Former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer revealed his concerns with the Buckeyes' fourth quarter collapse to Texas, highlighting a defensive aspect as his top worry.
In a clip from "The Triple Option" show Sept. 14, Meyer highlighted the Longhorns' first touchdown drive, which lasted 15 plays, 91 yards and nearly 6½ minutes of game time.
"Arch [Manning] did a good job, but I'm telling you, [Texas] ran the ball right at them," Meyer said. "I kept waiting for, at some point, step up and make a play on defense, and that's normally what has happened under [defensive] coordinator Matt Patricia ... There was no mistake that they were going to score.
I kept watching, saying 'Make a play, make a play' and they couldn't."
On that drive, Texas ran the ball seven times, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Texas quarterback Arch Manning began the drive with runs for 10 and 8 yards, both shotgun scrambles after he could not find an open receiver.
Manning had another rush for seven yards later in the drive, which set up a run from running back Hollywood Smothers to get to the goal line. Manning then threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Ryan Wingo on third down to get the first of three Texas touchdowns.
After averaging 2.1 yards per carry through the first two quarters, Texas' long drive broke the flood gates as the Longhorns had 104 rushing yards on 4.3 yards per carry in the second half.
The Buckeyes managed just 150 total yards in the second half while Texas piled up 239.
Meyer's second concern for the Buckeyes was the offensive passing distribution. He labeled Jeremiah Smith as a "freak" with eight catches for 164 yards, but pointed out that no other Ohio State wide receiver had more than two catches.
Urban Meyer sees two big fixes for Ohio State ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/77eoOO7W09
— The Triple Option (@3xOptionShow) September 14, 2026
The other wide receivers that were targeted by quarterback Julian Sayin, Brandon Inniss and Devin McCuin, finished with one catch each. Besides Smith, Sayin's top two targets were running back Bo Jackson (four catches, 37 yards) and tight end Mason Williams (two catches, 29 yards).
Despite the strong performance, Smith did not have a catch in the fourth quarter while Ohio State stalled on offense, allowing Texas to abruptly take control of the game.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Urban Meyer identifies biggest concern from Ohio State's collapse vs Texas
