AUSTIN, Texas -- Ryan Day didn’t sugarcoat it after Ohio State’s 24-23 loss to Texas on Saturday night.
The Buckeyes had a multi-score lead in the second half and put the Longhorns in trouble more than once, but they couldn’t finish the job. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, Texas had steadied itself, and Ohio State was left staring at a defeat that felt avoidable.
“Today, we really played well for three quarters and didn’t play well enough in the fourth quarter. That’s the bottom line.”
Day said they had them on the ropes and didn’t finish -- “Once that happened, they sustained some drives, certainly had a chance to kick the field goal and make it a two-score game and didn’t do that. This one hurts.”
That fourth quarter was the part Day kept coming back to. Ohio State had chances to close the door, but the Buckeyes didn’t execute when the game demanded it.
“We know that we have to win the fourth quarter, that’s the biggest part of this season. And we didn’t do that.”
One of the key late-game decisions came when Day chose not to let Texas score and instead trusted his defense to get off the field.
Day said he considered letting them score but he wanted to play defense and see if they could get off the field. “It didn’t work out.”
The pass rush also came under the microscope. Day pointed to Texas’ use of drop eight and said Ohio State handled it well for stretches, but not when it mattered most.
“On the defensive pass rush, ‘There was some drop eight for sure. For a good portion of the game, was well done.
When it was time to get pressure when we needed to, we didn’t do that. We’ll look at it all -- scheme, coaching and personnel.’”
Day didn’t try to pin the loss on one unit. He said the Buckeyes have to own the whole thing and sort through what went wrong.
“On bouncing back from this loss: ‘It’s right after the game so it’s hard to say. We’re going to take ownership of this.
It’s all three phases, I can’t tell you just one area. For three quarters, I thought we played solid.
It wasn’t perfect by any stretch.’”
He also made it clear the responsibility for the game plan sits with him.
Day said any time you get a gameplan together, they all talk about it. “Everything goes through me, so I’m not going to be the one to second guess it when it’s on the call sheet...
It’s my responsibility. We had opportunities in the third quarter and we didn’t get that done.”
Offensively, Day singled out Jeremiah Smith for the effort he gave, while also noting Ohio State still wasn’t sharp enough overall.
Day said Jeremiah Smith played his heart out tonight, but they weren’t efficient enough.
And when asked about the red zone problems, Day said there wasn’t just one simple explanation.
Day said he doesn’t know if the red zone issues are just one thing, but they had a few good runs and a mix of things that led to them not getting it done in the red zone. “We’ll have to go look at it and find some common themes.”
In the end, Day framed the loss as a failure to make the decisive play when the moment arrived.
Day said it’s, “Not just one thing... It can come down to one play, and we didn’t make that play in the fourth quarter.
We’ve got to figure out how to do a better job of that. As coaches, we’ve got to own everything.”
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