How Ohio State Can Fix the Problems Exposed in Its Collapse to Texas

Ohio State entered the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game against No. 4 Texas holding a commanding 23-3 lead. Fifteen minutes later, the Buckeyes had suffered a 24-23 defeat, watching Arch Manning and the Longhorns rattle off three consecutive touchdown drives to complete one of the most stunning collapses of Ryan Day’s tenure. Head coach Ryan Day didn’t dodge the moment afterward, admitting the team played well for three quarters before simply failing to close, and stressing that the entire program — starting with himself — needs to own what happened and get it corrected.

The good news for Ohio State: none of the issues that surfaced in Austin require a program overhaul. They’re specific, identifiable problems, and each one comes with a realistic fix before Big Ten play intensifies.

Problem No. 1: Ohio State Needs a Second Receiver to Emerge Alongside Jeremiah Smith

Jeremiah Smith was excellent against Texas, hauling in eight catches for 164 yards and a touchdown. The problem was that no other Buckeye receiver managed more than a single catch. Devin McCuin, expected to be Ohio State’s clear second or third target, finished with just one catch for five yards, leaving running back Bo Jackson as the closest thing to a second option with four catches for 37 yards out of the backfield.

That’s a significant departure from what made Ohio State’s offense so difficult to defend the past two seasons — a receiver room deep enough that opponents couldn’t simply key on one player. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has the personnel to fix this without a scheme overhaul; the more likely solution is a shift in usage, spreading targets further into the tight end room and slot packages to take pressure off Smith and make Ohio State’s offense far less predictable in crunch time.

Problem No. 2: The Kicking Situation Needs to Be Settled — Now

Baylor transfer Connor Hawkins made a 48-yard field goal but missed a 45-yard attempt in the fourth quarter that, had it gone through, likely would have sealed the win outright. Ohio State’s kicking issues in high-leverage moments under Ryan Day aren’t new, and Saturday’s miss reopened a wound the program thought it had moved past.

The fix here isn’t scheme — it’s pure repetition and pressure simulation. Ohio State’s coaching staff needs to manufacture high-stress, crowd-noise, game-simulated kicking reps in practice specifically designed to replicate what Hawkins faced in the fourth quarter in Austin. And given how unforgiving the remaining schedule is, there also needs to be a quicker hook if the shakiness continues — Ohio State simply doesn’t have the margin for missed field goals against the level of competition still ahead.

Problem No. 3: Ohio State’s Interior Defensive Line Needs More Rotational Depth

By the fourth quarter, Ohio State’s defensive front looked gassed. The Buckeyes recorded two sacks on the night but generated almost no consistent pressure on Manning once Texas began its comeback. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said postgame that the front didn’t get to Manning “at a high enough rate” late, and some of that traces directly to key personnel losses from last season’s group.

The practical fix is straightforward: get more bodies rotating through the interior earlier in games, rather than leaning on the same core group for the majority of snaps. A fresher front four in the fourth quarter is a fixable problem with earlier, more aggressive substitution patterns — not a talent deficiency that requires new additions.

Problem No. 4: Ohio State Has to Manage the Clock — and the Fatigue It Creates

Perhaps the most alarming number from Saturday: Ohio State’s offense produced just three points across the final 30 minutes of the game and finished with only 19 total first downs, the majority coming in the first half. That kept Ohio State’s own defense on the field far longer than the coaching staff wanted. Day acknowledged this directly, saying the plan was to rotate defensive personnel throughout the game, but that Ohio State simply spent too much time on the field in the second half, and specifically in the fourth quarter — largely a byproduct of the offense failing to sustain drives and get off the field on third down.

The fix starts on offense, not defense. If Ohio State’s offense can sustain second-half drives the way it did in the first half, it keeps the defense rested and eliminates the exact fatigue that opened the door for Texas’ fourth-quarter surge. This is as much about game management and playcalling discipline late in games as it is about execution.

Why This Loss Doesn’t Have to Define Ohio State’s Season

It’s worth noting the broader pattern here. This isn’t the first time an Ohio State team under Ryan Day has failed to close out a big fourth quarter — something Eleven Warriors pointed out in the aftermath, drawing direct comparisons to last season’s Big Ten Championship loss to Indiana and an earlier stumble against Oregon. That history makes Saturday’s collapse feel less like an isolated fluke and more like a recurring pattern the coaching staff needs to solve at its root, rather than treating it as bad luck.

The encouraging part for Ohio State fans: the schedule cooperates with a fix. The Buckeyes host Kent State next week before Big Ten play ramps up in earnest, giving the coaching staff a low-stakes opportunity to actually implement these corrections — expanded receiver usage, tighter kicking preparation, deeper defensive line rotations, and better offensive clock management before a similar late-game collapse costs Ohio State something it can’t get back later in the season.