Ryan Day Assigns Blame for Ohio State's Disastrous Slow Start vs. Miami

Buckeyes coach took responsibility for Cotton Bowl stumble.

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day saw his Buckeyes start slow and never recover against the Miami Hurricanes. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Miami delivered the last college football stunner of 2025 by upsetting heavily favored Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, 24-14. The Hurricanes now await the winner of Ole Miss-Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinals and the Buckeyes are onto a long offseason of wondering how one of the more dominant regular season teams in recent memory stumbled so dramatically at the end.

Ryan Day, much-maligned yet still just one year removed from winning a national championship, did not spark much offensive success after taking over play-calling duties from Brian Hartline and once again will be subjected to much scrutiny after Ohio State's lackluster showings against Indiana in the Big Ten championship game and Miami on New Year's Eve.

The coach was quick to take responsibility for a dream season ending too early and in nightmarish fashion.

"We worked really hard during the last three weeks leading up to this game to come out of the gates and win the first quarter, win the first half, be ready to go," Day said. "I thought we had an excellent plan on that and what we did. I think the guys bought into it. But at the end of the day, we didn't get it done. That starts with me and goes down from there."

The Buckeyes were doomed right out of the starting gates as Miami was simply more assertive on the lines. Ohio State managed just one first down in the first quarter and repeatedly lost yards on rushing plays. A stunning pick-six by Keionte Scott gave the underdogs a 14-0 lead before Day's team started moving things in the right direction. And ultimately, that was too deep of a hole to overcome.

"I take responsibility for not getting the guys ready," he said. "As you know, we spent an inordinate amount of time putting the plan together to get everybody ready to go play in that first half, and we didn't win the first half. We gotta figure out why that was and learn from it moving forward."

Few if any college football programs have a higher bar to clear than Ohio State where it's national championship or bust every single year. There's some solace for fans—once they calm down—to take in Day snapping a long losing streak to rival Michigan. But to have what by any metric is an all-time great defense, a Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback and no shortage of game-breaking playmakers on both sides of the ball and be watching from home in 2026 is a massive disappointment.

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