Ohio State’s 30-18 loss to USC on Saturday night was one of the most frustrating defeats Buckeye Nation has had to stomach in quite some time. What made the setback even more bewildering is that Ryan Day’s team looked completely unprepared despite having two weeks to prepare for the Trojans.
There were a lot of questions heading into the game since Ohio State was breaking in a new quarterback after the injury to Julian Sayin, but there was hope the coaching staff would put Luke Fahey in a position
to lead the Buckeyes to a victory. That never happened.
Now with two losses headed into the final four games of the regular season, Ohio State is teetering on missing the College Football Playoff with another loss. Before we turn our attention to Oregon, let’s look back in what was most frustrating from the loss to USC.
Ryan Day and his coaching staff
It wasn’t just the game plan that infuriated Ohio State fans in Luke Fahey’s first start; there were failures in all aspects of the defeat.
There was a belief that Day and Arthur Smith were going to treat Fahey’s debut as a starter much like what we saw from Julian Sayin last year in the season opener against Texas. Unfortunately, the two starts couldn’t have been any more different.
Fahey wasn’t terrible for a quarterback making his first collegiate start in the middle of the season against a solid team. What hurt Fahey and the offense is that they were chasing the game from the start. The quick start by the Trojans likely didn’t help the nerves Fahey had, since he likely felt he had to press to get his team back in the game.
As the game went on, anger grew over how Day and his staff approached the game, reaching a crescendo in the fourth quarter with the Buckeyes showing urgency when down 27-12. Ohio State would score a touchdown on a methodical drive to cut the lead to 27-18, but Day elected to go for a two-point conversion, which failed.
By that point, the Buckeyes were forced to go for an onside kick instead of kicking the football away and hoping their defense could make a stop and use their two remaining timeouts to try and get the football back with as much time as possible.
Had Ohio State just kicked the extra point after their lone touchdown of the game, then it still would have been a two-score game instead of needing three scores to win. Would the Buckeyes have been able to erase the deficit? Likely not, but at least they would have given themselves a sliver of hope.
Then, after the game, Day’s comments made things even worse because everything he said didn’t back up his actions. We all watched the game; just own your failures.
The undisciplined play
Maybe Ohio State could have survived all the penalties and mistakes if Julian Sayin was healthy and starting. Even that would have been a tough ask for Sayin. Thinking Fahey could do the same in his first start is asinine.
When it was all said and done, the Buckeyes committed 11 penalties for 71 yards. There were a number of avoidable flags like illegal formations, as well as a personal foul penalty on Beau Atkinson on a punt in the first quarter, which set USC up with a short field.
In a game where the margin for error was slim, Ohio State constantly shot themselves in the foot with stupid mistakes. Whenever it seemed like they were about to take a step forward, they did something that set them back two steps.
The sloppy plays make you wonder what actually was going on at the Woody in the last two weeks. If the Buckeyes don’t clean things up quickly, then they have no shot at making the College Football Playoff.
What happened to the defense?
Obviously this year’s defense was going to have some growing pains after losing Caleb Downs, Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, and a number of others. Then the news came out late in the week that Jay Timmons likely wasn’t going to play, meaning Ohio State would be without their most impactful defensive player.
A week after Wisconsin stymied the USC offense, the Trojans pretty much did whatever they wanted on Saturday night. It started with a 69-yard touchdown to Trent Mosley on the second play of the game and went downhill from there.
Most egregious from the Buckeye defense was how awful their tackling was. USC players were constantly slipping out of the grasp of Ohio State players and churning up yards after contact. For a team that is usually sound when it comes to bringing down the opposition, the display was shocking.
Last year the Ohio State defense was one of the best in school history and could single-handedly take over a game. This year’s group doesn’t have anywhere close to the same feel. On Saturday night, the Buckeyes needed their defense to step up to take some pressure off Fahey, and they failed to meet the moment.
If you need visual evidence from Saturday night of the defense not cutting, just cue up USC tight end Mark Bowman going Marshawn Lynch and nearly taking it to the house. That play encapsulated a pathetic effort from the defense.
Red zone failures
Kudos to Connor Hawkins for making all four of his field goal attempts on Saturday night, which is the best performance for a Buckeye kicker in a long time. Unfortunately, he was called on so much because his team couldn’t punch the ball inside the end zone when they got inside the 20.
When Will Howard was quarterback at Ohio State in 2024, it felt like a given the Buckeyes would punch the football in for a touchdown whenever they entered the red zone. There hasn’t been the same feeling since then.
Some of the failures stem from the coaching staff getting too cute. I guess when you have 47 tight ends on the field near the goal line, you have to try and force the football to one of them instead of the best wide receiver in college football. Jeremiah Smith should never leave the field in the red zone, no matter the play call.
The fact is, Ohio State isn’t as tough in the trenches as they think they are. Tyler Bowen is essentially stealing money since the same issues have plagued the offensive line since he arrived in Columbus. The Buckeyes just don’t have the edge needed on the line for a true title contender.
