Saturday was a great night for Ohio State, as the Buckeyes had no problem with Minnesota, blowing out the Golden Gophers 42-3. The same can’t be said for Penn State. Following a double overtime loss to Oregon, the Nittany Lions were expected to rebound in big fashion. Penn State entered Saturday’s contest against UCLA as nearly four-touchdown favorites over the Bruins. UCLA would defeat the Nittany Lions 42-35 in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon, handing James Franklin’s team their second loss in a row.
Entering the game, UCLA was 0-4 and had already fired head coach DeShaun Foster, as well as their offensive and defensive coordinators. The upset will go down as one of the most shocking in college football this season. At least it’s looking like the Buckeyes dodged a bullet by defensive coordinator Jim Knowles moving on to Penn State. While the defense of the Nittany Lions gave up 42 points to UCLA, Matt Patricia’s Ohio State defense has allowed just 25 total points through the first five games. If Ryan Day is vengeful, the Buckeyes can name their score when the teams meet in Columbus on the first day of November. Ohio State has had its fair share of puzzling losses over the years. Under Jim Tressel, there were some losses that came about because “Tresselball” kept opponents in games, and sometimes the strategy went sideways. Then, with Urban Meyer as coach, there were a few absolute stinkers where you wonder what the team worked on in the week leading up to the game. Today, we want to know what the most mystifying Ohio State loss you’ve seen. There are numerous games against Michigan where they should have beaten the Wolverines, losses to less talented teams they had no business losing to, or games where the coaching staff made moves that cost the Buckeyes the game.
Today’s question: What is the most mystifying Ohio State loss you’ve seen?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: 2018 against Purdue
Had it not been for the 49-20 loss to Purdue, Ohio State would have been playing in the College Football Playoff at the end of the 2018 season. Heading into the game in West Lafayette, the Buckeyes were rolling, posting a 7-0 record. Urban Meyer had returned from a three-game suspension to start the season, and Ohio State survived a trip to State College in late September, beating Penn State 27-26.
Dwayne Haskins was making a strong case to be a Heisman Trophy finalist in his first, and only season, as the starting quarterback of the Buckeyes. In the two games before the showdown with Purdue, Haskins had thrown for over 400 yards. Haskins would throw for 400 yards against the Boilermakers, but it was for all the wrong reasons. When it was all said and done, Haskins attempted 73 passes in the game.
Buckeye fans should have known it was going to be a long night when the Boilermakers went on a 15-play, 98-yard drive late in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead. Ohio State wouldn’t lead at any point in the game. The Buckeyes at least hung around in the first half, with a Rondale Moore touchdown right before half giving Purdue only a 14-3 lead.
Things really got out of hand in the second half. Purdue would score 28 points in the fourth quarter to really put the hurting on Ohio State. Not only did running back D.J. Knox rush for 128 yards and three touchdowns, but Urban Meyer probably still has nightmares of what Rondale Moore did to the Buckeyes. Moore finished with 12 catches for 170 yards and three touchdowns.
It’s not like the Boilermakers were setting the world on fire entering the 2018 contest with Ohio State. Purdue opened the season with losses to Northwestern, Eastern Michigan, and Missouri. The victory over the Buckeyes pushed Purdue’s record to 4-3 on the season, but they couldn’t capitalize on any momentum from the win, losing to Michigan State in their next game. The Boilers would finish the season at 6-7 after losing 63-14 to Auburn in their bowl game.
Ohio State still went on to win the Big Ten title, as well as the Rose Bowl. Who knows how the season would have gone had they beaten Purdue, but they certainly had the talent to contend for a national title with Haskins at quarterback. Instead, the season was squandered because the coaching staff was obviously unprepared, putting their team in a bad spot against a team with a ton of offensive firepower.
Matt’s answer: 2024 against Michigan
When discussing painful, mystifying, and demoralizing losses, I think it is always good to consider the silver lining. Last year’s loss to Michigan was one of the inarguable low points in recent Buckeye program history. Not only was it the fourth-straight loss against OSU’s hated rivals, but it was the latest indictment of head coach Ryan Day’s ability to get out of his own way and maximize his players’ distinct talent advantages.
The performance in The Horseshoe last November was so inept that, after trying as hard as I could to avoid it, I finally gave in and sided with the Lunatic Fringe and said that the Buckeyes could not continue on with Day as head coach if that was the type of performance that his team would turn out in important games.
I am someone who believes that sports, and fandoms in general, should not define a person’s identity. While a loss by your favorite team is obviously going to suck in the moment, it shouldn’t be something to ruin your entire week, month, or life. But this loss hurt more than an average loss.
While it still essentially guaranteed that the Buckeyes would make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. The 13-10 defeat felt like an indictment of Day and how the entire program approaches not only the rivalry but any and all statement games. It felt like a turning point, and in the fog of frustration and the six years of evidence at our disposal up until that point, I thought the only turn available to right the ship would be for Ryan Day to no longer be Ohio State’s head football coach.
Fortunately, there was another — quicker and less painful — path forward for the program; although, I would argue that we will never see a game coached by that Ryan Day ever again. Because in the nine games since that embarrassing 13-10 loss to TTUN, Ryan Day has become a noticeably different version of himself. His offensive coaching acumen is still second-to-none, he is still a wonderful leader and role model for the players, and he still develops quarterbacks better than anyone in the country, but the version that emerged from the most recent loss in The Game has done so with a laser-like focus on what matters.
In the past, Day would seemingly get distracted from what was the best way for his team to find success. He would worry about what a babblingly incoherent, addle-brained octogenarian former coach or whether or not opposing position coaches thought his team was tough or not.
But since that loss, he has figured out how to filter out all of the noise and focus on what his team does best. In the vast majority of games that Ohio State ever plays, they will have the best players and the best coaches. So, there’s no need to change your identity to prove a point. There is no need to get cute with your game plan. There is no need to play with your food.
In the four games of last season’s CFP and the first five of this season, Ohio State hasn’t been perfect, but the team’s approach to the various tasks at hand has been what you expect from a coach who is clear-eyed, knows what is expected of him, and refuses to allow anything else to get in the way of his team achieving its goals.
Last November’s loss to Michigan was an absolutely dark time in recent Ohio State memory, but the saying goes that it is always darkest before the dawn, and there has absolutely been a new Day in Columbus and college football since Nov. 30, 2024.
