Ohio State’s 24-23 loss to Texas is the worst non-Michigan defeat of Ryan Day’s tenure

I've been through a lot of ups and downs in my 45 years as an Ohio State fan, but tonight's 24-23 loss to No. 4 Texas is going to be one of the toughest pills to swallow. In the first 30 minutes of the top-five matchup in Austin, everything went the way of the No. 1 Buckeyes. Balls bounced their way; every offensive decision paid dividends; the defense was nasty; the Scarlet and Gray were playing with a near-feral aggression that seemed perfectly suited for their road, underdog status. They came out swinging and landed punch after punch after punch.

But then after halftime, something changed. The punches went from haymakers and uppercuts to crosses, then to jabs, then to slaps, then to nothing more than flailing whiffs unable to connect.

Some of that can be blamed on the oppressive Texas heat taking its toll as the game went on; more can be blamed on how the Longhorns never gave up and continued to fight; and, unfortunately, I think even more can be blamed on the Ohio State coaching staff doing what we have seen far too often during the Ryan Day era outside of the four-game run in the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship: they took their foot off the gas and coached not to lose rather than to win.

The team's four consecutive losses to Michigan are in their own category, separate from everything else, but aside from those rivalry losses, this is, by far, the worst defeat of Ryan Day's tenure as Buckeye head coach.

The embarrassing loss to Missouri in the 2023 Cotton Bowl was demoralizing and wholly unacceptable, but it was a meaningless postseason exhibition in which a number of key players opted out. This was a marquee, primetime matchup against a fellow blueblood with major College Football Playoff implications, and OSU was up 20-3 at halftime before essentially deciding to play a completely different brand of football after the break than the one that netted them a three-score lead to begin with.

In the first two quarters, there was an energy and electricity to everything Ohio State did. It still wasn't perfect — the Buckeyes continued to struggle in the offensive red zone — but it felt like there was a plan and an aggression that not only played to the strengths of the Buckeyes' deep and talented roster, but also kept Texas and especially quarterback Arch Manning off-balance.

Before the game, I wrote about how the circumstances of this game allowed Ryan Day to coach with an aggression and freedom , if he chose to go that direction. If he had done that from start to finish, even if they did end up losing, at least they could hang their hats on having played in a way that gave them the best chance to win and made the most of their talent. And, for the first half, that is exactly how it felt.

But instead of going out and completing the middle-8 win, Ohio State punted after halftime and essentially took its boot off the Longhorns' neck. Texas deserves plenty of credit for what happened from there; the Longhorns adjusted, Arch Manning settled in, and a very good team refused to let the game get away from them.

But that is exactly the reason that Ohio State's response was so frustrating. Rather than countering those adjustments with more aggression and creativity, the Buckeyes seemed to retreat from the very approach that had put them in control in the first place.

Even after a quiet opening to the second half, Ohio State still led 23-3 entering the fourth quarter. From there, the collapse was entirely avoidable.

This game was another painful microcosm of the Ryan Day experience at Ohio State. This wasn't solely about conservative play-calling; this loss exposed the entire collection of recurring problems that seem to surface when Day's teams get conservative — less defensive pressure, less offensive creativity, more red-zone failures, more settling for field goals, etc.

Tonight, OSU only mustered 13 points on four trips into the red zone, couldn't get off the field on third and fourth down, missed a likely game-winning field goal, refused to rush more than three — occasionally four — on defense, and completely abandoned any and all creativity on both sides of the ball.

Connor Hawkins' missed field goal isn't on Day's temperament, but repeatedly settling for field goals and creating situations in which one kick could essentially determine the outcome of the game absolutely is. Allowing Manning to convert multiple fourth-quarter fourth downs isn't on Day, but the defense not being schemed to put an erratic quarterback under pressure in high-leverage moments certainly is.

This game had all the tedious, painful hallmarks of the worst of Ryan Day's tendencies.

In the 12-team playoff era, a single loss — especially to a top-five opponent — clearly doesn't ruin your season. Ohio State still has plenty of opportunities to build its résumé and work its way into the College Football Playoff.

That is why I could have lived with a loss had the Buckeyes maintained the aggression, creativity, and effort that made the first half so exciting. If Texas had simply fought back and beaten Ohio State while the Buckeyes continued throwing punches, so be it.

But when you can almost literally see a switch being flipped between the best version of the Buckeyes and a version instead made in the image and likeness of their naturally timid and anxious coach , it becomes insultingly predictable.

And that is what makes this loss so maddening. OSU has more than enough talent to beat any team in the country, but they seem incapable of maintaining the level of execution (from both players and coaches) necessary to make the most of that talent.

Up 23-3 with just over 23 minutes left in regulation should never result in a loss for Ohio State. There is too much skill on the roster, too much experience on the coaching staff, and too much at stake for the Buckeyes to let a game like this slip away.

What makes this loss most aggravating, though, is that Ohio State showed that they knew exactly how to beat Texas. For 30 minutes, the Buckeyes were aggressive, creative, physical, and fearless. They dictated the game and forced a confused Texas team to react. They played like a team with nothing to lose, and that philosophy produced a three-score lead on the road in a hostile environment against one of the best teams in the country.

Then they stopped doing every last bit of that.

That is the part Ryan Day has to answer for. Texas deserves credit for fighting back, but Ohio State simply cannot continue to give up leads because its staff starts coaching as though protecting the lead is more important than extending it. The Buckeyes didn't need to reinvent anything in the second half in order to finish out the win. They simply needed to adjust to what Texas was doing and keep playing the brand of football that had put the Longhorns in a blender in the first place.

Instead of going all-in, the Buckeyes folded back into the cautious, anxious version of themselves that Day has all too often allowed to surface in the biggest games. This should have been a signature win. Instead, it became the worst non-rivalry loss of Day's Ohio State tenure, not because the Buckeyes never had an answer for Texas, but because they proved they knew the answer and then chose to stop using it.