The Ohio State Buckeyes at the Cotton Bowl. (Photo by Ohio State Athletics)
Game 13, Ohio State vs. Missouri, the Cotton Bowl, View From the Couch (12/29/23)
Ohio State continued its recent trend of losing when it matters the most in their 14-3 Cotton Bowl defeat to Missouri. I saw no overall improvement in this team from November to now. The new Buckeye quarterbacks who would play would miss all-American Marvin Harrison Jr. who opted out of the Cotton Bowl and declared for the 2024 NFL Draft. It only got worse from there.
First, I’ve seen some idiotic stuff said about Marvin Harrison Jr. opting out of this game and going pro. The dumbest of that stuff being that he quit on the team. That’s such pure hogwash. Marvin Harrison Jr. is why Ohio State got as close as they did to making something out of this third straight nothing season. I wish there was ways these guys could play one last time without risking injury and therefore their careers and millions of dollars but there is yet to be a path for that.
Whether we agree or not with their decision or think we would do it differently is irrelevant. It’s a choice all their own that I can only respect, regardless of what it is. If you can’t just be thankful for all they gave over their careers and even more thankful for the ones who risk so much for one more game that is such a life-altering risk then you may be rooting for the wrong team.
The Cotton Bowl
The team picked up where they left off on November 25th, floundering on special teams, offense, defense, and especially in coaching. Special teams looked improved in their punting game as Jesse Mirco had eight punts, four of which were for more than 50 yards, and he averaged 48.4 yards per punt and yet he strangely hit the transfer portal the day after the game. Jayden Field was one of two for field goals and the punt return team struggled for Ohio State as they allowed themselves to be pinned inside the 20 on five of Missouri’s eight punts.
The Buckeye defense was better, notching four sacks, but was finally worn down with Missouri running 71 plays to Ohio State’s 57. The Tigers also won the time of possession battle and star running back Cody Schrader had gained 128 yards on 29 carries further wearing them down and finally knocking them out with two 90-plus yard drives in the fourth quarter.
An Offense That Was Offensive to Watch
The offense had no silver lining. They continued their trend of trying to run toward the sidelines instead of north and south in the running game and couldn’t protect in the passing game giving up six sacks. They ended the game with only 203 total yards. This was led by the head-scratching decision to have Carson Hinzman who started all 12 regular season games at center benched for unknown reasons and have veteran guard Matthew Jones move over to center.
Jones played a respectable game but Ohio State missed their starting center who wasn’t injured but wasn’t allowed to play. This reshuffle of the line led to the six sacks, Devin Brown’s injury, and Lincoln Kienholz being thrust into the game. Neither Brown nor Kienholz were helped by conservative play calls that even Jim Tressel would have likely called too cautious.
A Familiar Tune
Earle Bruce famously was called “Old 9-3” when after his first season at Ohio State going 11-1 and being one play away from a national title (much like Day in 2019) he then went 9-3 for six straight seasons (He then went 10-3 and 6-4-1 and was fired). Ryan Day has quickly become “Old 11-2.”
Day is 1-4* against schools with urine-colored “M”s as part of their logos. His one win in 2019 is looking more and more like Urban Meyer’s eighth win against them and Day was just a seat warmer. His best success was in his first two years when the team still had a lot of Urban Meyer guys and his lack of success with each year of having less of Meyer’s culture and more of his own says volumes about the state of the program.
Messy Beneath the Surface
His 56-8 record is camouflaging his 1-6 record against that team up north and the SEC. Add a 2-4 bowl record and while it’s still not clear to everyone yet, Ohio State is very much in the spot they were in in the 1990s. They can churn out NFL talent but they’re not getting their players meaningful wins along the way, because they can’t win the big games that they make it to.
The bottom line is this is not good enough and the longer it lingers the more difficult and painful it will be to make the necessary changes to correct that fact. The powers at be need to know their Ohio State history and realize they are in the midst of 2-10-1 but at 1-3 they don’t have to let it get that far.
We are already hearing the same off-season promises we’ve heard after two seasons of debacles. To take a page out of our most recent opponent’s book; show us don’t tell us. Unfortunately, we won’t have a chance to see actions speak until November 30th, 2024, 336 days from now.
