Ohio State football, the team that started this season at No. 1 in the polls, is suddenly watching its College Football Playoff hopes flat-line. After back-to-back losses, first to USC 30-18 and then a crushing 41-28 defeat to Oregon, everything is squarely on the brink for the Buckeyes. Coach Ryan Day summed it up perfectly himself after Saturday’s Oregon loss, admitting he “didn’t expect any of this to happen.”
Stunned Silence and a Crushing Scoreline
You can practically feel the stunned silence from Buckeye Nation, and their head coach is right there with them. Day’s postgame comments after that Oregon game tell you everything you need to know about the shock of this midseason downfall. They were supposed to be contenders, maybe even *the* contender, and now they’ve dropped two straight to top programs. The USC loss was bad enough, but giving up 41 points to Oregon is a whole different level of pain.
The Ultimate Low Point: Unanswered Chaos
A big part of this nosedive is the absence of starting quarterback Julian Sayin. He went down with an undisclosed right arm injury after a sack back on October 17 during their 19-15 win over Indiana. Even without their starting signal-caller, the precipitous drop-off is alarming. The Oregon game became the season’s ultimate low point when the Ducks absolutely piled on, scoring 38 unanswered points over a staggering 29 minutes and 24 seconds of game time. Think about that: almost 30 minutes of game play with no answer from the No. 1 team in the nation. It’s tough to watch a program like that fall so hard, so fast.
With CFP hopes now hanging by a thread, every game for Ohio State moving forward is going to feel like a desperation play. You have to wonder what’s next for a team that started at the top and suddenly can’t buy a win against quality opponents. The season definitely took a turn nobody saw coming.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bleacher Report.
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