Ohio State didn’t lose to USC because its freshman quarterback was overwhelmed.
Luke Fahey, making his first career start on the road, gave the Buckeyes enough to work with. The California native finished 21-of-38 for 260 yards and a touchdown, and he added 21 rushing yards, sack-adjusted.
That wasn’t the problem. The problem was everything around him.
The coaching staff let this one slip away, and the finger points first at Ryan Day. Even after personnel changes and coordinator shuffling, the same issues keep showing up in Columbus.
The red zone remains a mess, and Saturday was no exception. Ohio State scored one touchdown in four trips inside the 20, including a sequence at first-and-inches from the goal line that turned into a shotgun run for no gain, a false start that pushed them backward, two incompletions, and a field goal.
Day’s game management didn’t help either. He stepped away from play-calling so he could focus on broader responsibilities, including clock management, but that didn’t go smoothly when it mattered.
Down two scores with about eight minutes left, Ohio State huddled, ran the ball, and burned nearly six minutes before Fahey hit Jeremiah Smith for a touchdown. Then came the decision that sealed it: instead of kicking the extra point and going after a stop, the Buckeyes went for two.
The try failed, and the game was essentially over.
If Day isn’t calling plays, isn’t handling the clock well, and isn’t making the right late-game decisions, the question becomes unavoidable: what exactly is he doing?
The answer, at least on offense, doesn’t look much better. Day was supposed to step back and let a real quarterbacks coach handle that room, but the hire didn’t bring in the kind of experience Ohio State needed.
Billy Fessler, the Buckeyes’ passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, is 31 and came in with a resume that included two years at Akron, a brief stop at UCLA, and not much else that screams top-tier Power Four quarterback developer. Akron’s passing numbers were 18th nationally in 2022 under Fessler, then fell to 99th in 2023.
That lack of seasoning showed when Julian Sayin appeared to regress this offseason, and when injury struck, Ohio State still didn’t seem ready behind him. Fahey was solid enough, but Tavien St. Clair being an afterthought at this point in his Ohio State career raises hard questions about evaluation and coaching.
The offensive line had its own rough night. Fahey was sacked only twice, but he was under constant heat and the unit piled up six penalties.
Tyler Bowen, who now leads that group, was coaching tight ends at Virginia Tech before this. He hasn’t coached offensive line since 2017, when he did it for one season at Maryland, and his only other work with the position came at Fordham in 2015 and 2016.
Virginia Tech’s offense ranked 120th, 57th and 68th during his three seasons as offensive coordinator from 2022-24.
Then there’s Keenan Bailey, who may be the clearest symbol of Ohio State’s offensive coaching problems. Bailey went from intern to quality control coach to tight ends coach in 2023, then got bumped to co-offensive coordinator in 2025.
Since then, he’s been part of an offense that scored 10 points against Indiana and 14 points against Miami at the end of last season after Brian Hartline left. The tight end room is now in rough shape, even though the Buckeyes keep leaning on that position in the run game and in the red zone.
The criticism doesn’t stop there. Robby Discher was brought in to fix special teams, and those units remain a problem.
Carlos Locklyn’s running back room hasn’t produced enough, and he still hasn’t landed a running back in the 2026 recruiting class. Larry Johnson’s defensive line has only six sacks through eight games.
Put all of that together and the result is a team that looks unprepared and undisciplined, even after two full weeks to get ready for USC. Ohio State’s talent level may not match last year’s or the year before, but that doesn’t explain the confusion, the bad fits, the penalties, and the coaching decisions that kept stacking up. The Buckeyes looked out of sync, out of position, and unable to steady themselves once the game started to tilt.
That’s what happens when a head coach surrounds himself with inexperience and incompetence.
In Other News...
Ohio State Just Got Troubling News Before USC's Passing Test
Ohio States secondary took a hit this week as Jay Timmons was downgraded from questionable to doubtful ahead of the matchup with USC. The Buckeyes have leaned on Timmons for several critical plays this season, and his status now casts a shadow over a defense that is already bracing for a major passing challenge.
If Timmons cannot go, Ohio State is expected to turn to Jermaine Matthews Jr. and Cam Calhoun to help fill the void. Against a Trojans offense that should test the back end early and often, the Buckeyes may have to adjust on the fly without one of their more reliable defensive backs. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Suddenly Has A Tavien St. Clair Question Fans Feared
Tavien St. Clair was supposed to be part of Ohio States long-term answer at quarterback, but the picture has shifted in a hurry. With true freshman Luke Fahey stepping in for the injured Julian Sayin, St. Clair is now working as the backup, a development that has changed the conversation around the room and around his place in the program.
For a player once viewed as the future at the position, the move naturally raises bigger questions about what comes next. Ohio State still has time to sort through the quarterback depth chart, and there are several possible paths ahead, but nothing has been settled yet, leaving St. Clairs status one of the more intriguing storylines to watch. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Suddenly Has A Bigger Problem Than One Road Loss
The loss at USC was jarring enough on its own, but the bigger concern for Ohio State may be what it revealed about the Buckeyes offense away from home. With backup quarterback Luke Fahey making the start in Los Angeles, Ohio State managed only one touchdown while USCs defense spent much of the night in the backfield, piling up tackles for loss and sacks and making every drive feel like a grind.
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 🡒]