Ohio State had every reason to rally around its inexperienced quarterback against USC. Instead, the Buckeyes left him hanging. Sloppy execution, costly mistakes, and wasted opportunities turned a winnable game into an embarrassing 30-18 loss in Los Angeles. And losing starter Julian Sayin was hardly an excuse for the rest of the team’s failures.
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Ohio State outgained USC 464-338, including 204 rushing yards, but had little to show for its offensive advantage. True freshman Luke Fahey, making his first career start after Julian Sayin’s injury against Indiana, inherited a difficult situation. Yet former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer was far more furious with the players surrounding him.
“I’ll tell you, if I’m the head coach and I’m on that staff, I’m so pissed off at the rest of the team. I mean, how do you do that? 15 penalties; that has nothing to do with the quarterback situation. Not pursuing the ball on defense, that has nothing to do with the quarterback situation. Dropping balls. Yes, it was raining. Yes, it was windy. And yes, there was all kinds of excuses why you dropped the ball,” Urban Meyer said on a recent episode of The Triple Option podcast.
Meyer refused to make Fahey the scapegoat. After speaking with people around the Ohio State program, he revealed that one staff member gave the freshman a “B, solid B.” Fahey missed some throws, but those Meyer consulted believed he played well enough to win. The bigger problem was everyone else’s failure to execute.
Meyer argued that the responsibility belonged to the entire locker room, not just the freshman quarterback.
“But you have a backup quarterback. And the message has got to be in that locker room. I mean, we have all got to play our best version of ourselves. And that didn’t happen,” he added.
That is where Ryan Day now faces an important challenge. Ohio State committed 11 penalties for 71 yards against USC, despite Meyer citing 15 in his criticism. The Buckeyes also settled for four field goals before scoring their only touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The defensive performance also caught Meyer’s attention. USC made an early statement with a 69-yard touchdown pass during its opening drive. Meyer was especially unhappy with how Ohio State’s defenders pursued the play, pointing out that getting to the ball is something teams work on throughout the season.
Those failures left Meyer genuinely alarmed about where his former program stands. Asked whether Buckeyes fans should be worried, he didn’t hesitate.
“Hell yeah. It’s time to panic. I’m panicked. I’m a Buckeye guy,” he said.
Still, Meyer believes the Buckeyes have enough talent to turn things around, provided they stop repeating the same mistakes.
Ohio State is now 6-2 and will return home to face Oregon on Saturday. With the College Football Playoff still within reach, the Buckeyes have an important opportunity to respond, while Fahey gets another chance to settle into the starting role.
Despite his frustration, Meyer remained optimistic about Ohio State’s playoff chances.
“The good news is, are they good enough to keep going? Absolutely. Four games left, three at home. They control their destiny,” Meyer said.
Meyer hasn’t written Ohio State off, but his warning to Day’s locker room couldn’t be clearer. A freshman quarterback cannot shoulder the blame for a veteran roster’s mistakes. With Oregon coming to Columbus, the Buckeyes have little time to prove the USC disaster was an exception rather than the beginning of a collapse.