Saturday night was not a great night for the Buckeyes, at least in the fourth quarter. Anytime there’s a comeback like that, it’s easy to focus on how big the comeback was and be upset that the Buckeyes blew a 20-point lead. I saw a lot of Buckeyes fans on social media upset at Ryan Day for letting this lead slip away, and that’s where much of Ohio State fans’ frustration is going to come from.
It’s also important to look at other key numbers in the box score to see how the comeback happened. They
can illustrate why the Buckeyes weren’t able to put the game away and allow Texas to mount their comeback.
In addition, one number illustrates a bigger problem than blowing a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter. Let’s take a look at all of these in this week’s edition of By the Numbers.
By the Numbers: Key numbers that stand out from Ohio State’s 24-23 loss at Texas
1-3: That’s not going 1-3 on something in the game Saturday night. Rather, it’s the Buckeyes’ record in their last four games. Those games were the Big Ten Championship, the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals last year, and the first two games of this season. It’s not good by any means.
It wasn’t even a year ago that the Buckeyes were 12-0 and had won 16 straight games. Everything was going swimmingly for the Buckeyes, until it wasn’t. In December 2025, the Buckeyes lost offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and their final two games of the 2025 season. On Saturday night, the Buckeyes lost a 20-point lead.
Forget that these three losses are against some of the best teams in the country. This is Ohio State. Not winning any of the three games they lost in their last four games isn’t sitting well with Buckeyes fans. The mood is sour right now, as it should be. Ohio State let one get away from them Saturday night that they had no business losing.
17-32: Julian Sayin had an uncharacteristically inaccurate night throwing the football. Before Saturday night, Sayin’s career-low in completion percentage was 62.9 in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Saturday night, Sayin’s completion percentage was 53.1.
Look, quarterbacks are allowed to have bad games. Great players are allowed to have bad games. Saturday night was the first time Sayin was just, for lack of a better word, off. Hopefully, the bounce-back will look like what we are used to from the Buckeyes’ quarterback. It is worth noting, though, that Sayin does have four interceptions in the Buckeyes’ last four games.
4-1: Texas fumbled the ball four times on Saturday. Ohio State recovered only one. Two of those fumbles came when the Buckeyes were up 23-3. Recovering either one of those fumbles probably ends the game, as crazy as that is to think about a play relatively early in the game.
8-164-1: Just another day at the office for Jeremiah Smith, right? Eight receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown. If only he could have made a play when the Buckeyes were trying to put the game away.
78-63: Ohio State ran 15 fewer plays than Texas. Four of the Buckeyes’ drives lasted just four plays or less. Worse, the Buckeyes had at least six plays on each of their first four drives. Only two of their last seven drives went for at least six plays. Twice, the Buckeyes went three-and-out while up 23-3, which kept the door open for Texas.
119-5: Ohio State outgained Texas 119-5 in the first quarter in total yards. For the rest of the game, the Longhorns outgained the Buckeyes 331-253. That’s a big difference and shows how Texas kept playing and applying pressure on the Buckeyes’ defense while Ohio State’s offense stalled in the fourth quarter.
