On a rainy Halloween night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, No. 2 Ohio State fell 30-18 to USC. The Buckeyes dropped to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten. The Trojans improved to 7-2 and 4-2. Ohio State outgained USC 464 yards to 338, held the ball for nearly 19 more minutes, and ran 31 more plays. Yet the Buckeyes never led, scored their only touchdown with just over two minutes remaining, and left Southern California with a loss that raises hard questions about where this team stands.
Freshman Luke Fahey made his first career start in place of the injured Julian Sayin. He completed 21 of 38 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. Bo Jackson rushed for 121 yards. Jeremiah Smith caught 10 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown that set the Big Ten career receiving touchdown record at 40. The production numbers look respectable. The final score does not. So what actually went wrong in Los Angeles—was it the quarterback, the coaching, or something larger?
The Early Collapse and Defensive Breakdowns
The tone was set on the second play of the game. Jayden Maiava hit Trent Mosley on a screen, and Mosley raced 69 yards for a touchdown. Thirty-nine seconds into the contest, Ohio State trailed 7-0. USC later added a 9-yard touchdown run by Waymond Jordan and a 54-yard field goal. By halftime the Trojans led 20-9. In the third quarter, after an Ohio State fumble, Maiava connected with Mark Bowman on a 70-yard catch-and-run that set up a short touchdown run by King Miller, making it 27-9.
Ohio State’s defense, which had been one of the nation’s strongest units, surrendered 30 points for the first time since a 2024 loss to Oregon. The big plays were especially costly. Mosley’s long touchdown and the later 70-yard gain exposed missed tackles and poor pursuit angles. USC did not dominate the statistical battle, but it capitalized on explosive opportunities and short fields. When a defense that prides itself on limiting damage allows multiple chunk plays and fails to force enough stops in key moments, the problem extends beyond any single player at quarterback.
Red-Zone Failure and Self-Inflicted Wounds
Ohio State moved the ball effectively for long stretches. The Buckeyes reached USC territory on multiple drives and generated 25 first downs. Yet they repeatedly settled for field goals. Connor Hawkins made four field goals (39, 34, 23, and 47 yards). One particularly damaging sequence saw the offense reach first-and-goal at the 1-yard line only to stall after a false start pushed the ball back. The lone touchdown—a 1-yard pass from Fahey to Smith—came too late to change the outcome, and the subsequent two-point conversion failed.
Penalties compounded the inefficiency. Ohio State was flagged 11 times for 75 yards. Holding calls, false starts, and other miscues disrupted drives at critical times. A fumble by Isaiah West in the third quarter handed USC excellent field position and led directly to the score that stretched the lead to 18 points. Ryan Day summarized the evening bluntly afterward: too many penalties, poor red-zone execution, and a failure by the team as a whole to support a young quarterback making his first road start.
These are not isolated quarterback mistakes. They are collective failures of discipline, situational awareness, and finishing. A team that controls time of possession and total yardage still loses when it cannot convert territory into touchdowns and when it repeatedly hands the opponent free yards and momentum.
Evaluating the Quarterback Question
It is fair to examine Fahey’s performance. A true freshman making his first start on the road against a motivated USC team in a hostile environment faces enormous pressure. He was not perfect—there were incomplete passes, some timing issues, and moments where the offense lacked rhythm. Yet he avoided turnovers, completed over 55 percent of his throws, and threw for 260 yards. He delivered the record-setting touchdown to Smith. Day noted that Fahey competed and that the supporting cast did not help him enough with drops and execution.
The larger context matters. Julian Sayin’s season-ending injury forced Ohio State into this situation. The staff chose Fahey over other options after the bye week. That decision will continue to be debated, especially if the offense remains inconsistent. But pinning the entire loss on the quarterback ignores the defensive lapses, the penalty total, the red-zone stagnation, and the failure to protect a lead or close out drives. Fahey was part of the problem only in the sense that the entire unit failed to elevate around him.
Coaching and Broader Issues
Coaching questions are unavoidable. Play-calling in the red zone drew scrutiny, particularly when the run game had been effective yet the offense stalled near the goal line. Special teams and discipline issues that have appeared at various points this season resurfaced at the worst possible time. The defensive scheme and communication broke down on the explosive plays that defined the first half and the third-quarter surge.
Something bigger is also at work. This is a team that entered the game ranked No. 2 and still searching for consistent offensive identity after losing its starting quarterback. The Buckeyes have talent on both sides of the ball. They controlled the statistical battle in Los Angeles. Yet they lost because of mistakes that championship-caliber teams eliminate. Self-inflicted errors, an inability to finish drives, and vulnerability to big plays on defense form a pattern that stretches beyond one night and one position.
Ohio State now faces a critical stretch. The path to the College Football Playoff and a potential Big Ten title game requires winning the remaining games, beginning with a home contest against Oregon. The margin for error is gone. Two losses before November already mark a rarity for recent Ohio State teams.
Looking Ahead
What went wrong in Los Angeles was not a single cause. It was a combination of an inexperienced quarterback operating without enough support, defensive breakdowns on explosive plays, chronic red-zone inefficiency, excessive penalties, and a coaching staff that could not fully solve those issues on the road. The Buckeyes outgained and out-possessed USC yet still lost by double digits because they could not convert opportunity into points and could not prevent the Trojans from capitalizing on mistakes.
The honest assessment is that the problems are collective. Fixing them will require cleaner execution, better situational football, tighter discipline, and continued development from the quarterback position. Ohio State still has the talent and the schedule opportunities to recover. Whether the team can eliminate the self-inflicted damage that defined the night in Los Angeles will determine how far this season still has to go.
