Five Things: Ryan Day's Program Fails to Beat Michigan for a Fourth Straight Game, This Time 13-10 in Ohio Stadium

By Chris Lauderback on December 1, 2024 at 10:10 am
Will Howard
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Entering The Game as 19.5-point favorites playing at home against a 6-5 Michigan team playing without two of its best players, Ryan Day's program laid an egg in a 13-10 defeat inside a frigid Ohio Stadium. 

The loss was Day's fourth in a row to the Wolverines and left most fans clamoring for his head although Ohio State, at 10-2 overall, should still ultimately find itself in the College Football Playoff field once the conference championship games are played and the seeds are announced next Sunday afternoon. The most common projection at the moment has the Buckeyes as a No. 8 seed hosting No. 9 Tennessee in a first round matchup at Ohio Stadium. 

If The Game itself wasn't ugly enough, a postgame brawl at midfield erupted after Michigan players attempted to plan the M flag as Ohio State players sang Carmen Ohio in front of the south stands. 

It would not have come to that if not for the Buckeyes scoring just 10 points across five trips to the red zone, two costly interceptions thrown by Will Howard, two missed field goals from Jayden Fielding among other special teams gaffes, and Ohio State's inability to win the line of scrimmage, particularly on offense. 

As such, it'll be another year of soul searching for an OSU program that clearly has a Michigan problem. 

That said, the season is not over yet and while many fans have understandably quit on the head coach, the team needs to find a way to regroup and get ready for a playoff game. 

With that, let's get to Five Things from a crushing defeat. 

HOWARD IMPLODES

Ohio State felt it upgraded over Kyle McCord after last season by bringing in Will Howard and through 11 games, that was indisputable. Yeah, McCord thrived in the ACC this season but his lack of mobility was an issue last year and would've probably been a bigger problem this year especially after the OSU line was blown up with injuries. Meanwhile, Howard played some excellent football for large stretches this season for the Buckeyes, entering yesterday with a single-season school-record six games completing over 80% of his passes with an TD/INT ratio of 26/6. He also gave OSU a needed run threat from the QB position. 

Yesterday however was a flat out disaster for Howard. He completed 19-of-33 throws for a season-low 57.5% completion rate while also racking up season worsts in passing yards (175) and interceptions (2). He was an dreadful 7-of-15 for 56 yards and a pick in the second half. He targeted Jeremiah Smith twice over the game's final 30 minutes. 

The first interception came at his own 4 yard line via a 3rd-and-9 throw on an out route to Carnell Tate that he telegraphed for the Michigan defense. Aamir Hall jumped the route, snagged the ball and returned it 11 yards to the OSU 2 yard line. Michigan scored two plays later to take a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter. 

Howard's second interception came as Ohio State faced a 3rd-and-7 from the UM 16 in a 10-10 game with about five minutes left in the third quarter. Howard wanted Egbuka on the left side of the field but his throw was late and behind is receiver, instead finding the waiting arms of Makari Paige. 

Those two throws gifted Michigan a touchdown and kept Ohio State from at least trying what could've been a 33-yard field goal in a game the Buckeyes lost by three points. 

Howard didn't find any room on the ground either as he carried it four times for 10 yards. One of those nearly got him knocked out by Paige and you have to wonder if lingering effects from the hit played any part in his terrible performance. 

SPECIAL TEAMS FAILURES LOOM LARGE 

After years of pitiful special teams under assistant Parker Fleming, Ryan Day sent him packing last year but didn't hire anyone to specialize in overseeing the unit. The by-committee approach saw Ohio State at least not be any worse on special teams, and even produced some signs of life in the form of the program's first punt return for a touchdown in a decade last weekend versus Indiana. 

But yesterday was a special teams tire fire of epic proportions. 

Placekicker Jayden Fielding, 8-of-9 through the first 11 games including 2-for-2 from 30-39 yards and 5-of-6 from 40-59 yards, biffed a 38-yarder and a 34-yard try after hitting a 29-yarder to open the scoring.

His 38-yard miss, a push from just inside the right hash, came with Ohio State trailing 7-3 midway through the second quarter. His 34-yard miss, a hook from just inside the left hash, came with the Buckeyes in a 10-10 tie late in the third quarter. 

Relatively new punt returner Caleb Downs failed to judge a Tommy Doman punt with the wind, letting it fall about 2 yards to his right at the OSU 20, before watching it roll another 13 yards to the OSU 7. Seemingly terrified about the bad field position, Chip Kelly and Ryan Day dialed up a 2-yard run and a pass that fell incomplete before giving up on 3rd-and-8 with a run call triggering a chorus of boos from the faithful. 

A 31-yard punt from Joe McGuire (into the wind but c'mon) followed, giving Michigan excellent field position at the OSU 39. The defense held but the Wolverines were still able to take advantage of the OSU special teams flaws as Dominic Zvada buried a 54-yard field goal giving Michigan a 10-3 lead with 2:15 left in the first half. 

Kickoff return got into the act to start the second half as TreVeyon Henderson misjudged the kickoff into the wind, forcing OSU to start the possession at its own 6 yard line. The miscue was a huge momentum killer after the Buckeyes had tied the score just before intermission and Ohio State would eventually punt to end the drive. 

I'm still trying to understand why Henderson was ever on kickoff return in the first place considering the risk of injury and the fact he entered the game with four kickoff returns for a middling average of 14.5 yards per return with a long of 19 yards. Like, what's the point? 

DEFENSE DOES ITS PART 

I'm sure the Ohio State defense wishes it had a few plays back but all things considered, the unit did more than enough to help the Buckeyes win. 

