt and the interception and the chances we had on two fourth-and-2s we didn’t connect on, those end up being like turnovers.
“On the fake punt, that’s a mistake. That should have never happened.
It’s extremely disappointing. We have to evaluate everything here.
“We are disappointed, obviously. The locker room is disappointed. That’s about all I’ve got to say.”
Oregon’s quarterback Dylan Raiola, a one-time Ohio State commit, had the kind of afternoon that let the Ducks control the game on their terms. He completed 25 of 40 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns, with Ohio State unable to get consistent pressure and settling into soft zone looks that gave Raiola room to operate.
Dierre Hill Jr. added 13 carries for 75 yards and two touchdowns, while also catching four passes for 31 yards. Dakorien Moore and Brandon Smith each hauled in touchdown passes for Oregon.
“A lot of credit to our players for really not flinching, not blinking when you’re down 14, and then just keep fighting. You know, in those moments, we said we’re going to let it hang and just go after it,” Lanning said. “I thought our guys got a hold of momentum and then really didn’t let it go or give it back until the very end of the game, where they kind of chipped their way down the field.”
Ohio State’s offense never fully recovered after the first-half swing. Freshman Luke Fahey, making his second start with Julian Sayin out after the injury at Indiana on Oct. 17, finished 36 of 50 for 288 yards and threw the interception that helped set up Oregon’s score right before halftime.
“You try to balance being aggressive with the young quarterback,” Day said. “In hindsight, we could have probably gone into the half and been a little bit more safe there.”
Fahey did find Jeremiah Smith and Nate Roberts for late touchdown passes, but those scores came after Oregon had already built a 38-14 lead. Bo Jackson led the Buckeyes on the ground with 11 carries for 48 yards and two touchdowns, and he also caught seven passes for 42 yards.
Smith was mostly held in check until the game had gotten away, though he still finished with seven catches for 133 yards and a touchdown. Devin McCuin added nine receptions for 84 yards.
The loss dropped Ohio State to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play, and it marked back-to-back regular-season defeats for the first time since November 2011. It was also the first time the Buckeyes had lost consecutive games to unranked opponents since October 1992, with Oregon entering the week 23rd in the initial College Football Playoff rankings but not in the AP top 25.
The defeat snapped Ohio State’s 12-game home winning streak and pushed Day’s home record in eight seasons to 50-4. The only home loss under Day with a larger margin came against Michigan in 2022, a 45-23 defeat. Ohio State also allowed 30 points or more in back-to-back games for the first time since those 2022 losses to Michigan and Georgia, and the 41 points were the most the Buckeyes had surrendered since the 2022 Peach Bowl against Georgia, a 42-41 loss.
The bigger picture is just as bleak. Ohio State will finish with at least three losses for the first time since 2011, when it went 6-7.
And barring something unexpected, the Buckeyes appear headed out of the College Football Playoff picture. Short of a playoff berth, OSU would almost certainly land in the Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 in Orlando.
The Buckeyes were 11th in the AP top 25 and 12th in the first CFP rankings, and they could be unranked this week for the first time since 2011.
“It’s not something I’ve expected,” Day said. “We have a storm on our hands.
We have to hang in there and stay strong and come in tomorrow and regroup and figure out what’s next. It’s not something any of us expected.”
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