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The Ohio State football team looked like a lock to go to the Big Ten title game ahead of Saturday's matchup against Michigan, but the Buckeyes couldn't get it done. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day finally had everything in his favor to beat the Wolverines, and he still couldn't do it. Michigan is in a down year after losing most of their coaching staff and just about all of their production from a year ago. They were missing their best offensive player and best defensive player. Ohio State was at home. The Buckeyes still couldn't find a way to beat Michigan.
Michigan has now beaten Ohio State four years in a row, and the Buckeyes will not be going to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game. Penn State won the tiebreaker with Indiana, and they will take on Oregon with a bye in the College Football Playoff on the line.
It's been a couple of days since The Game, and a lot of people are still wondering how Ohio State managed to lose that game.
The Buckeyes got off to a good start as they got a quick stop on defense, and then they marched the ball right down the field. However, they had to settle for a field goal, and the score was 3-0. After that, Michigan was able to move the ball pretty well and they came close to scoring a touchdown, but Ohio State got a big stop on fourth down.
After that drive, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard made his first big mistake of the game. He threw a bad interception that set up the Wolverines at the two-yard line, and Michigan punched it in to go up 7-3.
Michigan extended its lead to 10-3 when Dominic Zvada drilled a 54-yard field goal, but Ohio State responded with its best drive of the day as they quickly went down the field and scored to tie the game at 10 heading into halftime.
The story of the day was Michigan's defense, and it was smothering in the second half. Heading into The Game, the past 22 winners had won the rushing battle. Ryan Day clearly put a lot of thought into that, but the Wolverines completely shut down the Buckeyes' run game.
Michigan kicked a chip shot field goal with about 45 seconds remaining in the game to go up 13-10, and then the Buckeyes gained just one yard on their do-or-die drive, and the Wolverines won the game.
We all know who is to blame for this loss:
Ryan Day
If it wasn't clear before Saturday, Ryan Day has a Michigan problem. He just can't beat the Wolverines. There are some Ohio State fans out there that believe the Wolverines cheated to win the three games before this (even though the scandal came to light more than a month before last year's game and the Wolverines were without their head coach), but there's just no possible excuse for what happened on Saturday. Day had everything that he could possibly ask for in his favor. A golden opportunity to beat his rival. He couldn't do it.
Ryan Day has an incredibly talented team, but his game plan on Saturday was atrocious. He wanted to try to prove he has a tough, physical team, but that's not what the Buckeyes are. Day could've used his elite wide receivers to his advantage and won the game without running the ball, but he didn't think to do that for some reason. Buckeyes fans know that this loss is on Ryan Day.
Chip Kelly
Chip Kelly is also at fault here. His play calling in this game… wow. The Buckeyes had a golden opportunity to score a touchdown after Caleb Downs came up with a huge pick in the red zone, and Kelly went run, tight end pass that didn't work, run on third and 10. The crowd booed, and rightfully so. The Buckeyes missed a chip shot field goal on fourth down.
Ohio State also took all of the momentum right after Davis Warren threw an awful pick in the end zone in the fourth quarter, and the Buckeyes' offense immediately went three-and-out, and they gave the Wolverines the ball back for their drive that won the game. Ugly day from Chip Kelly.
Saturday's loss was truly one of the worst that Ohio State has ever experienced in the rivalry, and a lot of their fans want Ryan Day gone.
Week 14 college football recap
The Game was the story of college football this past week. The Ohio State football suffered the big upset, but there were a lot of other important games around college football this past weekend. Let's go back and recap what happened in the final week of the regular season.
We didn't know any of the power four conference title matchups before this weekend, and now the questions have been answered. In the ACC, Clemson will be taking on SMU. SMU took care of business against Cal, and Miami was upset by Syracuse after leading 21-0. Clemson lost to South Carolina, but it wasn't an ACC game, so it didn't matter.
In the Big 12, we will see Iowa State take on Arizona State for the conference title game. One of those teams will be going on to the College Football Playoff. The Cyclones got past Kansas State, and the Sun Devils demolished rival Arizona.
Penn State will meet Oregon in the Big Ten title game after a chaotic weekend. Ohio State obviously lost to Michigan, and the Nittany Lions cruised past Maryland.
Texas-Texas A&M was the big one in the SEC as the winner got the right to go play Georgia in the SEC title game. The Longhorns got it done on the road. The Bulldogs trailed by 14 against Georgia Tech this weekend with under four minutes to go, but they ended up winning in eight overtimes. It was against an ACC opponent, however, so the game didn't matter for SEC title purposes.
The regular season is now over, and we will know the College Football Playoff field in less than a week.
