Very little that killed us on Saturday was a surprise. Most of it had been on display all year.

1) The offensive blocking (not just the o-line but also RBs and receivers) began the year as terrible. It never got better than sporadically adequate. In The Game all five linemen were graded by PFF as total failures. This does not mean we were doomed, it means that game planing had to account for it.

2) After Henderson came back from injury our running game improved. But it never became so reliable that it could be counted on against good defense.

3) In game 12 Kyle McCord still had the panics of a beginner. He did not have complete meltdowns, but he could be counted on to a) lock on to receivers instead of going through progressions. At best he never saw open receivers. At worst he threw passes that never should have been thrown. b) become badly inaccurate. Passes were uncatchable, or catchable but only at cost of yards after catch. Mechanics can be fixed. Fear may or may not be fixable. McCord should start spending a lot of personal time with a sports psychologist.

4) Ryan Day thinks he is the smartest person in the room. That leads to a lot of predictable play calling, and a lot of poor decision making, when input from others might have lead to better decision making. Day did not coach to beat TTUN. There is a reason he has not lost to an unranked team. There is a reason he is 1-7 against Top 5 teams and cheating has nothing to do with it.

All of this was known through the year. Fans and staff should figure out why it was not allowed to be discussed here through the year.

We might still have won because, you know, we have MHJ and they don’t. But MHJ can catch passes only if he is on the field. What killed us was not something we saw this year, but something we saw last year that came back.

5) In 2021 our defense was a dumpster fire. Total trash. Jim Knowles was brought in to fix it. He installed a defense that would be organized but was susceptible to big plays. That was known, it did not hurt us until The Game. Saying that our defense played well except for five plays is a dishonest way of describing what happened. Our defense against TTUN did exactly what Knowles said it would do and ttun was able to exploit it. We got into the payoff anyway. And were beating GA by two scores in the 4th. At this point the worst thing that could happen was Knowles’ defense staying the same. We would have been fine with GA taking five minutes to score, what we could not have was a quick strike. Faced with the need to adjust Knowles refused. GA got a 76 yard TD. And then ground out another. Game over.

Over the summer Knowles showed what a great coach he is by completely replacing the Break but Don’t Bend defense with a Bend but Don’t Break. We went in one year from one of the worst defenses against big plays to one of the best. It was an amazing coaching job.

It worked, until we ran into an offense that did not care about chunks, it was content winning in five yard slivers,which is what TTUN was getting on first down. This was the opposite of the GA game – trailing, we did not mind if TTUN got a FG quickly, our offense could counter. What we could not could not could not have was TTUN taking eight minutes on a drive. Because if the game ended with MHJ on the sidelines we lose. Once again Knowles had to make an adjustment. Once again he refused.

Another OSU sports site says that Day has a tough coaching decision to make. I agree, but they identify the wrong decision. It is an easy decision to give Hartline whatever he wants. If Brian wants play calling give it to him. Because Day can not count on winning without the receivers Hartline is bringing to Columbus. (And Day is not beating TTUN with his own play calling.)

The tough decision is Knowles. Knowles can coach defense. But he is not getting the team where we want to go if he refuses to adjust during a game. If he is willing to coach the situation keep him. If he defends his approach Day might want to find out the purchase price of Iowa’s Phil Parker or PSU’s Manny Diaz. Or someone who can not only install a system but change it when needed. Because Knowles’ stubbornness cost OSU two big games in a row. And while Day will be back for 2024 (if he wants it), a fourth loss in a row will likely be too much. No pressure, Ryan – your coaching future depends on you having the right coaches. Who will correct problems during the year and during a game.