With 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter on Saturday night, Ohio State led 23-17, but Texas had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. What Ohio State coach Ryan Day did from there will be one of the most-scrutinized decisions of this college football season.
Day could have called Ohio State’s final timeout as soon as Texas got to first-and-goal, and then allowed Texas to score. That would have given Ohio State the ball back, down 24-23, with well over a minute remaining to mount a game-winning drive.
Instead, Ohio State stopped Texas on first and second down before Texas scored the game-winning touchdown on third down, with just 25 seconds left. Ohio State’s desperation final drive lasted just two plays.
Day said after the game that letting Texas score was a consideration but he and his team ultimately thought they could play for a goal-line stand.
“I considered it, but I felt like at that point we were gonna go play defense and see if we could get off the field, but it didn’t work out,” Day said.
Day said he ultimately decided to have faith in his defense.
“We did, we talked about it, and decided that we were gonna play defense,” Day said. “When we got that stop right there we said, alright, we’re going to take our chances, put the ball down for one yard and see if we can stop them.”
Ohio State couldn’t stop them, and by the time Ohio State got the ball back, the Buckeyes were almost out of time — even though Ohio State also benefited from Texas snapping the ball too fast before scoring, when the Longhorns could have run even more time off the clock. Day decided to give his defense a chance to win the game, and that cost his offense the time to win the game.
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