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Ohio State’s 2025 football season is over.
It ended just a little before the year, so there will not be another January to remember.
We’ll have weeks and months to dissect the Buckeyes’ 24-14 loss to Miami and do a postmortem for the entire season, but here are some first thoughts from the luxurious press box in AT&T Stadium:
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For the second consecutive game, Ohio State faced a matchup opponent and came up short.
The Buckeyes didn’t really deserve to win either game, though it felt like they should have beaten Indiana despite how they played.
This one, not so much.
Of course, they could have beaten Miami, but it sure was an uphill climb all night here in Texas.
The first half was an incredible debacle for the offense
Apparently every second they spent game planning was for naught because it looked like they had to start over completely at halftime. Why did they think they would be able to run wide zone against a fast defense, especially when Ohio State still has an offensive line lacking in physical talent? Very bizarre flashback to previous seasons with an over reliance on zone, which I’m just not a fan of to begin with so I really don’t like watching it not work.
Then they came out using more gap schemes in the second half and actually had some success…. Hmmm.
Ryan Day said they felt like they had an advantage in the perimeter
They wanted to throw downfield to take advantage of it.
Good idea, but there was a problem: You must be able to protect long enough for guys like Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate to get open down the field, and they proved unable to do that.
Miami’s cover guys also held up fairly well I thought, but of course the bigger problem was Ohio State’s protection did not.
The bottom line again is this was a weird expectation from Day and his coaching staff because the Hurricanes have great pass rushers and Ohio State’s protectors were average at-best average all season. Did that mean I thought they might still have a chance to survive? Yes, but you still have to mitigate the risk some. That’s the art of game planning.
In related news, it’s good that Brian Hartline is going to be the head coach at South Florida because I don’t think he was ever cut out to be an offensive coordinator.
I’ve said this before so it’s not second guessing. He just doesn’t strike me as someone who is into the Xs and Os. He’s a people person, and he’s great at recruiting and developing receivers. Perhaps he’ll be a great manager of a program. That’s a different skill set than putting together and offense and calling plays. So it goes…
The defense had its issues, but Matt Patricia’s unit was good enough to win
That said, the struggles to contain Carson Beck as a scrambler were puzzling, and it seemed like they could have been more aggressive in coverage. Overall, Miami was a dink and dunk offense, and they were able to win with 138 yards passing. They had six explosive plays, but the longest was 19 yards. The longest pass was 16 yards. That should not have been enough, but the Ohio State offense did not answer the bell.
Special teams continue to be a disappointment during the Day era
A 49-yard field goal isn’t exactly a gimme, but this is the playoffs. Jayden Fielding needs to make it. That and the pick-6 really put them behind the eight ball and forced them to be perfect in the second half. They weren’t perfect as a failure to line up cost them 20 years on a punt in the fourth quarter.
All that said, I think this was just a 12-2 team all along
The schedule ended up being fairly weak.
Maybe it would have been better if the offense were pushed more early in the season.
The defense really reloaded, but against Indiana and Miami the offense looked a lot like a unit with a redshirt freshman quarterback, new starting tackles, and interior guys who just aren’t overly talented.
They got a lot of minutes out of the tight ends, but how much value they added at the end is up for debate.
Bo Jackson has great potential, but he needs a winter in the weight room.
Jeremiah Smith caught seven passes for 157 yards and a touchdown, though he appeared to miss a block on the pick-6.
Maybe there wasn’t anything he could have done. That was a great play by Keionte Scott, no doubt. Carnell Tate caught only three of eight targets for 37 yards. They did a good job covering him. Brandon Inniss caught four passes for 34 yards, but he’s just not an explosive player.
Again, we’ll be able to dissect this further later, but that’s probably enough for now.
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Be sure and look for our coverage at PressProsMagazine.com now and in the coming days, and please send me any thoughts or questions you might have about this game, this season and the future.
I’m always happy to get feedback!
Other than that, happy new year! (No? Well, I tried.)
If you want to see more of what's being said during Ohio State interviews, check out my YouTube channel.
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