Ohio State’s kicking history is interesting. The misses against Georgia and Indiana, the blocked kick at Penn State: all feed the narrative. Mike Nugent standing over another serious attempt. And now Connor Hawkins, wide left in Austin, with Ohio State holding a six-point lead and 4:16 left. That last one hurts because of what came next.

Texas turned a 23-3 deficit into a 24-23 win, completing one of the wildest fourth-quarter comebacks Ohio State has ever been on the wrong side of. Connor Hawkins did not cause the collapse by himself. But the 45-yard miss became the cleanest symbol of a game they had sitting right there. So you’re left to wonder: is this actually a Buckeye kicking problem, or do OSU fans simply remember the misses more than the makes?

Eleven Warriors went looking for the answer, digging through Ohio State’s late-game field goals since 2000. The results are a little less dramatic than the reputation. The numbers split the kicks into two groups. “Money kicks” are attempts when Ohio State was tied or trailing by three points or fewer. “Clutch kicks” are attempts when the Buckeyes had a one-score lead. 

The cutoff is the final 7:30 of regulation or overtime. The money-kick record is 10-for-18. That’s 55.6%. The clutch record is better with 10-for-16, or 62.5%. Connor Hawkins’ miss against Texas was a clutch kick. Ohio State was ahead 23-17. Make it, and the Longhorns would have needed two scores to win. Instead, the miss left Texas within one possession, and the comeback stayed alive.

To put those numbers in perspective, average college kickers hit around 75 percent or better on kicks under 45 yards. When Ohio State drops to 62.5 percent in clutch moments, it shows why fans get nervous. It is not a complete disaster, but in tight big-budget games, missing almost four out of ten crucial kicks is enough to turn any fanbase into a nervous wreck.

It wasn’t Connor Hawkins’ best night overall. He had already made kicks from 26, 30, and 48 yards, so the 45-yarder was not evidence that he can’t kick a football. It was one miss in a brutal spot. But history gives the Buckeye Nation plenty of fuel anyway.

A familiar situation happened in 2005. Former NFL player Josh Huston missed a 50-yarder against Texas with the Buckeyes ahead by six. Texas then drove for the winning touchdown. That is the part that makes Connor Hawkins’ miss sting more. Because it’s the same opponent with the same six-point cushion ending in the same nightmare.

Before Connor Hawkins, Ohio State had actually made its previous seven field goals in these late-game, one-score situations when holding a fourth-quarter lead. Noah Ruggles accounted for three of those makes from 45-plus yards. So the narrative had been getting better. Then Saturday happened.

Ruggles is probably the clearest example of how memory can distort this whole thing. He had already come through earlier with a 48-yarder during the 2022 Peach Bowl. But the ending turned ugly. Ohio State lost the lead, and with three seconds left, he was sent out for a 50-yard try. It never got there. But across all these clutch and money situations, he went 6-for-7. That is hardly a picture of a kicker who couldn’t handle the moment. 

More on Ohio State’s kicking history

Drew Basil went 3-for-3. Dan Stultz went 2-for-2. Jayden Fielding went 2-for-3 in the defined clutch/money sample. Mike Nugent, strangely enough, went just 3-for-8. The kicker most people would probably name first when asked about Ohio State’s big-kick history actually has five misses in these situations, the most of any Buckeye kicker since 2000. Yet he also owns the program’s memorable 55-yard walk-off against Marshall in 2004. 

That’s the funny thing about kickers. One kick can become their biography. And Ohio State’s latest miss quickly became somebody else’s joke, too. When Syracuse kicker Tripp Woody pushed a 29-yard attempt wildly wide left against Pittsburgh on Thursday, social media immediately went there. Naturally, Ohio State got dragged into it with fans joking that Ryan Day had found his next kicker in the portal. 

It’s a joke, but it lands because the Connor Hawkins miss is still fresh. But the truth is, Ohio State does not have a century-long curse. It’s just that the Buckeyes have had enough enormous misses for people to still remember and keep the reputation alive.

Looking ahead to the 2026 season, this noise does real damage. Even if the math proves there is no actual curse, loud fan doubt puts extra weight on a kicker’s shoulders every time he steps onto the field.

More than that, high school stars and transfer portal kickers watch how fast a crowd turns on you after one bad night in Columbus. That kind of pressure can make top recruits think twice before picking up the phone.