If Ohio State played to its standard in the red zone on Saturday, the Buckeyes would be going through meetings and practices this week as Big Ten champions.
Four trips inside the Indiana 20-yard line resulted in just 10 points during a 13-10 loss for Ohio State, its first defeat of the season. That includes its final two drives of the second half – outside its desperation heaves after getting the ball back in the waning seconds of the game – where the Buckeyes failed on 4th-and-1 at the Indiana 5-yard line and missed a potential game-tying 27-yard field goal.
“It felt like on the second fourth down that we could get three points, get out of there, move on, maybe get a chance to win the game at the end or overtime,” Ryan Day said on Sunday. “But when you have two drives that stall like that, if you kick two field goals, you win the game. You score one touchdown, you win the game. You score two touchdowns, it's 24-13, and you're just in a whole different situation.”
The red zone was one of the flaws that lay dormant in Ohio State’s roster and showed its ugly visage at one of the worst times possible. But with three weeks still separating the Buckeyes from their first College Football Playoff game, Day believes his squad can exorcise those demons.
“I don't think there was anything that we did that was unsound. But you're right, when you're going against good teams, you've got to be on point,” Day said. “And everyone's got to do their job, all 11 guys. And it's got to be executed at a high level. And certainly that didn't happen. So, there's a lot that goes with that. We can practice it better in terms of the looks we give, to how we install it, to all those types of things. And then getting our guys ready to do it. So we put it on the coaches to make sure that our guys are better prepared to execute.”
Speaking of coaching, there were some questionable personnel and play-calling decisions made in the red area vs. the Hoosiers.
Ohio State opted for heavy use of two-, three- and even some four-tight end sets closer to the goal line, with at least one of star wide receivers Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith off the field for nine of the Buckeyes’ 15 red zone snaps. When it works for running the ball, fantastic. But it didn’t work the way Ohio State needed, not on a night when it averaged 2.2 yards per carry.
“The game plan going in was that – you saw us in some two and three-tight end sets that we felt like we could get some movement down there and get the ball vertical into the end zone,” Day said. “That didn't happen consistently. On the third one, a couple of things we rolled out, tried to get a couple of play actions. Those weren't successful. So it was a combination of not getting enough movement in the run game and not executing and game planning well enough, I guess, and scheming it up well enough in the pass game.”
Another, perhaps minor, thing is that Julian Sayin has not been good at quarterback sneaks this year. The Heisman Trophy finalist has been excellent at almost everything else about playing the position, but twice in the last two weeks he’s hit the ground short of a line-to-gain on a sneak when it seemed he didn’t have to.
AFTER REVIEW JULIAN SAYIN'S KNEE IS RULED DOWN AND IT'S @IndianaFootball's BALL! pic.twitter.com/vP7gyfXa5u
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 7, 2025
On a few occasions this year, Ohio State ran packages with its more mobile backup quarterback, Lincoln Kienholz. He rushed for a 3-yard touchdown at Purdue and an 8-yard gain on a 3rd-and-2 vs. Ohio, but ran for a 2-yard loss on his one appearance with the first-team offense against Minnesota and tossed two incompletions on his two plays with the first unit vs. Rutgers.
An All-State athlete in three sports in high school who rushed for 1,435 yards as a senior seems like an option to look at for an added rushing threat in short-yardage and red zone situations regardless. Day often expresses concern over tipping the offense’s hand by having a player on the field who only does one thing. Still, it’s a short-yardage option to consider.
“What we were doing didn't work. So then when you look back on it, you say, yeah, that probably is something that we should have done,” Day said. “There is stuff that we have practiced and put in. And so, yeah, because what we did didn't work. And so we've got to keep figuring out what will, what we need to do to score points. That's the bottom line.”
On the play-calling front, Day confirmed that offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline will remain the play caller through the CFP before he departs for South Florida. The stretch between the Big Ten title game and the quarterfinals of the playoff should allow the entire offensive staff to set to work on fixing the issues, however. That time proved beneficial before last season’s national championship run.
“Met on it today, and (Hartline) is going to continue with the same plan,” Day said. “I do think having three, four weeks to prepare for the game will be beneficial, and so we'll still have everybody involved with it. And we're going to work hard to put a game plan together and make sure that we're putting our guys in the best position to be successful.”
Talent-equated opponents expose the flaws in a team. Perhaps it's best that Ohio State learned those lessons before it begins its CFP run. But if the Buckeyes want to repeat as national champions, they'll need to score more than 10 points every four trips to the red zone.
“That's these types of games. That's these matchup games,” Day said. “So as coaches, we've got to go in there and make sure we're putting our guys in the right situation to be successful, and then at the same time, we've got to make sure that we're executing them well. So it's all of the above. And that's what hurts on days like today, when you feel like you came up short, and then you've got to go move on, take your medicine, and get it figured out.”
