AUSTIN, Texas — Ryan Day could have put the game in the hands of his best player and the guy tasked with getting him the ball. Texas steamrolling Ohio State late? Fine.
Let Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin go win this thing.
Instead, trapped between a successful past and a fading present, unwilling to make a decision on what kind of team Ohio State is right now, the Buckeyes’ boss hesitated and watched a lead vanish without time for an answer in Ohio State’s 24-23 loss.
Texas scored the go-ahead touchdown with 25 seconds to play Saturday night. That inevitability against an overmatched and exhausted Ohio State defense could have occurred with nearly a minute more on the clock.
What actually happened was the Buckeyes got the ball back, down a point, with 25 seconds to play, needing 42 yards to set up a game-winning 50-yard field goal try. Then came a long ball to Devin McCuin that fell incomplete (and was wiped out by a holding call on Austin Siereveld anyway), a short 5-yard completion, and a final desperate heave that was picked off.
But as Arch Manning and the Longhorns were marching for their third straight touchdown in the fourth quarter, erasing a 20-point deficit, the TV cameras caught Sayin and offensive coordinator Atrhur Smith on the sideline, with the play-caller looking like he was getting the QB primed for one last run.
That’s the attitude the Buckeyes should have taken. Sayin was a passenger in Ohio State’s defense-led 14-7 win over Texas last season. This time, he could have been a captain saving a sinking ship.
Day didn’t let him.
Here’s how it could have gone down.