Jim Knowles' group stuffed Michigan at the OSU 3 for a turnover on downs and grabbed two interceptions while limiting Wolverines quarterback Davis Warren to nine completions for a mere 62 yards. 

The scoreboard showed 13 points allowed but 10 of those points came on two Michigan "drives" that covered a total of five yards. Michigan's lone touchdown came on a 2-yard possession following Howard's first pick and the first field goal came after McGuire's 31-yard punt to the OSU 39. 

Gassed from the Ohio State offense speeding through 4-play and 3-play possessions starting with the last Fielding missed field goal drive that ended late in the third quarter, the defense allowed Michigan to run 26 plays for 134 yards and chew up 15:01 of clock over the game's last ~17 minutes. That included a game-winning 11-play, 58-yard drive ending in Zvada's 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds left. 

Even with the defense's good-enough-to-win performance, you know the unit laments giving up a season-high 172 rushing yards (4.1 per carry), failing to record a sack and generating just four tackles for loss amounting to a mere -5 yards. 

Downs was sensational with 11 stops and an incredible interception giving the OSU offense the ball at the UM 16 yard line with 4:41 left in the third quarter of a 10-10 game. The clutch play went for naught of course as Fielding missed his 34-yard field goal try four plays later. 

RUN GAME BLUES

The playcalling did Ohio State's diminished offensive line zero favors as the Buckeyes ran for a mere 77 yards on 26 carries versus the Wolverines, good for a paltry 2.96 yards a pop. 

It felt like Chip Kelly and Day tried too hard to run up the middle which made little sense given not only are Michigan's defensive tackles its greatest strength but the interior of OSU's offensive line is its greatest weakness after center Seth McLaughlin tore his Achilles the Tuesday before the Indiana game. That injury further shuffled the already-depleted line after Josh Simmons' season-ending knee injury at Oregon forced left guard Donovan Jackson to left tackle and pushed reserve Carson Hinzman into the starting lineup at left guard. 

With Hinzman then forced to take McLaughlin's center spot and a relatively inexperienced Austin Siereveld inserted at left guard, and right guard Tegra Tshabola having issues for much of the year already, the Buckeyes have struggled to run the ball for two weeks now. Against Indiana and Michigan, the run game averaged a combined 3.49 yards per carry and that drops to 2.83 if you take away Henderson's 39-yard mop up duty jaunt versus the Hoosiers. 

Back to yesterday's game, tailback duo Quinshon Judkins and Henderson combined for just 67 yards on 3.04 per try and Ohio State gained a meager four combined yards on five third down carries, failing to move the chains each time. In fact, Ohio State had just three first downs via running plays the entire afternoon. 

The reality is, the re-retooled line has been okay in pass pro but the run blocking has been extremely mediocre. 

PUCKER UP

I've hung around in Ryan Day's corner through some tough losses but ironically, it was after the ugly win against Nebraska right before Halloween that I finally started to sour on his leadership of the program. At that time, I noted his "waiting too long to dismiss underperforming assistants, stubborn playcalling due to rabbit ears / trying to prove a point that doesn't need proven, an inability to consistently win games of consequence against top-tier competition, and usually doing so by collapsing and/or playing extremely tight in the fourth quarter." The other thing I noted was that he had never lost to unranked team. 

Yesterday's loss to the 6-5 and unranked Wolverines made it four in a row to Michigan and while two of those I can still understand because Harbaugh was cheating in what I believe to be a very meaningful way, it has to be nearly impossible for the staunchest Day defender to say he understands this rivalry or doesn't coach extremely tight, focused more on not losing than actually trying to win. 

Against Michigan's greatest strength, it's defensive tackles, Day, alongside his offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, stubbornly ran the ball up the middle 14 times for 34 yards trying to again prove a point that didn't need proven. All because Day is hellbent on trying to prove his team is "tough" because Michigan Men and some pundits like to call out Ohio State as a finesse team in big games. 

Before Ohio State had to throw it five times on the last gasp possession down three points, Day and Kelly guided the offense to 28 pass attempts and 26 rushes behind the twice retooled offensive line that's made it clear it's not very good at run blocking but is pretty serviceable in pass protection. And they did that with Ohio State having Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate lining up at the receiver spots. 

And what can you say about the head coach when his defense that's playing its guts out, allows an illegal substitution penalty to happen, out of a TV timeout no less, turning a 3rd-and-2 from the OSU 9 into a crippling 1st-and-Goal while losing precious seconds with under two minutes to play? 

Day's special teams were a disaster again. Day can't run out there and kick field goals but he could do a better job finding a guy capable of making them when it matters. He can remind the punt return man it's windy so a punt doesn't travel 68 yards and back the offense up to its own goal line or a kickoff into the wind doesn't get misjudged causing OSU to start it's first possession of the second half from its own 6 yard line. Or before the season, after finally firing Parker Fleming, he could've hired a guy to focus on special teams specifically to at least create the impression of accountability. 

In the fourth quarter of a tie game at home, Day's team was outscored 3-0, outgained 110-10, gave up 4-of-5 third down conversions on defense and went 0-for-2 on third down on offense. Ohio State ran seven plays to Michigan's 22. 

Throw all that in a stew and Ohio State lost to an unranked Michigan team at home for the first time since 1966. 

I'm not sure OSU boosters or the new AD that wants to please them have the appetite to fire Day and spend ~$37 million in buyout money but if he doesn't make it the CFP final or win it all, maybe that changes. Because if Day couldn't beat a down Michigan team with this current roster - even with the depleted offensive line - it's hard to imagine he can ever consistently check that critical box on the annual OSU goals list moving forward. 

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