Ohio State players referred to Saturday's game against Oregon at Ohio Stadium as a "playoff game." They came out and played like it on Saturday afternoon, as they outscored Oregon 14-0 and outgained them 174-43 in the first quarter. In a game they had to have, the Buckeyes were in complete control. It was reminiscent of the Rose Bowl performance. Then the rest of the game happened.
With 3:06 to play in the first half, Ohio State had a 14-3 lead and was looking to get the ball back with a chance to extend its lead late in the half, which they have done in almost every game this season. What happened over the final 33 minutes was a disgrace to anyone who has ever been involved with Ohio State football.
Oregon called a fake punt that completely fooled the Ohio State punt team. The Ducks took advantage of their newfound life on offense and drove down the field to score a touchdown. Ohio State got the ball back with 1:25 to play in the half, and on the third play of the drive, Luke Fahey threw an ill-advised pass into triple coverage to Devin McCuin that was intercepted by Devin Jackson.
Oregon then took the rest of the clock and scored a touchdown on fourth and goal from the one-yard line to take a 17-14 lead into the half. A 14-0 run in the final 2 minutes. A big blow, but not an insurmountable one.
Oregon got the ball first to start the second half and went on a five-play, 75-yard drive to open up a 24-14 lead, which ended on a 48-yard touchdown run by Dierre Hill Jr., in which he broke three different tackles. The Buckeyes looked like they had little interest left in the football game after that. The Buckeyes gained just 34 total yards until their final two drives, when they were in desperation mode, as their defense allowed the Ducks to score 38 consecutive points.
The second-half performance, and this season at large, is so beyond unacceptable that I cannot come up with words to describe it. They came out prepared and intense, but they folded the second things got hard. It seemed like they must have thought Oregon would quit, because they knew that's exactly what they would do.
It's pretty shocking that Luke Fahey is Ohio State's second option at quarterback. I know it's much harder to keep quarterbacks in the program in the era of the transfer portal, but his play has been completely unacceptable. All that said, everyone knew, from players to coaches, that they would have to give an extra effort when Julian Sayin went down to make up for the drop-off in play.
They had a bye week to get acclimated to their new reality, and the effort has actually gone in the other direction. The defense has given almost no resistance over the last two weeks, while the offense has pretty much given their quarterback no support outside of Jeremiah Smith.
I don't know if Ryan Day will be the head coach at Ohio State next season. I think the bare minimum if he does return, should be making changes to every offensive assistant except for maybe Cortez Hankton. I can say this though: if the team doesn't care, don't expect the fans to.
I wouldn't be surprised to see an eerily empty Ohio Stadium on Saturday afternoon against Northwestern. If the Buckeyes lose again, to a Wildcats team that got blown off their own field by Iowa, conversations will change.
The Buckeyes do still have a path to make the Big Ten Championship game and the College Football Playoff that isn't entirely unfathomable if they can win their final three games. The Buckeyes have no choice but to regroup and play up to their talent in the final three games, or else no one's job should be entirely safe, players or coaches.
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