Under no circumstances should the Ohio State Buckeyes have lost to Texas. They had a 23-3 lead over the Longhorns after three quarters, and it looked like they were going to cruise to a victory. However, they crapped down their leg and let the Longhorns come back and win the game.
There is plenty of blame to go around, and the Buckeyes had perhaps the worst collapse in program history. Instead of getting a signature road win, they got embarrassed on a national stage. These three are the biggest losers who deserve the most blame for that.
3. Matt Patricia
For three quarters, Matt Patricia had Arch Manning confused. He was putting different looks in front of him, and he was clearly confused about what was happening. Yet, he changed things in the fourth quarter for reasons that are unclear. He let Arch Manning sit in the pocket and take all day to survey the field.
Instead of putting any pressure on him, Patricia let Manning pick the defense apart fairly easily. He refused to send any blitzes his way, and he let Arch beat the team with his legs. The Buckeyes had two separate fourth-down opportunities to end the game, and they couldn't do it.
This is Patricia's first real dud as a coach for the Buckeyes. Quite frankly, it could have been worse. Cam Coleman handed Ohio State an interception, and Ryan Wingo dropped a touchdown pass. This defense got torn up more than the stats show, even up to the fourth quarter.
2. Connor Hawkins
So much for having the kicking game solved! The Ohio State football program continues to be tortured by poor field goal kicking. Connor Hawkins was brought in from the Transfer Portal to fix those woes and finally bring some stability to the position. He did not do that in Austin.
After making his first two field goals, including a 48-yarder, Hawkins missed a 45-yard field goal that would have given the Buckeyes a two-score lead late in the game. Had he made that field goal, Ohio State would have been up nine with 4:16 left in the game. At that point, the game would have been done.
It's clear that Ohio State has not solved its kicking woes. They can't trust him to rise to the occasion in big games, and that puts even more pressure on the offense. However, despite the missed kick, he's not the biggest loser for the Buckeyes in this game.
1. Ryan Day
It's hard to pin this loss on anyone more than Ryan Day. Day has some bad losses, but this one might be the most embarrassing. It's the biggest blown lead he's had since taking over as head coach in 2019, and it's the biggest comeback Texas has had since 2007.
Day says he thought about letting Texas score sooner to give the Buckeyes more time on their final drive. Yet, he decided against it. That was just one of many boneheaded coaching decisions that he made in the fourth quarter of this game. It was a cascade of poor decisions that led to this loss.
Day needs to figure out what he needs to do in order to fix things, because the schedule doesn't get much easier. Losing three games looks like a possibility after what just transpired in Austin.
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