Buckeyes disappoint in Michigan again 30-24

    A somewhat controversial call and two key turnovers cost the Ohio State Buckeyes as their comeback died inside Michigan territory with under a minute remaining for their third consecutive loss to Michigan, 30-24 in Ann Arbor.

Kyle McCord finished with 271 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, the final of which ended the game as his pass to Marvin Harrison Jr was intercepted by Rod Moore.

Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with five catches for 118 yards and a touchdown to lead the Buckeyes in what may likely be Harrison's final game as a Buckeye.

Ohio State finishes 11-1, losing to Michigan for the third season in a row, and will be selected for a New Year's Day bowl against a soon-to-be-named opponent.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Immediately, the talk from the extreme Buckeye faithful is how Ryan Day must go as some talk is in the air about Day being mentioned as a potential target for the open Texas A&M position.

I disagree.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not happy with the situation but talk of firing Ryan Day is ridiculous.

If Texas A&M wants to pay Day and he wishes to leave, fine but fire him?

Not at all.

2) The play that Ryan Day is being broiled most for is his decision to run over thirty seconds off the clock to wait for a fifty-two-yard field goal try for Jalen Fielding that was missed.

It was a fourth and two and Day had gotten his reputation as an offensive coach for his risk-taking, yet during this game, Day didn't gamble or use his strengths.

This decision didn't swing the game, but it set the narrative that Ohio State would play it conservatively and take very few risks.

3) Kyle McCord's numbers look solid but it can't denied that his two interceptions were the difference in the game.

The first one in the first quarter allowed Michigan a short field to take the first lead of the game and created an environment where Ohio State was chasing points the entire game.

4) The first McCord interception is inexcusable but the final drive's interception is a little easier to defend.

Marvin Harrison Jr. was open on the play and McCord was trying to get him the ball but McCord was hit as he threw and the ball didn't have enough zip to reach Harrison and was intercepted.

McCord could have stepped up into the pocket and perhaps that would have helped make a better throw but he didn't and the rush certainly affected his throw.

5) Ohio State had whispered all season that Ryan Day was holding some things back for this game and that was why the offense had not shown everything that they possessed during the season.

Instead, it was the same vanilla offense and it was the supposed dull team that tried some different things as backup running quarterback Alex Orji appeared under center in the third quarter and took off for a twenty-yard gain, and halfback Donovan Edwards lofted a halfback pass that gained thirty-four yards in the fourth.

6) Why didn't Ohio State do anything to open the game up to best use the one advantage that they clearly owned over Michigan in their skill position players?

We may never really know but if I was guessing, I think Ryan Day didn't truly trust Kyle McCord to play from too far behind and didn't think the risk was worth the reward.

7) TreVeyon Henderson is the type of back that gains a few yards here, a few yards there, and then makes those gains worthwhile because Henderson breaks through with a long run, and in this game, that didn't happen.

Henderson's longest run was for eight yards and finished with sixty yards on nineteen carries and a touchdown.

Henderson did suffer an ankle injury and kudos to him for playing through it but there is little doubt that while the Ohio State running game wasn't awful, it wasn't explosive either.

8)  The Ohio State defense didn't play poorly and when they needed a stop to hold Michigan to three points on their final drive, they did so but Michigan took over seven minutes off the clock, forcing the Buckeyes to use their three-time outs and left only a minute remaining to win the game.

They received points for making the stop eventually but they allowed too many conversions on the drive that could have saved valuable time.

9) The Ohio State special teams haven't been good all season and punter Jesse Mirco wasn't good in Ann Arbor, averaging thirty-six yards on three punts, and zero inside the twenty-yard line.

Special teams coach Parker Fleming might be one of a few changes on the Buckeye staff in the off-season.

10) Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with over 100 receiving yards in a game for the fifteenth time in his Columbus tenure, breaking a tie with David Boston for the most in Ohio State history.

Harrison would be unlikely to play in another Ohio State game unless the path would somehow open u for a trip to the CFP.

11) I've waited this long for the one thing that worked against the Buckeyes that wasn't their own fault.

I thought the second-quarter touchdown pass of twenty-two yards to Roman Wilson from J.J. McCarthy should have been overruled as an interception by Denzel Burke.

Wilson never completed the catch with possession and it was Burke that emerged with the ball.

The referees called it a touchdown on the field and the replay didn't change the call.

I think if this game is in Columbus, it's changed but that's the home-field advantage for you.

