Ryan Day had Ohio State in position to leave Austin with a statement win. Up 23-3 after three quarters, the Buckeyes looked like the kind of No. 1 team that could walk into Texas and walk out untouched.
Instead, the game flipped fast.
Arch Manning got going, Ohio State’s offense stalled, and the Longhorns kept chipping away in the fourth quarter. Texas trimmed the margin to six, then pushed all the way to the doorstep of the winning score in the final minutes.
That’s where Day’s biggest decision came into focus. With Texas facing first-and-goal from the 1-yard line and 1:23 left, Ohio State still had its final timeout.
Day could have let Texas score, kept the clock alive enough to give Julian Sayin a real shot to drive for a field goal, and tried to steal the game back. He thought about it, but chose not to do it, according to Pro Football Talk.
“I considered it, but I felt like at that point we were gonna go play defense and see if we could get off the field, but it didn’t work out,” Day said postgame.
The Buckeyes held on first and second down, but that also let precious seconds bleed away. Texas kept the ball moving just long enough for Hollywood Smothers to finish the job, punching in the decisive touchdown for a 24-23 lead with 25 seconds left.
“We did, we talked about it, and decided that we were gonna play defense,” Day added. “When we got that stop right there we said, alright, we’re going to take our chances, put the ball down for one yard and see if we can stop them.”
Ohio State got one last desperate possession, but the chaos ended with an interception.
Day’s call didn’t lose the game by itself, and neither option was clean. But in the end, the choice not to let Texas score closed off Ohio State’s best path to recovery once the fourth-quarter unraveling had already started.
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