Grumpy Old Buckeye: Inspecting the crash site of the Oregon loss

Unless a whole lot of things go wrong elsewhere, Ohio State (6-3) has only one of its 2026 goals still in play (beating its rival in the regular-season finale) and has gone from a No. 1 ranking to a team capable of falling into a lesser bowl game invitation in an awful two-week span.

A season that began more or less according to expectations, despite the (survivable) second-half meltdown at Texas, has become an unthinkable mess in the wake of an injury to Julian Sayin and Matt Patricia’s defense falling apart.

Let’s sift through the wreckage of the latest disaster, a 41-28 home loss to Oregon and a second consecutive defeat despite an early 14-0 lead.

Arthur Smith’s play calling shows lack of awareness

Ohio State offensive coordinator Arthur Smith seems to have no understanding of his personnel.

The game’s opening play was an end around for Devin McCuin that relied on tight end blocking on the left side. Mason Williams, like so many of Keenan Bailey’s underperforming tight ends, could not effectively carry out the assignment. McCuin was dropped for a one-yard loss.

Late in the second quarter, it was a failed Bennett Christian block that allowed a swing pass to Bo Jackson to be dropped for a loss of three.

Someone else has to answer for the poor blocking in a position group that is tasked with so much vital blocking, but it’s Smith’s job to know what his personnel can and can’t do.

Smith also doesn’t seem to understand his backup quarterback, pressed into becoming a freshman starter, isn’t 6-foot-5; he’s listed at 5-foot-11, so he’s probably a little under that.

A straight drop-back pass on fourth-and-2 on a gotta-have-it drive got knocked down at the line of scrimmage and just about ended the final hopes for an OSU comeback. He was smart enough to do it earlier on a previous fourth-and-2, but Fahey just missed the throw.

It was execution, not design. That earlier failure doesn’t mean you go away from what should have worked and make things tougher on the freshman.

Fahey needed to be on the move, where he could either throw into clean passing lanes if his man was open or run to pick up those two yards if not. This is college football 101, and Smith’s NFL experience may be more of a hindrance in critical moments than a benefit.

Subset: wide receiver screens

Does any team do wide receiver screens worse than Ohio State?

I understand the need to get the ball into playmakers’ hands quickly. I also understand that the blocking needs to be there to make it work.

Ohio State tried one to Jeremiah Smith late in the first quarter that went for one yard as Phillip Bell couldn’t sustain a block. I can’t say whether Fahey has permission to check out of that play, but if the corner is up on the line, that’s not going to work, and the play needs to change — something Sayin would have had the freedom to do.

Whether you’d classify it as a screen or not is a choice, but on the drive following Oregon’s first score, Fahey threw complete to a covered McCuin in the flat behind the line of scrimmage on second-and-4, losing three on the play.

Oregon sacked Fahey on the next play, got the ball back, and cut the lead to 14-10.

Throwing it into the third row gives you third-and-4, so an actual completion should not result in a third-and-long situation. Arthur Smith should throw those routes in the garbage until he’s got a quarterback experienced enough to avoid those situations.

More dropped picks

Ohio State’s defensive backs have been dropping interceptions all season. Those plays can be the costliest in a game for a defense, and they were on Saturday.

The first came on Oregon’s second possession, when Jay Timmons correctly anticipated Dylan Raiola’s attempted pass to Jamari Johnson and should have had a pick-six, but the ball went through his arms and fell incomplete.

It wasn’t the world’s costliest drop, as the offense scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession, but it could have been a big momentum play — see also: Oregon’s fake punt and interception late in the quarter — the kind that propel teams forward in big games.

Sowing doubt in Raiola and building confidence for the defense late in the first quarter may have acted as a springboard from which the Ducks may not have recovered.

The more damaging dropped interception happened with less than two and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Raiola was forced to scramble and air-mailed a pass to Jaylen McClain near midfield, but the veteran safety could not bring it in. McClain’s dropped interception was exceedingly damaging because the Buckeyes were caught completely unprepared for the ensuing fake punt by the Ducks that gained 30 yards and sparked Oregon to go on a 28-0 run.

This is not an Ohio State-caliber defense

The 2026 defense does not meet OSU standards. The second half at Texas was a warning sign, but things seemed to have gotten better until the USC game. Now the Buckeye defense has been exposed in consecutive games.

Ohio State played well on defense during the first quarter, but then allowed 41 points over the final three quarters, with things really starting to fall apart with Oregon’s second-quarter fake punt.

