COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State will not play for a Big Ten championship after losing to Michigan 45-23 on Saturday. Here are seven takeaways from the Buckeyes’ second straight double-digit loss to Michigan.
1. I didn’t see this coming.
I cautioned not to worry about the Maryland performance. I knew the Buckeyes secondary was bad — we’ve been talking about it all year — but Michigan wasn’t going to throw the ball. That was everybody’s thought. I was wrong. I was very wrong.
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Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy put together a masterful performance. He completed 12 of 24 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns. To sum it up, he beat Ohio State how Ohio State beats teams. That’s why Saturday’s loss was so shocking. Ohio State is built to win shootouts, and when it became that in the first half I thought, OK, this is where the Buckeyes want to be. It wasn’t.
There were two explosive touchdown passes in the first half. There was the 45-yard touchdown pass right after halftime and fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns of 75 yards and 85 yards, as well.
Look at these @UMichFootball TD plays 😲
▶️ 69-yard pass
▶️ 75-yard pass
▶️ 45-yard pass
▶️ 75-yard run
▶️ 85-yard run pic.twitter.com/20gZzfrq4b— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) November 26, 2022
The Buckeyes couldn’t answer those touchdowns. They had three points and just 177 yards in the second half.
The Ohio State defense was supposed to be better than this. Coach Ryan Day went out and got Jim Knowles to win this game specifically. Instead, a defense that was ranked No. 8 nationally fell apart again in The Game.
The offense fell apart, as well. It lost its explosiveness and aggressiveness at the worst time.
Knowles and Day took blame for the loss after the game, but this is beyond taking blame. Ohio State’s season may be over at the hands of Michigan, again.
This was the worst possible way for it to happen.
2. Before we get back to the defense, I wanted to touch on a few offensive plays that changed the game.
With Ohio State down by four points in the third quarter and facing a third-and-3 from its own 49-yard-line, Day called a pitch to running back Chip Trayanum that netted zero yards. Ohio State punted, and a drive that nearly advanced to plus territory was over just like that.
Then on the next drive, facing a fourth-and-5 after working back from first-and-35, Day opted to punt from the Michigan 43-yard-line. Ohio State still trailed by four points. Quarterback C.J. Stroud was trying to convince his coach to go for it, but Day insisted on a punt.
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“We’re always going to be aggressive, but at that point I thought the right idea was to punt,” Day said.
I understand playing field position. At that point you’re thinking, “Our defense just stopped them, let’s pin them deep again.” Sure, it’s a fair argument.
But Ohio State just received the ball at the Michigan 48-yard-line before losing 25 yards on penalties. The Buckeyes worked the ball back into plus territory after two completions from Stroud, but Day took the ball out of his quarterback’s hands. That’s unacceptable.
You can’t play field position all game against elite teams. Sooner or later, you have to trust your team to make a play.
Stroud, to no one’s surprise, believed the offense would have converted.
“I wanted to go for it really bad,” he said. “I think I’m one of the best players in the country. I think that I can make that play. In those types of moments, I want the ball, but I trust coach Day and I will ride with him every day. Everybody focuses on one thing, but there’s so many things that played a part to us losing this game.”
Credit to Stroud for sticking by his coach. He can’t throw Day under the bus there, but Day can’t take the ball out of Stroud’s hands, either. You just can’t. He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country — let him go win the game for you.
3. Ohio State’s secondary finally cost it a game.
The Buckeyes gave up big plays by missing tackles, being completely turned around on routes and not being disciplined with their eyes.
Knowles said Ohio State’s goal is to give up less than five explosive plays in a game. On Saturday, it gave up five plays of 45 yards or more for touchdowns.
Michigan’s explosive plays were touchdowns and not just chunk plays. That’s a big difference.
“Typically, you have a chance to get the guy on the ground and then you recover, but when they go for touchdowns, that’s something that falls on me,” Knowles said.
