Day: Buckeyes' disastrous start in loss falls on me

ARLINGTON, Texas — Ohio State coach Ryan Day took responsibility for “not getting the guys ready to play” in Wednesday night’s 34-24 loss to Miami, which knocked the defending national champion out of the College Football Playoff in the quarterfinal.

“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 said. “I thought we had an excellent plan. But at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done. That starts with me.”

The Hurricanes dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball early at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and finished with 153 rushing yards offensively and five sacks on defense.

The Buckeyes, meanwhile, produced just one first down in the first quarter and had negative rushing yards through their first three possessions.

Ohio State responded out of halftime with touchdowns on its first two drives, including quarterback Julian Sayin’s 14-yard touchdown strike to Jeremiah Smith on fourth-and-2 early in the fourth quarter.

After a quick stop, the Buckeyes got the ball back with the chance to tie or take the lead. But a holding call derailed the drive and forced Ohio State to punt.

Miami salted away the clock, then punched in the game-clinching touchdown with just 55 seconds left.

“We got into a rhythm,” Day said. “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.”

The Hurricanes took their first lead in the second quarter with a 13-play, 83-yard touchdown drive that took more than 8 minutes — the longest drive Ohio State’s defense had surrendered all season.

Then, on the Buckeyes’ ensuing drive, Miami’s Keionte Scott intercepted a wide receiver screen pass attempt in stride and raced 72 yards for a touchdown, handing Ohio State its biggest deficit since the 2022 season.

“At that point, you’ve got to fight yourself out of it,” Day said. “And we weren’t able to do that.”

After an undefeated regular season, Ohio State ended the year with two straight defeats, including a 13-10 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game.

The Buckeyes still earned a playoff bye. But their loss Wednesday dropped teams with a first-round bye to 0-5 in the 12-team playoff era.

“We spent an inordinate amount of time putting the plan together to get everybody ready to go play in that first half,” Day said. “We’ve got to figure out why that was and learn from it moving forward.”