With 1:23 left in the fourth quarter 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 timeout once Texas got to first down and then allowed Texas to score. That would have given Ohio State the ball back, 24-23, with more than a minute left to win a game.
Instead, Ohio State stopped Texas on first and second downs before Texas scored the game-winning drive on third down with just 25 seconds left. Ohio State’s final desperation 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 thought about it, but I felt like at that point we were going to 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 it, we talked about it and we decided we were going to play defense,” Day said. “When we stopped him there, we said, OK, we’re going to take our chances, run the ball for a 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 — though Ohio State also took advantage of Texas snapping the ball too quickly 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 it cost his offense time to win the game.