The same Saturday delivered a jolt to three of college football’s biggest brands, and none of the losses came with a neat little excuse attached.
Ohio State, Oregon and Oklahoma all went down in the same day, a rare three-headed stumble for programs that are usually the ones doing the stomping. The Buckeyes watched a 20-point lead vanish at Texas.
Oregon became the first FBS opponent Oklahoma State has beaten in two years. Oklahoma, meanwhile, was so ineffective against Michigan that its offense might as well have stayed on the ground.
Start with Ohio State, because that collapse had just about everything. Up 23-3, the Buckeyes lost control in every phase.
Ryan Day has built a habit of winning, but when one of his teams melts down, it can look baffling in real time. Saturday night fit that pattern.
New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith had his first major test, and the final stretch turned ugly. Quarterback Julian Sayin finished with two completions in his last eight throws, and three of those incompletions were aimed at Jeremiah Smith.
Brandon Inniss was barely involved, drawing only two targets and making one catch, while freshman Chris Henry Jr. was essentially invisible in Austin.
The defense didn’t hold up its end either. Arch Manning made the biggest plays when Texas needed them, especially on a pair of fourth downs, and Ohio State’s pass rush disappeared in the back half of the game.
The Buckeyes went the final 36 minutes without a sack, which left Manning comfortable enough to drive Texas on three long touchdown marches. Even the secondary, usually the strength, gave him just enough openings.
And on the ground, Hollywood Smothers picked up key yards when Texas needed them.
Special teams had its own costly moment. Connor Hawkins missed from 45 yards in the fourth quarter, and that opened the door for Texas to punch in the winning touchdown. Hawkins had been solid before that, making his first three field goal tries, but the miss also highlighted how many points Ohio State had left sitting out there by not finishing drives.
Oregon’s loss looked different, but the warning signs were just as loud. The Ducks somehow became the latest team not named Tulsa to fail to beat Oklahoma State since Sept.
7, 2024. And this wasn’t some weird one-off.
The Cowboys controlled the numbers, and Oregon’s first-year coordinator setup is under the microscope. Chris Hampton’s defense did produce a long pick-six, but it also surrendered 554 yards, the most against an Oregon defense since Dan Lanning’s first game as head coach against Georgia to open the 2022 season.
Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker dropped back 43 times and was never sacked.
The offense hasn’t been nearly sharp enough either. Oregon has run the ball 55 times, and only one of those carries has gone for more than 20 yards.
Against Oklahoma State, the Ducks managed 30 rushing attempts for just 90 yards. They’ve also been poor on third down, converting at a 34.6% clip, and even worse on fourth down, going 0 for 6.
That’s not what you want from a team with Dante Moore, who is being talked about as a potential No. 1 NFL pick.
Then there’s Oklahoma, where the offense again looked like the thing dragging the whole operation down. Against Michigan, John Mateer went from expected asset to clear problem.
He completed only one of his last eight passes for three yards and threw the interception that effectively handed the game to the Wolverines in the fourth quarter. His late-season issues last year were easy to chalk up to a thumb injury.
That explanation doesn’t hold now. Beating up UTEP is one thing; facing Michigan is another, and Mateer’s 51.5% completion rate against the Wolverines wasn’t close to good enough.
The bigger question around Oklahoma isn’t just the quarterback. It’s Brent Venables.
He got his second contract extension in four seasons in August, and the school is now paying him $10 million while he’s winning 61.1% of his games. That’s below the standard Oklahoma has traditionally lived by, and the Sooners still have five ranked teams left on the schedule, including four in the top 10.
If the season goes sideways, though, the price tag makes the next move complicated.
There’s still a long way to go for all three teams, and all three have chances to recover with quality wins ahead. But after this Saturday, each of them is staring at a crisis whether they want to admit it or not.
In Other News...
Oklahoma Suddenly Has A Huge Test At Its Most Important Line Spot
Oklahomas offensive line is already under the microscope heading into the Michigan matchup, and the latest injury news only sharpens the focus on the left side. The Sooners are expected to be without starting left tackle Michael Fasusi, while center Jake Maikkula is back and Ryan Fodje is also returning to the mix, giving the staff at least some flexibility as it sorts out the front five.
Fodje is the name to watch because he is projected to slide over to left tackle in Fasusis absence. He has played multiple spots along the offensive line and came to Oklahoma as a highly regarded tackle recruit, but this is still a major assignment in a game where edge protection will matter from the opening series. For a team trying to settle its line before a marquee nonconference test, the timing could hardly be tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Michigans Win Over Oklahoma Came With One Ugly Flashpoint
Saturdays Week 2 trip to Michigan Stadium had the kind of edge that can linger well beyond the final whistle, with Oklahoma and Michigan getting into a scuffle early in the third quarter. The moment briefly overshadowed a game that had already taken on real meaning for the Sooners, who were trying to measure themselves against a program they had seen get the better of them before.
Rocky Beers was in the middle of that flashpoint, and the tight end still managed to be one of Oklahomas most productive targets on the day. Michigans 17-10 win carried its own weight, too, since it was the Wolverines first victory over Oklahoma after previous losses in the 1976 Orange Bowl and last September in Norman, leaving the Sooners with another painful chapter in a matchup that has suddenly turned chippy. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahomas First Real Test Exposed A Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Oklahomas first real road test of the season turned into a frustrating lesson at Michigan Stadium, where the Sooners fell 17-10 after spending much of the afternoon trying to dig out of an early hole. For a team that had talked all offseason about taking a step forward, the margin for error shrank quickly against a physical Michigan defense and a crowd that made every possession feel heavier.
The Sooners did show fight after halftime, piecing together enough offense to get back into the game and put real pressure on the Wolverines. But John Mateers late interception flipped the momentum for good, and Oklahoma never quite recovered from the sequence that followed, leaving fans with the uneasy feeling that the standard for the rest of the schedule just got a lot clearer. [Read more 🡒]