Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes entered the 2025 season with the vigor of the defending champions and were preparing to “attack” the national championship once more. But their hopes were soon crushed after a 24-14 upset from the Miami Hurricanes in the quarterfinal sent them out of the College Football Playoff. Coach Ryan Day knows where they got it wrong, and his players do too, with wide receiver Brandon Inniss demanding accountability as he recalls a major undoing.

“We lost two games at the end of the year because of the fourth quarter,” wide receiver Brandon Inniss told ESPN. “We didn’t finish. That was our fault. We could have won that Miami game. We could have won the Indiana game.”

The Buckeyes went into the postseason as the only undefeated college football team, alongside the eventual champions, the Indiana Hoosiers. And when they got the first opportunity to prove who was the better undefeated program, the Buckeyes fell short in the Big Ten Championship game, losing 13-10. Ohio State had another chance to make it to the national championship and redeem its image against Indiana. But the Hurricanes eliminated them in the quarters.

A common theme around their losses was their poor performance in the fourth quarter against Miami. After trailing 14-0 at halftime, the Buckeyes were on the verge of coming back, closing the gap to 17-14. However, when the defining moment arrived, the Buckeyes conceded a touchdown to CharMar Brown with 55 seconds remaining. It only got worse when Julian Sayin was intercepted with 43 seconds left.

In the game against Indiana, the Buckeyes conceded the first touchdown of the game in the third quarter, after the Hoosiers resorted to field goals to give them six points. Despite having the whole of the fourth quarter to renew their lead, the Buckeyes were held scoreless for 40 minutes. In their two most important games, the fourth quarter was their undoing.

Ryan Day also came under fire after the Cotton Bowl for his play-calling. The program’s offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline, was named South Florida’s head coach before the season ended. As a result, Day took over offensive play-calling duties while Hartline was on the sideline. Despite Day claiming the action was to lighten Hartline’s workload, the move became controversial, as the offense managed just 14 points in the game.

Inniss, who was the team’s captain against Indiana, exonerated the defense after the performance and blamed the loss on the offense’s lack of productivity. In the loss to Miami, Inniss had four receptions for 34 yards while also having a punt return for three yards. Against Indiana, he completed his first career pass attempt, going for six yards while also catching for five yards, a kick return for 23 yards, and a punt return for three yards. After the game against Indiana, he made similar complaints.

“When the defense holds a team to 13 points, and we can’t score more than 13 points, at the end of the day that’s the offense’s fault,” captain Brandon Inniss said after the game. “We know that, and we’re gonna clean everything up and get it right. Some of the plays we ran tonight didn’t work, and we’re gonna identify that and get back to work.”

Unfortunately, the Buckeyes did not learn from their mistake, as the same problem Inniss highlighted was the reason for their downfall against Miami.  As the team looks to improve from their performances in the previous season, they have added a new name to their coaching team that will help them get back to the top.

How Ohio State plans to work on fourth quarter no-show

Ohio State’s inability to score touchdowns in critical moments was solved not too long after its exit from the College Football Playoff. The program hired Arthur Smith in January, after previous stints at the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, and Tennessee Titans. Talking about the fourth quarter challenge and the approach to solving it, Smith noted that the program would adopt an NFL-esque approach in preparing against situations.

“It’s what you want; it should bring out the best in you once you understand what it takes,” Smith said. “Preparing guys who want to play in the NFL, the margins are small. Those games, you see it every time you watch that NFL Red Zone, you watch highlights from the NFL, the majority of those games come down to the last couple of minutes. The margins are small. That’s why we put all this work in now.”

Ryan Day has made the fourth quarter his prime focus in the 2026 season, sending a message to the team that they are “going to have to win games in the fourth quarter this season,” This is solely due to the schedule. They play Texas in the second game of the season and just over a month later will go up against Indiana. Both of these are tough games and are expected to go to the fourth. If the team has worked on improving itself in these situations, Ohio could really get back to making another deep run.