In a game that Ohio State fans won’t forget for a while, the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes fell to the No. 4 Texas Longhorns 24-23 in Austin on Saturday night after leading 23-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
Here are some players, coaches, and the game overall graded out.
A+: Jeremiah Smith
This will likely just be a copy-and-paste grade all season because this is how No. 4 plays, but this game was especially interesting to see how he would play since, in the first two meetings, Texas made it a point to make anyone else
beat them. In this one, Smith had eight catches for 164 yards and a touchdown. He was the reason they got out to a 23-3 lead in the first place.
A: An expanded playoff
I know not everyone likes the expanded playoffs, but this is one of the benefits and why it is okay to play a big non-conference game. Ohio State fell to No. 6 in the AP Poll after the loss to Texas, and they have a difficult conference schedule ahead of them. They’ll likely drop another game this season. 10-2 won’t get you into the four-team playoff in most seasons, but it will get them into a 12-team playoff, and as we know, you can still win a national championship at 10-2 even if the regular season is not great (#2024).
F: Pass catchers that aren’t Jeremiah Smith
Bo Jackson had four catches. As we know, Jeremiah Smith had eight. The rest of the team had five catches for 77 yards. Wide Receivers not named Jeremiah Smith had two catches for 24 yards. That simply won’t get the job done against an elite defense like Texas.
F: Special Teams
Since I have been doing the report card, special teams has always graded out the worst (shocker). It has cost them games before, and it did again on Saturday night. Special teams was not the only reason they lost, but the fact remains that if Connor Hawkins makes the kick in the fourth quarter, the game is over.
Also, Ohio State has a punter who is incapable of flipping the field. Joe McGuire had three punts for 117 yards and never put Texas inside its own 15. Field position is paramount in games like these, and the punter is not helping the cause.
F: Closing out games
Ryan Day wins a lot of football games, and that should not be discounted in this era of college football. However, this loss is the fourth time they have had a touchdown or better lead in the second half of a game they lost. Closing games out is difficult and takes everyone, but ultimately, when things go wrong, the head coach will take the heat. You have to play to win, and Ohio State gets too conservative at times when they have a lead late in big games. And Ohio State is 1-3 in its last four games.
