Ohio State played its best football of the 2024 season once the College Football Playoff started.
Destroying Tennessee 42-17 in the first round. Eviscerating Oregon 41-21 in the quarterfinals of the Rose Bowl after leading 34-0 in the second quarter. In other words, the Buckeyes peaked at the perfect time.
That’s the goal again in 2025. Suffering the first loss of the season against Indiana stung. Losing the Big Ten Championship Game stung. But with 25 days separating that sting and No. 2 Ohio State’s CFP quarterfinal game against either No. 7 Texas A&M or No. 10 Miami, the Buckeyes have a prime chance to correct their issues and be in an optimal place physically, mentally and emotionally for another run.
“The goal is to be at maximum speed, effort, violence, really peaking at the end of the month here because it's a significant layoff,” Ryan Day said on Dec. 7.
Some credit is always due to a great opponent when that foe beats you on a grand stage. No. 1 Indiana is a great team, obviously. But after paying the Hoosiers their due, the prevailing feeling from Ohio State players postgame and Day both postgame and in his next press conference was that the Buckeyes beat themselves.
Only scoring 10 points on four trips to the red zone. Taking a season-high five sacks. Julian Sayin tossing an uncharacteristic interception early in the game. An offensive game plan that took Ohio State’s best offensive weapons off the field in key moments and only yielded 5.8 yards per play.
“They played a good game, but it's clear that we were not at our best,” Day said. “Coaches and players. So we need to be moving forward, and this is certainly an opportunity for us to learn from that game, and when you leave it to one play in all three phases, you put yourself at risk. And the idea of leaving no doubt did not happen the other night.”
The planning phase started the morning after the Buckeyes touched back down in Columbus. The first step was to install a practice plan that balanced rest for players who needed it with the ramp-up to play violent football on Dec. 31, with a lot of input from director of football sport performance Mick Marotti and chief of staff Quinn Tempel.
“Visited on it today with Mick and Quinn and making sure we're putting together the right plan,” Day said on Dec. 7. “Put together a really good practice schedule around Christmas, travel down there on the 28th, and then keep a lot of the same things as we got closer to the game as we did last year.”
“They played a good game, but it's clear that we were not at our best. Coaches and players.”– Ryan Day on the Indiana loss
That aforementioned balance is a tough thing to navigate. Lots of Ohio State players were banged up after six consecutive game weeks. But not a single one of the four teams that received byes in last year’s CFP advanced to the semifinals – avoiding ring rust is critical.
“The first thing we want to do is, the guys who have played a significant amount of football, let them get their legs underneath them,” Day said. “But also, as we get into (our second off week), make sure that they're keeping their edge. I think that's important because it's not like a bye week. This is a long layoff. Last year, we had the first round game, and then we went right back into it and found ourselves in a rhythm. So that's something that we're really looking at hard.
“(We) want to get the guys healthy, want to get them rested physically, mentally, emotionally. There were a lot of guys hurting after that game. They were all pissed, just like all of us. But you got to wake up and move on and figure out how to get those things fixed. But then also physically, but not so much that we lose our edge. So that's the balance that we're looking to strike here.”
With nine days having passed since those comments from Day, the time for licking wounds is likely at or near its end. Not that it’s ever been Ohio State’s approach to wallow in self-pity. But the Indiana loss has only heightened the Buckeyes’ motivation.
If they hit their peak the same way they did in the 2024 CFP, there’s no team that should stop them from hoisting a second consecutive national championship trophy.
“We're going to respond like men,” Day said. “We're not going to sit around and point fingers and feel sorry for ourselves. We lost. We were not at our best. Everybody, including myself, including the coaches, everybody. And so that's what you have to do. And then you've got to address what the problems are and get them fixed. When you lose a game like that, you can't just feel sorry for yourself or point fingers. You have to get the issues fixed.”
