The Ohio State Buckeyes kicked off their 2025 season with a huge non-conference matchup against the Texas Longhorns Saturday in a rematch of the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinal. The Longhorns entered the game ranked atop the polls, and with the Buckeyes ranked third.
It was the marquee matchup of the weekend, with two inexperienced but highly touted quarterbacks leading their team into the game. In the end, the defenses were the story, especially Ohio State’s, which took its bend-but-don’t-break
approach to new extremes, stopping multiple fourth downs and leading the team to victory.
Despite the high of beating the nation’s No. 1 team, there were plenty of aggravating moments in the game, and that’s why we’re here — to accentuate the negative, even when things go pretty much according to plan.
Here are some of the things that had me reacting like a mid-1980s kid tasting New Coke for the first time.
SEC Refs? Really?
In the year of our Lord 2025, there is no reason a game between teams from two conferences should include an officiating crew from either conference.
The entire nation is playing non-conference games. While this may be standard practice, the idea should not be to negate a team’s home-field advantage. That’s part of sports.
Most of these kinds of games are home-and-home matchups across two seasons. The correct move is to avoid any appearance of bias by bringing in officials from a conference without a dog in the fight.
There were some (not many, but some) questionable calls in the game — most notably an obvious pass interference committed against Jeremiah Smith and a different application of the ground helping a player make a catch between the two teams. There was also obvious pass interference on Carnell Tate’s touchdown catch, and although I was watching it on TV and not in the stadium, I did not see a flag come out from the camera angles I saw, so it’s a good thing Tate caught the ball.
In an era of the two biggest football conferences in the country jockeying to get more teams into the College Football Playoff, there is no need to risk any perception of bias when officiating crews from across the country could be scheduled to work the game.
Come On, Klare
You can take the player out of Purdue, but you can’t always take the Purdue out of the player. I kid, of course, but my first real moment of grumbling in the game Saturday was when tight end Max Klare dropped a ball near the sideline on a fourth down that would have extended Ohio State’s first drive.
The ball was a little late coming out from Julian Sayin, but there was plenty of time for a player of Klare’s caliber to look it in and get his foot down in bounds.
The bigger issue for Ohio State on that play was that Sayin had Jeremiah Smith open in single coverage for a touchdown if he’d seen it (and trusted it), but that is a coachable moment, and Sayin did very little wrong in his first collegiate start on one of the biggest regular-season stages imaginable. Still, it was Klare who had the chance to keep the drive going, and he did not do it.
It was likely first-game jitters, so hopefully it won’t be an issue moving forward.
Smith was… Human?
Speaking of drops, it was rare and especially enraging to see a player of Jeremiah Smith’s quality dropping passes early in the game. Those problems went away when he went to the sideline and changed gloves — something the in-game sideline reporter commented on — but I wonder how much of that was psychological.
Hey, whatever works.
It was clear on the broadcast replays that he took his eyes off the ball early on both of his drops in the first quarter. His hands were fine after the glove switch, but he was also looking the ball in, so if the change in handwear led to that, I support his solution.
Too Much Manball
The conservative game plan by Ryan Day and Brian Hartline showed a stark contrast to the offense under Chip Kelly a year ago. While that was likely to protect Sayin and limit mistakes, the approach was reminiscent of some of the uncharacteristically conservative play calling that has been costly in The Game in the Day era.
There were few shots down the field, and while field position no doubt played a role in that, it became clear early on that the running game is a work in progress. C.J. Donaldson looked good at finding whatever yards were there To be had, but James Peoples did not hit holes quickly and confidently — when there were holes.
The offensive line played OK, but there were no real gash plays in the run game. Other teams will see that on film, so the staff will have to work on that part of the offense.
Generous Spots
It’s OK for me to cop to having some bias here. After all, this is an Ohio State blog. But it seemed that Texas got much more leniency at the end of runs than the Buckeyes.
There was one play in particular when Arch Manning was forced out of bounds seemingly short of the sticks but was given a generous spot, and it was never reviewed. Other times, the ball seemed to be spotted at the end of where a Longhorns runner or receiver skidded to a stop rather than where the ball was when they were ruled down.
It was ultimately not a factor, but it was a bit infuriating three or four times in the game.
Not Cool Hands, Luke
The offense started at its own 20 with 7:56 to play and a 14-0 lead after good coverage by Davison Igbinosun helped stop a fourth-down play. Two runs from Donaldson gave the Bucks a quick first down. But with Ohio State trying to run clock in the game’s later stages, Luke Montgomery committed a holding penalty, putting the Buckeyes behind the chains on a play that netted Peoples just three yards.
Three plays later, Ohio State had gained just 10 yards, getting back to the original line of scrimmage. The Buckeyes punted it back to the Longhorns and Texas was able to cut the lead to one score on the ensuing drive in just 42 seconds.
Short Punts
Is Joe McGuire really Australian? Ohio State’s punter doesn’t seem to have the big, booming leg we’re used to seeing from Aussies who come to the U.S. to punt in college football.
He managed to boot two that were 50+ yards among his six punts, including a 55-yarder, but his average was just 43.3, so there were some short ones in there as well. With the Buckeyes pinned deep in their own end several times, he seemed to give the Longhorns good field position a few too many times.
McGuire did have a good one late in the game that proved to be quite helpful.
Those are the things that had me reaching for the Tums on Saturday.
What bugged you? Let me know in the comments section below.
Of course, there were so many positives in the game, including the play of the defense under new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. The pass rush and coverage downfield was pretty good, there were tons of little unexpected wrinkles, and the goal-line defense continues to impress. Arvell Reese looks like the next big thing on the defensive side of the ball.
Sayin was poised and accurate throughout the game, even when his receivers weren’t helping him. The offensive line held up well in pass protection. If Texas is as good as we think it is, Saturday was a positive sign for the 2025 Buckeyes.
Next up for Ohio State is a home date against Grambling State.
