Ohio State's 2025 season came to a sad and abrupt end on Wednesday night.
The No. 2 Buckeyes fell to No. 10 Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Cotton Bowl. Head coach Ryan Day, safety Caleb Downs and quarterback Julian Sayin met with the media for a press conference following the loss.
Ohio State's offense fell flat on its face in the first half against Miami, entering halftime with no points, which will be cause for lots of reflection in a long offseason, Day said. He will "look at" the Buckeyes' structure in terms of game planning. He also updated Lorenzo Styles Jr. and Austin Siereveld's injuries postgame.
Downs dove into the defense's final-drive frustration and Sayin discussed his costly first-half pick-six.
Ryan Day
- On the effect of a 25-day layoff before the game: "I felt like it took us a while to get into the rhythm of the game. I thought we did coming out of the second half. ... You put yourself at risk of having to be darn near perfect in the second half to win the game. ... At the end of the day, we didn't get it done, and that starts with me."
- On the poor performance of the offense: "Early on, I felt like we had a hard time. Gabe (VanSickle) was struggling a little bit early on. ... We lost Austin (Siereveld) and they have an excellent front. ... We took five sacks. ... We've got to get back to it and evaluate where we're at moving forward."
- Day said injuries on the offensive line and shuffling at right guard isn't an excuse. "This is part of playing this time of year. You've gotta have depth and you've gotta perform in those moments."
- Siereveld had a leg contusion and Lorenzo Styles Jr. had a shoulder injury that kept them out the rest of the game. Day said Siereveld was in tears on the sidelines after finding out his night was done. Styles's shoulder has been nagging all season, Day said.
- Day wanted to make sure Ohio State's seniors know they are valued and thanked for the work they put into the program, although "this one hurts." "They put a lot of work and time into this thing. ... It's our job as coaches to make sure we put them in the right places to be successful."
- On the 10 sacks allowed in the final two games of the season and what went wrong in pass protection: "It's hard to just say one thing. We tried to help out. ... It was a little bit of a different scheme than what we had dealt with the week before against Indiana. ... You could tell from that first third down that we were having a hard time. ... And certainly, the play (Keionte) Scott made on the pick-six was a big point in the game."
- On the lack of rhythm in the play-calling and offensive coaching staff: "I gotta look at it all and figure out what that was and what that is, because it's not good enough. So, look at it all."
- On Julian Sayin and Caleb Downs: "I'll forever be in debt for what (Downs has) done for us. ... For Julian, this is somebody who hasn't played a lot of football and he competes. ... This guy right here has a very, very bright future ahead of him ... now he's gotta learn from this." Day added that it's not just what Downs has done on the field, but the man he is off of it that makes him a great Buckeye.
- Day said that Ohio State went with a silent count on offense right away.
Caleb Downs
- On the defense's frustration of not getting the stop Ohio State needed at the end: "It was frustrating. ... That lost us the game."
- On why they couldn't get the stop: "They got a long run the first play and we didn't get a stop on third down."
- On the lost opportunity to win championships at the end of the season: "At the end of the day, we didn't execute the way that we needed to to win the game."
Julian Sayin
- On what kick-started the offense in the second half: "Just started executing better ... but ultimately wasn't good enough. It starts with me."
- On the difficulty of facing Miami's pass rush: "They have two really good edge rushers. ... There was times today where I held onto the football and they were able to get after me."
- Sayin said that he missed opportunities to scramble for yardage, especially on some plays where he took sacks.
- On his pick-six: "After it came out of my hand, I saw it ... obviously can't have that happen in that situation."
