Ohio State lays another egg (Photo by Ohio State Athletics)
Yep. It was 2004 the last time Ohio State had three regular-season losses under a coach that didn’t have the interim tag.
Ohio State 28, Oregon 41
Ohio State got off to a good start on offense. They had the ball first and went on an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The drive would be finished off by a 16-yard Bo Jackson rushing touchdown for the 7-0 Ohio State lead. Ohio State would do things on that drive that eluded them in their first eight games. Taking deep shots, going up tempo, getting Chris Henry Jr. in the game early, and having three wide receiver sets.
A few possessions later, Ohio State would get another touchdown drive. This one finished off with another Bo Jackson touchdown run. This one was up the middle instead of to the perimeter. This drive was fueled by a couple of big pass plays. A 32-yard pass to Jeremiah Smith and a 41-yard pass to Devin McCuin led to Jackson’s eight-yard touchdown run, and Ohio State led 14-0.
Buckeye Mirage Vanishes
Oregon would get on the board with a field goal, making the score 14-3. Late in the half, a Jaylen McClain dropped interception would give Oregon life. The Ducks would go for a fake punt on fourth down on the very next play and keep their drive alive. That was the moment Ohio State would start to turtle up.
Oregon would pay it off with a touchdown, and the Buckeyes’ two-score lead would be down to four points. OSU got the ball back with 1:25 left in the half and tried to get things moving, but Luke Fahey would throw an interception into triple coverage. The Ducks paid it off with a touchdown, and Ohio State’s 14-0 lead turned into a 17-14 deficit at the half.
Second Half
My halftime post would prove to be prophetic. Ohio State let Oregon score on their opening drive of the second half with a 48-yard touchdown run that had at least four missed tackles to take a 24-14 lead. Two more third-quarter touchdowns would give Oregon 38 unanswered points. It only got more comical in the third as Ohio State refused to target Jeremiah Smith. From the end of the first quarter to the end of the third, Ohio State went 32:37 of game time without targeting Jeremiah Smith.
Fourth Quarter
Smith and the Buckeyes finally scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter in what may have been the final play of Smith’s Buckeye career. No one could blame him for protecting his draft status and professional career after this debacle.
Some garbage time scores would have the game ended 41-28, Oregon, and the score wasn’t even that close, really. Now the rightfully tough questions need to start being asked in Columbus.
Time and Change
It’s time for Ohio State to move in another direction for the head coach of their football team. Ryan Day is not a good coach. He belongs in the conversation with bad head coaches who have won national championships like Ed Orgeron, Gene Chizik, Les Miles, Jimbo Fisher, and Larry Coker. Day is a terrible offensive coach when he doesn’t have a good coordinator holding his hand. From 2017 to 2022, he had Kevin Wilson, and in 2024 he had Chip Kelly. But in 2023 and 2025, when it was him and Brian Hartline, they struggled massively. The same this year, but worse, with Arthur Smith.
The failure to have an elite offense with Jeremiah Smith can’t be laid at the feet of Julian Sayin, his injury, or Luke Fahey. This team has shown enough flashes without Sayin to disqualify that as a reasonable excuse. He’s failed upward, and done less with more than most any other coach in the same circumstances would have done. Without Jeremiah Smith and the players’ revolt at the end of 2024, Ohio State would have a new coach already. And it’s extremely difficult to believe that they could be doing any worse with maybe the best player in team history on the roster.
The flaws from this team didn’t change after the loss to Texas or to USC, and they won’t change now. It’s because they are flaws that are from the top-down part of the current culture of Ohio State football. There’s only one way to change that. It’s painful, but it’s time. As the alma mater song says, “Time and change will surely show…” Well, they have shown. Anyone trying to suggest otherwise simply doesn’t know football.
Up Next, Northwestern
Ohio State will host Northwestern next week, and I’ll be watching and rooting for a Buckeye win like I do every fall Saturday. But realistically speaking, Ohio State could beat Northwestern, Nebraska, and that team up north each 100-0, and it wouldn’t change the flaws with this program or salvage this season. Every loss, big and small, of the Day era has the common themes of the team slowing themselves, red zone struggles, turtling up, getting away from what works, and not letting their stars carry them. If that doesn’t convince you, consider this. Ohio State is 6-5 in their last 11 games. They’re close to being 5-6. This isn’t going to change; it’s what things are, and what they are isn’t good enough for the Ohio State Buckeyes and Buckeye Nation.
