Recap

The 2 vs 3 match up more than made up to the billing as the night cap in a very good Saturday slate of games, but the Buckeyes were not able to come out on top as the clock expired, and take their first loss on the road to Oregon, losing 32-31. Give credit to Oregon who were aggressive all game, and stay that way in all 4 quarters. On their first and second touchdown, they tried to go for 2, and then lined up for a successful onside kick after kicking the ball directly to an Ohio State player, which bounced off of him and the Ducks were able to recover, taking a possession away from the Ohio State offense, who at that point had only stopped themselves with mental penalties. The stadium did loud as advertised as over 60,000 fans, which were 70% Oregon faithful, kept the noise level up all throughout the game. it was a perfect night and setting for a football game, the Buckeyes were not able to come out on the winning in of it. There has been a lot of social media calls about firing Ryan Day, and now that we are 6 seasons into his tenure, the big game against top 5 opponents has been his biggest hurdle. This was also the first game he lost in the Big Ten to a team not named Michigan, and is 0-5 against the Ducks and the Wolverines. The biggest takeway I saw was that Oregon found success with Evan Stewart against Denzel Burke, and it help lead to some big plays for the Ducks. With the 12 team playoff, the Buckeyes are still in the mix, and are a 93% chance to make the playoff still according to the ESPN tracker, however, they do not control their destiny, and need to win out the rest of the season in order to put themselves in that Big Ten Championship conversation. The teams that are blocking them from that are all still on their schedule, and we will see that this team fixes after the bye week when they take on Nebraska. I said it at the beginning of the season, but I anticipate this will be the first of 2 games against these teams this season. Lets hope the Buckeyes find themselves in a position for a rematch, and that they come out on top in the next one. That one is for hardware.

Turning Point

The play might be controversial, and it shouldn’t have been defined by one play for the Buckeyes, but on their last drive, Jeremiah Smith gets called for an offensive pass interference when the Buckeyes were in field goal range on their last drive in a play that looked more like a release. That penalty pushed the Buckeyes back, and on the last play with 6 seconds left, Howard had to scramble and slide past the 30 yard line, but no time was left on the clock to use the final time out.

Stars of the Game

As always, we rank the top stars of the game, with each Buckeye leaf representing a reward (3 leaves it the 1st place earner). Also like the team, no Buckeyes leafs are awarded in a loss.

Playoff Picture

It was a close game that saw 7 lead changes, and these two teams looked like the best teams in the conference. Ohio State does not have a ranked win, but has an opportunity to finish the season with Penn State (November 2). Indiana (November 23) and Michigan (November 30) to redeem their loss and hopefully play Oregon in a rematch game in Indianapolis. With a few teams around them winning, the Buckeyes should drop, but should still be in the top 10, potentially stay in the top 5. With the new playoff format, 1 loss doesnt eliminate you, but the Buckeyes need to win out to control their destiny if they still want to have a first round bye in the playoff as one of the top 4 seeds.

Looking Ahead

Ohio State (5-1) heads into their second and final bye week of the season, and will return on October 26th to take on Nebraska.

Oregon (6-0) travels to Purdue a short week, and will take on the Boilermakers on Friday October 25th.

Photo Credit: Kyle Robertson | Columbus Dispatch