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One explosive play for a touchdown can be thought of as a fluke. But five? No. There’s something that needs to be fixed. It wasn’t just the corners, either. The safeties played a hand in getting beat deep, as well. Maybe it’s personnel. Maybe it was the emotions of the moment, but regardless, Knowles said he’ll examine everything.
4. Penalties have been a problem all season.
Ohio State had eight for 91 yards. That can’t happen against a team as talented as Michigan.
The pass interferences were bad and led to points, again. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are the worst of them, though. Gee Scott Jr. has to know he can’t head-butt a Michigan player, especially right in front of a referee.
Ohio State had 19 penalties for 188 yards in the last two weeks. Discipline has to be a focus in the offseason.
5. This might’ve been Stroud’s last game in an Ohio State uniform.
If the Buckeyes don’t make the College Football Playoff, it’s hard to imagine he will play in a New Year’s Six bowl. He didn’t give a definite answer to that during his postgame news conference.
“I will have to take it into consideration on whatever happens. I can’t give you a final answer,” Stroud said. “Whatever happens will have to happen over these next couple weeks.”
If this is it, Stroud’s final game had mixed results. He threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns but had two interceptions late when he was trying to make plays to get Ohio State back in the game.
For his career, Stroud will be remembered as an efficient and productive quarterback. He’s thrown for 8,124 yards, 83 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. So many college quarterbacks would love to have that stat line. But right now, he’s likely out of the Heisman race and will leave with an 0-2 record versus Michigan as a starter and with no Big Ten championships.
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He said he thinks his legacy at Ohio State is more than just that, though.
“People are going to say I never won The Game, I understand. People will say I never won the Big Ten championship, I understand. When it comes to that I have to eat it,” Stroud said. “That’s life. Nothing has ever been easy. … It’s tough. I wish I could’ve done more and won these games, but nobody can question my heart. I left everything on the table. There’s no rock I didn’t flip over.”
Criticizing Stroud for losing The Game twice is understandable, but it’s also important to remember his body of work. He was a terrific college quarterback who just couldn’t get over the hump in the final regular-season game of the season.
6. This game was everything.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it. All season, both teams knew this was going to be the play-in game to the Big Ten championship game and College Football Playoff.
It was all Ohio State thought about after losing to Michigan last year. Now it will have to think about a blowout at home for another year, and it has nobody to blame but itself.
Ohio State had a chance to take control of the game in the first half when the defense forced two straight three-and-outs, but the offense couldn’t get anything going. But despite how poorly Ohio State played, it led by three points at halftime.
Nobody came to play in the second half. The defense was terrible. The offense was out of rhythm. Day lost his aggressiveness as a play caller, and Michigan took advantage.
Michigan had a good game plan and executed, but the Buckeyes will look back and believe they had every chance to take the game. They just never did.
7. So what’s next?
Ohio State is going to have a long two weeks of waiting before the Playoff selection show Dec. 4, the day after the Big Ten championship game.
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The Buckeyes will watch the conference title game from home again.
There’s still a path to the CFP, depending on how far the Buckeyes drop in Tuesday’s rankings. Ohio State needs Notre Dame to beat USC. Not only would that boost Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame but also eliminate USC from Playoff contention. Clemson’s loss Saturday helped, as well.
But Ohio State didn’t do itself any favors by getting blown out. How you lose is important. We’ll have to wait until Tuesday to see how the committee viewed the loss.
But even if Ohio State makes the College Football Playoff, there are legitimate concerns surrounding this team. I have no confidence that it could beat Georgia in the Peach Bowl, which is where it would be headed as the No. 4 seed.
(Photo of C.J. Stroud: Ben Jackson / Getty Images)
Cameron Teague is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the Ohio State Buckeyes. Before joining The Athletic, he worked as a features writer for The Columbus Dispatch and a beat writer covering Louisville football for the Courier Journal. He’s a graduate of Bowling Green State University. Follow Cameron on Twitter @cj_teague
