The Ohio State Buckeyes were bounced from the College Football Playoff when they suffered a shocking 24-14 loss to the Miami Hurricanes in the tournament’s quarterfinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Wednesday night.
Following the game, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day accepted blame for “not getting the guys ready to play” for the New Year’s Eve showdown.
Ryan Day says Ohio State’s loss “starts with me”
“We worked really hard…to come out of the gates and win the first quarter, win the first half and be ready to go,” Day explained, according to Jake Trotter of ESPN. “I thought we had an excellent plan. But at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done. That starts with me.”
Day took over play-calling from offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who will be the next head coach for the South Florida Bulls. Day hadn’t handled such duties since the 2023 season, and his team ultimately was unable to overcome a slow offensive start against Miami.
In the game’s second quarter, Miami’s Keionte Scott intercepted Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and then returned the pick 72 yards for a touchdown. Per Trotter and Daniel Chavkin of The Sporting News, the Buckeyes earned only one first down in the contest’s first quarter and accumulated minus-3 rushing yards in the first half.
Ryan Day vows to learn from defeat
Ohio State showed fight and decreased Miami’s lead to 17-14 early in the fourth quarter, but the Hurricanes later put the game to bed via a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with CharMar Brown scoring a five-yard rushing touchdown with under a minute to play in regulation.
“We got into a rhythm,” Day said about Ohio State’s rally. “But when you start the way we did, you put yourself at risk of having to be really darn near perfect in the second half to go win the game.”
Day became a target of critics after he previously dropped four straight games to the rival Michigan Wolverines, but he silenced such talk when he guided the Buckeyes to the national championship in January 2025. He and his program will now have to bounce back from this disappointment.
“We spent an inordinate amount of time putting the plan together to get everybody ready to go play in that first half,” Day added. “We’ve got to figure out why that was and learn from it moving forward.”
