The Ohio State Buckeyes fell to the USC Trojans Saturday night 30-18, dropping them to a 6-2 record on the season. Without their starting quarterback and leader Julian Sayin, the Buckeyes looked like a shell of themselves. We break down what went well, and what didn’t for OSU. Plus, a look at the Buckeyes path to the Playoffs.

The Good

Sophomore running back duo of Bo Jackson and Isaiah West were great for the Buckeyes, rushing for 186 total yards on 34 carries. Jackson had 121 yards on 21 carries, West had the rest. Jackson also added 32 receiving yards on 2 receptions.

Jeremiah Smith broke the Big Ten all-time receiving touchdown record Saturday, with his 40th career touchdown as a Buckeye. On the night, he put up 10 receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Placekicker Connor Hawkins was perfect on the night, making 4/4 field goals. They were from 23 yards, 34, 39 and 47.

The Buckeyes had 7 tackles for loss, led by Jermaine Matthews Jr. with 2 and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. with 1.5.

True freshman quarterback Luke Fahey wasn’t good, but he wasn’t bad either. He went 21-38 with 260 yards and a touchdown, while throwing no interceptions. However, his QBR was 49.0. If there was a “meh” category in this recap, that’s where he’d be.

The Bad

The Buckeye defense put up zero sacks all night, and lacking those big plays hurt OSU’s defense severely. USC quarterback Jayden Maiava was under control throughout the game, going 15/22 while putting up 222 yards and a touchdown with an 83.4 QBR. The Trojans clearly won the quarterback battle.

Trent Mosley was torching the Buckeye secondary, as he put up 5 receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Despite the Buckeyes putting up 7 TFLs, the Trojans matched their number. Plus, they had two sacks to the Buckeyes zero.

Ohio State struggled to finish drives, as they had numerous chances that ended in field goals or turnovers. This includes the drive that ended the game for the Buckeyes, as they failed to convert a 4th down.

Overall, the defense allowed a significant increase in points when compared to their typical average per game. Meaning they were off their best game, when you combo that with a true freshman backup playing quarterback, it’s not going to go well.

Thoughts from Coach Day

“It’s extremely frustrating coming to a game like this with a young quarterback and not play cleaner than we did,” Day said. “Just too many penalties. I think we found ourselves down in those red zone situations. We just weren’t able to execute very well and play clean.”

On cornerback Jay Timmons absence:

“Not having Jay had an impact, there’s no question. But at the end of the day, as a team, we weren’t able – to me – to play well enough to support a young freshman quarterback who was making his first start on the road.”

On the Buckeyes pace of play:

“Once we found ourselves in the two-score game late with, I think, seven minutes to go, we knew we had to move quickly, which we did. We moved a little bit more.”

Playoff Outlook

At this point, it’s likely that the Buckeyes must win out to make the playoffs. This means they must take down Oregon, Northwestern, Nebraska and Michigan in a four-week span. This will not be easy and the Buckeyes must make some changes after Saturday’s result. This difficult path starts Saturday as OSU hosts Oregon.