Third downs were exceedingly problematic Saturday, with the Buckeyes allowing eight conversions on 17 attempts for a 47% Oregon success rate, including an infuriating third-and-15 conversion late in the second quarter after Oregon’s fake punt (no pressure on any of those three downs while rushing four, three, and four on consecutive plays).

That conversion came on the kind of play USC used to kill the Buckeyes, sending receivers deep to draw the coverage back and throwing short in the middle. Patricia is getting his lunch money stolen on those over the last couple of weeks as he’s leaving a huge gap between the pass rushers and the secondary.

There was also a third-and-10 conversion right after the Fahey interception with under a minute to play in the first half — this time correctly anticipating a blitz and killing the Buckeyes for 31 yards on a screen pass with three blockers out front who had no one to block.

Stop third-and-long, and the game is under control and likely 14-6 at the half.

Aside from the above dropped picks showing a lack of being opportunistic, the tackling has been unacceptably poor, and there is not nearly enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks — a lethal combination for any defense, because it means opponents can both run and pass the ball with impunity.

Early in the game, Ohio State was able to pressure Raiola several times, even if the Buckeyes failed to record a sack, and he was inaccurate on every one of those occasions. He was far too comfy over the final two quarters and made Ohio State pay.

Ohio State also led 14-3 with under three minutes to play in the first half and trailed 17-14 at the break. That’s not OSU defense.

Freshman or not, Fahey can’t do that

With the game close late in the second quarter, Fahey took a shot down the field intended for McCuin. The problem was that McCuin was not covered, nor double covered, but triple covered.

There were two men on him with safety help over the top. I can’t tell you what Fahey saw on that play, but I can make a pretty good guess at what he didn’t see, which was a flock of Ducks surrounding his receiver — and that receiver’s name was not Jeremiah Smith.

That should be a flashing neon “don’t throw!” sign. He not only threw, but he made sure to stare down McCuin first, allowing Nate Roberts’ man to drop off and provide more underneath coverage.

It was a disaster, as the inevitable interception led to even more Oregon points prior to halftime.

Granted, Fahey was a true freshman making just his second start, but if this is what the coaching staff believes gives Ohio State the best chance at victory, then that same coaching staff has to explain why it has so miserably failed the more experienced Tavien St. Clair in not developing him better.

Fahey missed open guys on several occasions and made that one terrible and fatal decision.

Run the dang ball!

In the second half, the Buckeyes understandably spent much of their time chasing the game, but Ohio State running for just 53 yards against a defense that had allowed 400 total rushing yards in the previous two games against Illinois and Northwestern seems bad.

Five previous Oregon opponents rushed for at least 120 yards and two went over 200. With Ohio State able to rush for 204 yards a week ago at USC, it seems like criminal negligence to be held to a season low by a team that hasn’t stopped the run all that well in 2026 — particularly when you’ve got a true freshman at quarterback making only his second start.

This was underscored by a poor throw to McCuin on a third-and-2 on Ohio State’s second possession of the second half (Jeremiah Smith was open) after two runs had gained a combined eight yards and an incomplete pass to a wide-open McCuin on fourth.

If you’re going to go for it anyway on fourth, why not run on third down?

Unacceptable and preventable

• Following Oregon’s field goal that cut the OSU lead to 14-3, Ohio State had to call a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty on the first play of the drive. It was just the latest in a maddening series of preventable pre-snap miscues by Ohio State this season.
• Losing starting cornerback to an ankle injury on an Oregon punt into the end zone was inexcusable, although he returned in the second half. With the talent that Ohio State is able to amass, there is literally no reason to risk Sanchez on special teams. This staff in the past has forgone using its best punt returner (Caleb Downs) to protect him, costing Ohio State countless yards (and perhaps a touchdown or two) in past punt returns, so why is that protection philosophy no longer in place?
• John Walker’s two hands to Raiola’s face, turning what would have been a second-and-long to a first down in plus territory en route to a 24-14 lead on a play that was a clown car full of missed tackles that accounted for the bulk of Oregon’s final rushing total.
• Carson Hinzman with back-to-back third-quarter plays on which he failed to make the only necessary block on a screen to Jackson and then sent the shotgun snap sailing over Fahey’s head on the next play to give Oregon starting field position (after the punt) in OSU territory.

That’s plenty for this week, although I’ve got to point out that Oregon’s left tackle wasn’t set for a second prior to the snap on the touchdown on the last play of the first half.

As I stated above, unless a lot goes wrong for teams both within the Big Ten and across the nation, the Buckeyes are left with playing out the string and trying to improve their bowl situation, starting Saturday at home against Northwestern, a game I wasn’t worried about until I watched the performance against Oregon.