The defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes suffered their first loss in 24 games dating back to last season when they dropped a 17-14 decision to the rival Michigan State Spartans on Saturday. The situation, circumstances and expectations from the outside made it feel like a shocking loss in the moment but the reality is that it was only a matter of time before this year’s Buckeyes faltered.
Here is a look at what went wrong for Ohio State this season.
The Quarterback Situation
There was no shortage of praise for the Buckeyes’ quarterbacks when they won the national championship with their third-string passer last season but it created a unique dynamic when all three quarterbacks returned for this year. It didn’t take long for the situation to become a major issue. An argument can be made that Braxton Miller was their best option at the position before he was moved to wide receiver. Neither Cardale Jones nor J.T. Barrett was able to seize the starting job throughout a tenuous year in which both players underachieved. The fact that head coach Urban Meyer pledged to stay with the hot hand prevented both quarterbacks from settling in. There were issues off the football field that continued to make the situation that much more confusing. The quarterback situation came back to haunt the Buckeyes in their biggest game of the year on Saturday when Barrett completed nine-of-16 pass attempts for 46 yards and a touchdown as Ohio State’s perfect season came to an end against the rival Spartans. Barrett and Jones are as much to blame as anybody else but the situation they were in certainly didn’t help. Ultimately, it was a big part of them falling short of their lofty expectations for this season.
The Play-Calling
The fact that the Buckeyes had only 16 pass attempts in the entire game is pretty damning evidence of poor play-calling. However, there is much more to that story and the case against the decisions made by the coaching staff in the loss to Michigan State. Star running back and Heisman trophy candidate Ezekiel Elliott was limited to 33 yards on just 12 carries. Only two of those carries came in the second half. He didn’t mince words after the game when he called out the coaching staff based on his lack of touches and their overall approach against the Spartans. The poor play calling really stood out against Michigan State based in big part because of the final result but this was something that plagued Ohio State all season and is a big part of what went wrong for them.
Game Management
“We know how to win,” is what Spartans’ head coach Mark Dantonio told reporters after the game and there is clearly something to that based on how Michigan State managed to pull out close wins over both Michigan and Ohio State. The Buckeyes coaches can be called out for the way they handled the quarterback situation as well as their play calling all season, but all you have to do is look at how the Spartans managed to get the job done late for close wins over the Wolverines and Buckeyes to see how important game management is when it comes to winning big games.
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Inclement Weather
Nobody wants to use cheap excuses but the weather was clearly a factor on Saturday afternoon. Let’s face it: of the two teams, the Buckeyes are the more prolific passing unit. The Spartans were without their starting quarterback. That means that if it’s rainy and sloppy, and teams are forced to run it more, that hurts the team that’s better at passing. The Buckeyes were forced into a shell and while they still had a bad game plan and poor execution, it’s pretty clear that the weather hampered them more than Michigan State. In the end, it was a very close contest and that means that had it been for better weather, the Buckeyes might still be undefeated.
