Buckeye Nation’s worst nightmare came to life on the last evening of 2025. Ohio State fell to Miami 24-14 in the Cotton Bowl, ending the season for the Buckeyes, along with the dream of becoming back-to-back
national champions.
Now we have nine months of not only looking at what went wrong in the loss to the Hurricanes, but we will also be trying to figure out how to avoid a similar fate happening in the 2026 season. While we will have plenty of time to scrutinize what needs to change, today we are going to take a look at what led up to the shocking defeat in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.
Byes are apparently a disadvantage
Last year, Ohio State was able to use its first-round victory as a springboard to its magical title run. With the loss by the Buckeyes on Wednesday night, teams that have had a first-round bye in the 12-team College Football Playoff are now 0-5 in the quarterfinals.
Miami came out firing in the first half of the Cotton Bowl, building a 14-0 lead, which Ohio State was never able to recover from. The Buckeyes hadn’t faced a deficit that big the whole season, and while they were able to pull to within 17-14, they just ran out of gas late in the fourth quarter.
The bye didn’t help Ohio State, which had already been prone to slow starts during the season. Having already played in Texas less than two weeks ago, Miami didn’t need to know off the rust like Ohio State did. The Hurricanes being able to find a groove early ended up being the difference in the game.
The offensive line failed the Buckeye offense
Entering the Big Ten Championship Game, the Ohio State offensive line had only allowed six sacks on the season. Indiana and Miami were able to register five sacks each on the Buckeyes in the two losses. Julian Sayin just wasn’t able to overcome the relentless pressure he saw in those games.
Even with constant pressure in his face, Sayin was still able to throw for over 250 yards in each of the last two games. The issue on Wednesday night is that Ohio State took too long to adjust to what they were seeing from Rueben Bain Jr., Akheem Mesidor, and the rest of the Miami defense.
What makes the performance by the offensive line against the Hurricanes so disheartening is that the best blockers for the Buckeyes in the game ended up being tight ends Max Klare and Will Kacmarek. Even though starting guard Tegra Tshabola was out with an injury, it’s not like Gabe VanSickle and Joshua Padilla had never seen the field. For a group that bullied opponents for the first 12 games of the season, they failed to rise to the moment in the games that mattered most.
Special teams continues to be a problem
Can we get back to the days when Ohio State actually cared about special teams? Tresselball was essentially built on special teams, helping to win games. While the play of the group dropped off under Urban Meyer, it was obvious he still knew how important they were.
I can’t say the same thing about Ryan Day. For the second time on New Year’s Eve under Day, the special teams failed Ohio State. It’s not so much that Jayden Fielding missed the 49-yard field goal before halftime; it’s that nobody expected him to make it. How can one of the top college football programs in the country not have a more reliable option at kicker? All any Buckeye fans will remember from Fielding time at Ohio State is how he made a habit of missing kicks when his team needed them the most.
While punter Joe McGuire wasn’t bad when his number was called, he didn’t have quite the night Dylan Joyce did. The Miami punter dropped a couple of punts in perfect position to pin the Buckeyes deep in their own end. Being able to leave Ohio State with little room to operate was a huge plus for the Hurricanes.
Ryan Day needs to hang up his play-calling hat
It was extremely concerning when Ryan Day announced he would be calling plays in the Cotton Bowl. It’s not that he doesn’t have a great offensive mind; it’s just too much for him with all the other responsibilities he has on his plate as Ohio State head coach. Last year was when he was at his best, being able to focus on all the other areas of the game while Chip Kelly took care of the offense.
Brian Hartline, taking the South Florida job, obviously had a massive impact on the offense. I know Hartline wanted to see the season out at his alma mater, but it ended up hurting the team in the last two games more than it helped. With too many cooks in the kitchen, the game plans suffered.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a true solution to the situation the Buckeyes faced. About the best they could have done was see if Kelly would have returned as an offensive assistant after he was fired by the Raiders. Kelly likely didn’t want to do that since it would have hurt his chances at landing another job elsewhere.
Now, Day will have to find his next offensive coordinator. After seeing how the Buckeyes played in their final two games of the season, it’s hard to advocate for the hire to be someone currently on the staff. Maybe Day can lure someone like Brian Daboll to Columbus and give him full control of the offense. Hopefully, Day can check his pride and realize being the CEO of the Ohio State football program is what he is best at doing and leave the offense to someone else.
The Ohio State defense wasn’t what it needed to be
Carson Beck wasn’t great on Wednesday night, but he was good enough. After seeing Texas A&M get after Beck in the first round, it seemed elementary that Ohio State would be able to harass Beck in the Cotton Bowl. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Beck was able to move around and make some easy throws to keep the chains moving. In a way, it was death by a thousand paper cuts.
What was really disappointing was that with a chance to get the offense the ball back with a shot at winning in the fourth quarter, the defense couldn’t get the stop they needed. Miami bullied the Buckeyes on the ground late in the game, erasing any chance of the comeback win.
Putting the full blame on the defense isn’t right since the offense put them in a bad spot, having to play from behind most of the game. Still, for a group that allowed just over 100 points this season heading into the game, they needed to find a way to give Julian Sayin and company at least a chance, and that didn’t happen.
One thing that stood out to me is how quiet Arvell Reese was in the second half of the season. Even though he’ll likely get taken in the first round of April’s NFL Draft, his stock might fall a little bit because he didn’t show up in Ohio State’s biggest games this year. If anything, being largely absent against Indiana and Miami might make teams think twice about taking him so high.
