Ohio State asked a freshman quarterback to walk into one of the toughest settings on the schedule and keep the machine running. Instead, Luke Fahey spent most of Halloween night trying to survive the chaos around him.
In a 30-18 loss to USC at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, Fahey made his first collegiate start and never got enough support from the rest of the Buckeyes.
He wasn’t flawless - especially in the red zone, where he went just 2-for-10 - but the bigger problem was everything happening around him. Ohio State finished with 11 penalties for 75 yards, and the mistakes piled up in every phase.
“It's extremely frustrating, coming to a game like this with a young quarterback and not play cleaner than we did. Just too many penalties,” Ryan Day said postgame.
“I think we found ourselves down in those red zone situations. We weren't able to execute very well and play clean.”
Fahey still put together a respectable line, completing 21 of 38 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown. But the Buckeyes kept making his job harder.
Bo Jackson dropped a pass early that would have turned into a big gain. Isaiah West had a catch punched loose by Desman Stephens, and Floyd Boucard ended up with the ball.
Ohio State also missed out on what looked like a deep-ball touchdown to Devin McCuin because of another drop. Up front, USC’s Luke Wafle and Kameryn Crawford kept coming, and Ian Moore, Phillip Daniels and Gabe VanSickle had trouble holding up.
The problems didn’t stop on offense. USC struck almost immediately when Trent Mosley took a Jayden Maiava bubble screen 69 yards for a touchdown 39 seconds into the game.
Jaylen McClain took a poor angle on the play, and Simeon Caldwell couldn’t shed his block. The Buckeyes never got consistent pressure on Maiava, who was hit zero times.
There were missed tackles, too, and McClain was hurdled by Mark Bowman.
Special teams added another layer of frustration. Joe McGuire’s 32-yard punt was returned 44 yards, and Beau Atkinson was flagged for 15 more yards on the play.
That sequence set up Waymond Jordan’s 9-yard rushing score. Ohio State also had illegal formation and delay of game penalties on punts, and it didn’t create anything dangerous in the return game.
Even the Buckeyes’ lone touchdown drive didn’t move with much urgency, burning 5:45 while Ohio State was still down 15 late in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t think we could have expected anything better from Luke today,” Mason Williams said. “He went out there, and he battled his butt off.
When you get a freshman quarterback in a big game like that, when you got what you got out of him today, we got to be able to do our jobs. Everyone on the field strives to make his job a little easier.”
Ohio State missed Julian Sayin, but the loss wasn’t pinned on Fahey. The defense also felt the absence of Jay Timmons, who has been a force at nickel cornerback this season.
There were still a few bright spots. Jackson and West combined for 186 yards on 34 carries.
Jeremiah Smith delivered again with 10 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. Connor Hawkins was perfect on four field-goal attempts.
But that wasn’t enough to cover for the rest of the night’s breakdowns.
“He definitely did a good job out there. He had a good two weeks of practice and that helped him,” right tackle Austin Siereveld said.
“He definitely can lead us, and we're going to need him to. Everyone needs to step up around him and make him better.”
The loss dropped Ohio State to 6-2, and the Buckeyes are expected to fall in Sunday’s AP poll. They likely need to win out to reach the College Football Playoff, which means the margin for error is gone. Finishing 10-2 had always looked like a reasonable goal, but now that path means winning all four games in November.
With Fahey likely to steer the offense the rest of the way, Ohio State’s season now depends on the players around him doing their part.
“At the end of the day, as a team, we weren't able to play well enough to support a young freshman quarterback who has had his first start on the road like this,” Day said.
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USC also delivered the kind of explosive play that can flip a marquee game in a hurry, with Mark Bowmans 70-yard catch-and-run helping the Trojans pull away in a 30-18 win over the No. 2 Buckeyes. For Lincoln Riley, it was his first top-five victory with USC, and for Ohio State it leaves a far more uncomfortable question than the final score: whether this was just a bad road night or a sign of a deeper issue the Buckeyes have to solve fast. [Read more 🡒]