Ryan Day had a chance on Wednesday to explain the end of Ohio State’s loss to Texas, and his answer went straight to the heart of the problem.
Asked whether the Buckeyes should have let Texas score late, Day said that in hindsight they should have. But that hindsight is exactly what hangs over his tenure in Columbus. Ohio State was in a brutal spot at the end of the game: the Buckeyes had already burned their second timeout, Texas had the ball at the Ohio State 20 with 1:30 left, and after Arch Manning hit Emmett Mosley V for 19 yards, the Longhorns were sitting at the goal line.
From there, Ohio State had two choices. It could let Texas score right away, preserve time, and give the offense a shot to drive for a field goal.
Or it could try to get a stop from a defense that had already given up 149 fourth-quarter yards. Day went with the stop.
Two plays later, Hollywood Smothers was in the end zone, Ohio State had no timeouts left, and the Buckeyes were stuck with 28 seconds.
That was that. Julian Sayin pushed a couple of deep balls, his last one was intercepted, and Ohio State’s final possession went nowhere after Austin Siereveld was flagged for holding on the first play. The drive finished with -5 yards.
Day’s answer after the game was honest, but it also fit a familiar pattern. Ohio State has too often been a program that waits until the damage is done before making the obvious adjustment. The Texas finish was just the latest example.
There was one time in 2024 when the Buckeyes managed to get ahead of the problem, and it took a player-led meeting to force the staff to confront what needed fixing before another loss piled up. Outside of that, the criticism has been the same: issues are recognized late, not early.
The source of that criticism stretches back several seasons. In 2020, Ohio State’s defense ranked 122nd in FBS, giving up 303.6 passing yards per game, yet Kerry Coombs was kept on for 2021.
That decision blew up fast. Minnesota put up 400 yards of offense in Week 1, Oregon followed with 500 in a Week 2 loss, and only then did Ohio State move Coombs aside in favor of Matt Barnes.
The same thing happened again last season on offense. Day said the Buckeyes were intentionally playing slow to prepare for the College Football Playoff and cut down on reps, insisting the team would “turn up the gas” when it mattered.
It didn’t work. Against Indiana and Miami, Ohio State managed only 10 points and 14 points in losses to close the season.
And the warning signs are already there again this year. The Buckeyes, according to the source, are not playing their best players.
Payton Pierce and Beau Atkinson are being outplayed by Riley Pettijohn and Khary Wilder at their positions. Brandon Inniss has done very little across his four years in the program and should likely be giving way to Chris Henry Jr. or Brock Boyd.
Legend Bey has seen just one snap against Texas and, as the source put it, needs more work.
That leaves Ohio State with the same question it keeps running into under Day: will the staff make the changes now, or wait until another talented roster is dragged down by decisions that should have been obvious long before the loss shows up in the record?
In Other News...
Ohio State Loss Keeps Getting More Awkward After Sarkisian Controversy
Texas comeback win over then-No. 1 Ohio State was already going to be remembered for the result, but the postgame noise has kept following it. Quarterback Arch Manning later apologized after laughing at an AI-generated video that showed coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN reporter Holly Rowe, a moment that only added to the odd aftertaste surrounding a game the Buckeyes had let slip away.
Sarkisian also addressed the issue in a media meeting, saying he had skipped a postgame interview with Rowe because of a delay and because he chose to celebrate with his team instead. He said he respects Rowe and ESPN and expressed regret over how he handled it, another layer to a loss Ohio State fans were already trying to process as the off-field awkwardness kept building. [Read more 🡒]
Micah Parsons Just Revived A Massive Ohio State What-If
Micah Parsons has reopened one of those Ohio State recruiting what-ifs that never really disappears, especially when a player becomes one of the NFLs most disruptive defenders. The former Penn State star said he was close enough to Ohio State that he could picture what his career might have looked like in Columbus, where a front already stacked with elite pass rushers could have given him a different kind of launch point.
What makes the conversation linger is the way Parsons framed the fit with that Buckeyes defensive line. Ohio State has turned edge talent into a defining part of its identity, and Parsons imagining himself alongside names like Nick Bosa and Chase Young only adds to the intrigue of how much scarier that group might have been. The full story behind his decision is the kind of recruiting twist that still echoes years later, and it is easy to see why Buckeyes fans cannot help replaying it. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Secondary Has A Problem Big Ten Teams Will Notice
Ohio States secondary left Saturday with more questions than it wanted after a game against Texas in which coverage broke down on two pass plays that should have put the Buckeyes in real trouble. The only reason both snaps didnt turn into touchdowns was because Texas receivers failed to finish the job, a reminder that the back end is still searching for cleaner communication and tighter execution before Big Ten play begins.
Safety Earl Little Jr. acknowledged the need for improvement and stressed that every defender has to own his assignment if the unit is going to hold up against conference offenses. The coaching staff has kept practice demanding for exactly that reason, pushing the Buckeyes to sharpen the details now rather than hope they sort themselves out later. [Read more 🡒]