That's seven points off the board in a game that you lost by six but that doesn't mean the decision cost the game for Ohio State.

That play was early enough in the game that Ohio State could have overcome it.

12) Ohio State wasn't out-toughed and they weren't out-battled, they just lost a close game.

I'm not sure what changes next year because I'd wager OSU will lose Marvin Harrison, TreVeyon Henderson, and perhaps Emeka Egbuka.

They are in a position to handle receiver losses better than any school in the country, and in ways other than the game-breaking speed, Dallan Hayden might be a better back than TreVeyon Henderson.

I think they have to find someone to run special teams other than Parker Fleming, and the time may be right to consider moving on from Corey Dennis (Urban Meyer's son-in-law) as the quarterbacks coach.

Ryan Day is returning unless Texas A&M throws huge dollars at him and he decides to leave, and so is Kyle McCord, who I just can't see Day not picking as the starter, even if there is a competition announced

The pressure is only going to increase on this program over the next year and with no excuses for next season's game in Columbus, everyone involved with Ohio State football is going to have to look at next season's game as more than a must-win for the season.

It may be a must-win for the future of the program entering a new era in college football. 

Ohio State crunches Western Kentucky

   Kyle McCord celebrated his first start as the designated first-team quarterback by throwing three touchdown passes as the Ohio State Buckeyes blew out the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 63-10 at Ohio Stadium.

Marvin Harrison Jr. caught five passes for one hundred twenty-six yards, one of the catches a seventy-five-yard touchdown and Emeka Egbuka caught two touchdowns out of his four scores.

TreVeyon Henderson rushed for eighty-eight yards with two touchdowns and the Buckeye defense scored two touchdowns on their side of the ball.

Ohio State improves to 3-0 and will travel to Notre Dame next Saturday night for their first season test against the Fighting Irish.

Olentangy Offerings

1)  Ryan Day announced earlier in the week that Kyle McCord had finally won the starting quarterback job over Devin Brown and the decision seemed to allow McCord to relax a bit.

McCord completed nineteen of twenty-three passes for over three hundred yards and three touchdowns and for the first time this season, looked comfortable and poised in the pocket.

2) McCord also played more than you would expect in a non-conference pummeling but that was more to get McCord extra snaps, which carries the risk of injury.

However, getting a quarterback who hasn't played that much in three years as many snaps as you can before the biggest game of the year to date is worth that risk.

3) Marvin Harrison Jr.'s seventy-five-yard touchdown catch and run showed why the numbers don't always matter and why he is still the nation's best wide receiver.

Give McCord credit for the throw but Harrison had five yards on the defensive back and it was just flawless how he shifted gears.

4) The offensive line protected Kyle McCord and later Devin Brown well in the game and the Hilltoppers finished with just one sack on the afternoon.

5) The Buckeyes scored thirty-five points in the second quarter and few teams can match that output but the thing that I liked best was getting the ball back with under a minute to go in the first half with Ryan Day throwing the ball to go for the throat of the Hilltoppers, ending with a fourteen-yard strike to Emeka Egbuka.

Day can be such a strong playcaller but tends to almost show mercy at times.

When Day is aggressive, Ohio State is tough to defeat!

6) Ohio State forced four turnovers, two interceptions, and two fumble recoveries and while Western Kentucky isn't a top team, they do move the ball and rank among the best offensive teams among the Group of Five level, which is very encouraging as far as my hopes for the defense.

7) I loved the physical play from the linebackers and secondary!

Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock both delivered jarring hits that forced Western Kentucky fumbles that Ohio State recovered with Burke's hit resulting in a fumble recovery for a touchdown by Tyleik Williams.

8) TreVeyon Henderson has often been criticized for running "soft" but I have seen a difference this year with a willingness to put his shoulder down a bit more.

Perhaps that is due to the competition being smaller but Henderson is gaining a bit of physicality to his game, hope the trend continues.

9) The defensive breakout player so far has been defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, who made more impact than his fumble recovery in the end zone.

Williams finished with a sack, and a tackle for loss, and was in on seven tackles on the afternoon.

Williams is stuffing the run well and adding a pass rush up the middle from the interior line.

10) And now the preliminaries are over, it's on to Notre Dame and the conference schedule and even though the opener against Indiana is a league game, the feeling is that the real season starts next week in South Bend.

Things appear to be rounding into shape a bit but we will know far more after next Saturday!