ANALYSIS: Ohio State fails to ‘leave no doubt’ in loss at Oregon

Oregon made the plays at the end, and No. 2 Ohio State ran out of time in a 32-31 loss to the third-ranked Ducks.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. The Ohio State defense failed to answer the bell in a big game again.

Ohio State entered with gaudy numbers on defense, but coordinator Jim Knowles’ defense was largely untested.

The senior-laden unit failed its first in a big way, yielding 32 points and 496 total yards without finding a way to stop the run or the pass with any consistency.

Oregon senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel seemed to be in control from the start, completing 23 of 34 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover.

He also had a 27-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter when he pulled the ball on a zone read play and ran through an empty gap on third-and-2.

2. Ohio State gave up big plays but couldn’t make many defensively.

Oregon had 10 explosive plays, including a 69-yard pass that set up one touchdown and a 48-yard score in the second quarter when the Ducks were building a slim halftime lead.

The last big hit by the Ducks was a 26-yard catch-and-run by tight end Terrance Ferguson on Oregon’s final drive that put the Ducks in position to kick the game-winning field goal.

On the flip side, Ohio State had two tackles for loss, no sacks and failed to force a turnover.

The performance was reminiscent of face-plants against Georgia in the 2022 College Football Playoff semifinals and that season to Michigan, both games in which big plays were the Buckeyes’ undoing.

This one also resembled last season’s loss at Michigan in some ways, particularly with the Buckeyes giving up points on the last two Oregon possessions when one stop could have made the difference.

3. Oregon made plays Ohio State didn’t.

Ohio State was fortunate not to lose its first possession of the game on an interception. An Oregon defender appeared to rip the ball away from tight end Will Kazcmarek as the two were going to the ground, but it was ruled a catch. The game was not stopped for an extended review, and Ohio State went on to score a touchdown to go up 7-0.

Later in the first quarter, Ohio State did lose a fumble when defensive lineman Derrick Harmon ripped the ball away from Quinshon Judkins in the backfield, and the Ducks stole another possession in the second quarter when a squib kick went off an Ohio State player and Oregon recovered.

4. Buckeyes failed to ‘leave no doubt’ in another close loss against a highly ranked team

That was head coach Ryan Day’s mantra coming into the season after his teams came up one score short at Michigan last season, against Georgia the season before and in the 2019 CFP against Clemson.

This time Ohio State had a chance to drive for the game-winning field goal, but time ran out as quarterback Will Howard was scrambling inside the Oregon 40.

That came three plays after an offensive pass interference penalty on freshman Jeremiah Smith wiped out a first down at the Oregon 21 and pushed the Buckeyes out of field goal range with under 30 seconds to play.

“The DB is grabbing on Jeremiah, Jeremiah’s fighting there and they called the flag there and that cost us, but it shouldn’t come down to one play,” Day told reporters after the game. “And (I’ve) said that before. We want to leave no doubt, and I felt like we should have done that tonight. We did not.

“So you put it in the hands of a call and you don’t get it, and that’s on us. It should never come down to that situation.

“We had too many (explosive) plays tonight. We turned the ball over in the first half, and it cost us. So we got to do a better job of handling those situations and playing better overall.”

5. Howard was outstanding until coming up short

The senior transfer from Kansas State ended up the subject of criticism when he scrambled on the last play instead of trying to save time for a desperation pass or long field goal, but his play to that point was key to the Buckeyes’ having a chance to win as the defense struggled.

Howard completed 28 of 35 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a score and made multiple high-level throws to keep drives going, though he also dropped a snap on a key third down that forced Ohio State to punt when it was protecting 28-22 lead.

Smith also had another big game, catching nine passes for 100 yards, while senior Emeka Egbuka caught 10 passes for 93 yards and ran twice for 20 yards.