Heartbreaking night in Austin for Buckeye Nation. Heading into the fourth quarter, Ohio State held a commanding 23-3 lead over the Texas Longhorns. At that point, head coach Ryan Day seemingly only had to manage the clock and protect the lead. However, the Buckeyes suffered a historic fourth-quarter collapse, giving up 21 unanswered points to lose 24-23.

To put this heartbreak into perspective, AP No. 1-ranked teams had been 197-0 since 2004 when holding a 20-point lead at any point in the fourth quarter. Texas has now made it 197-1, doing so against an Ohio State team it had plenty of reason to want to beat.

Naturally, much of the criticism is now being directed toward Ryan Day. With the Buckeyes unable to hold onto their massive lead, there are questions everywhere about how Day handled the clock, play-calling, and the pressure from the Texas comeback.

Here’s everything Ryan Day said after the game.

Reporter: Ryan, this is your 13th season. It seems like there’s been a similar formula of starting strong and not necessarily being able to finish. Do you see any common theme?

Ryan Day: I think today, for three quarters, they didn’t play. We stalled on some offensive drives. That’s something we’ll have to go back and figure out why that was. We’ve got to sustain some drives. You heard about those fourth downs. Certainly, we’ve got to get a feel for that.

Ryan Day: This one hurts. I think that was the message to the guys. We played well for three quarters and didn’t finish. We know that’s the biggest part of the season, especially on the road. I can’t really sit here and tell you exactly what happened.

Reporter: How do you feel about the rotations?

Ryan Day: I think the goal was to get guys in and out, rotate, and I thought we were doing a good job. Probably too much in the second half. We’ve got to play complementary football. The offense and defense have to work together.

Reporter: Ryan, you could have called a timeout with about 1:20 left when they were at the 1-yard line and maybe let them score. Did you consider that?

Ryan Day: We talked about stopping them and then taking our chances and putting the ball down for one yard and seeing if we could stop them for two downs. They scored there on second down.

Yeah, I considered it. I felt like at that point we were just going to trust the defense to get off the field.

Reporter: Was there anything you could have done differently defensively?

Ryan Day: There was some Cover 8 for sure, which I thought for a good portion of the game was well done. When it’s time to get pressure, especially when you need to, that’s the bottom line. You look at all of it: scheme, personnel, everything. So it’s hard to say.

Reporter: How do you take ownership of this?

Ryan Day: We’re going to take ownership of this. We’re going to stick together. I can’t sit here and tell you it’s just one area. I don’t think it was completely perfect by any stretch of the imagination. It’s all three phases, of course.

Anytime we put a game plan together, we all talk about it and go through it. We want to make sure we’re doing everything we can. That’s in all three phases. Responsibility goes across the board.

Reporter: What went wrong offensively? (The offense got shut down in the 4th quarter, generating 0 points, 3 punts, and just 28 total yards on their final four possessions)

Ryan Day: On offense, we had opportunities in the third quarter and the second half. We just weren’t efficient enough. We got ourselves into situations we should have addressed and fixed.

Reporter: Was the inability to run the ball part of the problem? (Gained only 46 rushing yards in the second half)

Ryan Day: I don’t know if it’s just one thing. Certainly, when you’re down there, you want to be able to run the ball. I thought we had a couple of good runs, and they went sideways. We just didn’t get it done down there. It was kind of a mix of things. I’ll have to go back and look at it and try to find some answers.

Reporter: What did you think of the passing game?

Ryan Day: They didn’t throw and catch well enough, and we didn’t do enough in the passing game either.

Reporter: You look at this game, and there are so many plays that could have changed the outcome. How do you process that?

Ryan Day: Again, it’s not just one thing. It’s a combination of all those things. A lot of it is different than the road we’ve been on. Some of the other plays, and then you’re right, it comes down to one play.

As coaches, we have to do a better job of that. Ultimately, as coaches, when the game starts getting close, it comes down to the coordinators. But yeah, it’s going to be painful and frustrating.

Truth be told, it is going to be a long and tense week of soul-searching in Columbus. Considering Texas spent nearly $40 million on its roster this offseason, a close game was hardly a surprise. But the last thing anyone should do is write off the Buckeyes’ season because of this loss. After all, Ohio State remains one of the biggest boogeymen in college football, and there is still plenty of football left to play, even if the road ahead will not be an easy one.

That said, the pressure is now firmly on Ryan Day and his staff to figure out why the Buckeyes keep struggling to close out games and fix those fourth-quarter execution issues before the College Football Playoff race gets even tighter.