First and foremost, tough loss but there's not really anything to get down about other than this fetish that Brian Hartline and Ryan Day have had this season with 13 personnel.

This game was solely lost on the personnel and play calling decisions that Hartline (I assume) made any time the Buckeyes made it near mid-field and also whenever they entered the redzone.

On the last two very strong drives where Ohio State came away with zero (0) points from inside the redzone (due to a missed fg by the not clutch kicker) the Buckeyes elected to take their second best player and an additional high level receiver off the field and run all seven offensive plays out of their beloved 13 personnel.  This generated zero points and barely any push at all.

So, what is with this obsession with 13 personnel this year?  Why have they forced it for the entire season?  Fortunately, this issue which has existed the entire season didn't harm the team in any regular season games because the team and defense are so good.  However, it did cost them in this game.

Side note, if someone on 11w has spare time I would love an analysis of Ohio State's 13 personnel this season.  I'm going to take a wild guess that they used 13 personnel over 100 times and probably average less than 2 yards per play with this grouping.  I'm sure the Buckeyes staff has this data, yet they continue to bash their head against and wall and take their best players off of the field in favor of a weak run blocking offensive line and 3rd and 4th string tight ends.

Go Buckeyes!