Updated Jan. 1, 2026, 3:23 a.m. ET
It wasn’t the end of the 2025 college football season that anyone affiliated with the Ohio State football team wanted after the Buckeyes fell short against No. 10 seed Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night.
The Hurricanes deserved the win because they executed and wanted the game more, and you have to give credit where credit is due. At the end of the day, OSU likely peaked early this season and then couldn’t continue to build towards being at its best when it mattered most, like what we saw last season.
Head coach Ryan Day met with the media after the game to reflect on what he saw from his team and Miami and to answer questions from the proverbial media firing squad. We have his complete comments from the Cotton Bowl here in Miami to try to make sense of what we all witnessed. Day was joined by quarterback Julian Sayin and safety Caleb Downs, who also fielded questions from the media-types.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day postgame comments after loss to Miami
OHIO STATE HEAD COACH RYAN DAY: We’ll just take questions. Thanks.
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Q. Caleb, how frustrating was it there in those final moments not to get that stop? Y’all werethe number one defense in the country, et cetera. And just how frustrating was it?
S CALEB DOWNS: Yeah, it was frustrating. We didn’t get the stop that we needed to have, andthat just lost us the game, yeah. You already said it.
Q. Do you remember one key play from that that sticks out?
S CALEB DOWNS: They got a long run the first play, and we didn’t get a stop on third down.
Q. Julian, after not getting much going in the first half, you guys found some rhythm offensivelyin the second half. What switched there in the second half? And I guess, for you specifically,how do you think you handled it from a poise standpoint in the first half?
QB JULIAN SAYIN: Yeah, just started executing better in the second half. But ultimately, wasn’tgood enough. Didn’t put up enough points. It starts with me, and we’ve got to be better onoffense from an execution standpoint. It starts with me.
So we’ve got to be better and put up more points than 14.
Q. Julian, as you guys prepared for this game, what did you think of Miami’s pass rush? Andthen, how difficult was it for you to try to handle that tonight?
QB JULIAN SAYIN: Yeah, they have two really good edge rushers, so we knew we were going toget the ball out of our hand quick. There were times today where I held onto the football, andthey were able to get after me and get some sacks.
Q. Julian, talking about the pocket and everything, and maybe opportunities to run and go anddo that, what are your thoughts about that coming into this game? And do you feel like youmissed any opportunities to do that?
QB JULIAN SAYIN: Yeah, I think there were some opportunities today where I could have maybetaken off and scrambled for some yards and took some sacks that weren’t necessary and got usinto tougher situations.
Q. Caleb, you guys were the number one team in the country, trying to repeat as nationalchampions. To lose your last two games, what kind of opportunity do you feel like was losthere this season?
S CALEB DOWNS: At the end of the day, we didn’t execute the way that we needed to to win thegame, and that’s what it is. And we’re — we can’t change it now. So, I mean, we’ll go from here.
Q. Ryan, you were off for 25 days. I remember last year you talking about how the team thatplayed got momentum and the team that had the bye had to kind of create it. How big a factordo you think that was? Because the first half didn’t look like Ohio State football.
COACH DAY: Well, I felt like it took us a while to get into the rhythm of the game. I thought wedid coming out of the second half. And by then, it was going to take a very, very efficient secondhalf to win the game being down 14-0.
But I felt like at that point, we got into a rhythm. And when we had that drive there where wetook a shot, it was incomplete. And the next play was a hold that got us way behind the chains,and that was the drive that we needed to go win the game. And when you have a start the waythat we did, you put yourself at risk of having to be really darn near perfect in the second halfto go win the game.
So, we put ourselves behind the eight ball. We worked really hard during the last three weeksleading up to this game to come out of the gates and win the first quarter, win the first half, beready to go. I thought we had an excellent plan on that in what we did. I think the guys boughtinto it. But at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done; and that starts with me and goes downfrom there.
So I take responsibility for not getting the guys ready. And as you know, we spent an inordinateamount of time putting the plan together to get everybody ready to go play in that first half,and we didn’t win the first half. So, you know, we’ve got to figure out why that was and learnfrom it moving forward.
Q. Ryan, you just talked about the offensive game plan and the plan that you guys put intoplace. How much does the plan that didn’t work in the first half now affect the way that youhave to move forward with shaping what you need to do with this offensive staff and withwhat you guys need to do to get better there?
COACH DAY: Well, just fresh off the game, so got to evaluate it all. But early on I felt like we hada hard time. Gabe [VanSickle] was struggling a little bit early on with his first big spot there, andwe were scrambling a little bit. We lost Austin [Siereveld]. And they have an excellent front.I thought the guys battled and got back into a rhythm, but they — and I thought we had a goodplan going in on how to get the ball out of our hands quick, but that obviously didn’t work. Wetook five sacks.
So, you know, we’ve got to get back to it and figure out where we’re going to go moving forward, but we’ve got to sit down and evaluate all of it.
Q. Ryan, I guess to follow up on that, do you have updates on Lorenzo [Styles Jr.] and Austin[Siereveld]? And with the offensive line situation, I know shuffling and rotating it worked foryou guys last year. But how difficult was it the past month or so with trying to figure out theright side and then today kind of having to move around again?
COACH DAY: Well, as you know, we were in this spot last year when we lost Seth [McLaughlin]and we lost [Josh] Simmons. And so this is part of playing this time of year. You’ve got to havedepth and you’ve got to perform in those moments. That’s the bottom line. It’s our job as coachesto get them ready and to do what they can.
Lorenzo had a shoulder there, and Austin had a leg contusion. He was in tears because hewasn’t able to go back in the game. And I think the decision was made that we weren’t going toput him back into the game when he was struggling at that point. But he would have doneanything he could to get back in the game to play in this thing. He cares about his teammatesand wanted to finish.
So, we’ve obviously got a team of guys that have poured a lot into this program. And someguys, this will be their last game as Buckeyes. And so it’s going to hurt and sting.And so I just wanted to make sure that they still know how much we appreciate everythingthey do and everything they’ve done for this program. But it hurts right now, and it hurts forthose guys.
So we know they put a lot of work and time into this thing. It’s our job as coaches to make surethat we figure out ways to put them in a situation to be successful.So at the end of the day, it’s our responsibility to do that. And we’ve got to take a hard look atthat and figure out what it is that we’ve got to get done to get better.
Q. Has that been a nagging thing for him (Lorenzo Styles Jr.) this season?COACH DAY: He’s been dealing with the shoulder all season.
Q. Ryan, at the end of October, maybe early November, you talked about pushing the gas pedalwhen that time came. I know that that’s maybe making too much of one comment. Was theresomething about the way that this offense was constructed that didn’t allow you to do thatthe way you might have envisioned?
COACH DAY: No, I don’t think so. I think you saw us play with a little bit of tempo today. Butwhen you’re not getting first downs early on, you’ve got to make sure you’re getting the rightplays and doing what you need to do to get first downs.
And I think that some of that stuff did give us a little bit of juice in the second half when weneeded to. I thought that gave us an advantage at times in this game, but it wasn’t done near good enough.
So, all things that we’ll make sure we look at.
Q. Ryan, you guys gave up six sacks during the regular season, ten combined in the Big Tenchampionship and then tonight. What happened with the pass protection? Because it clearlyimpacted the offense.
COACH DAY: It’s hard to just say one thing. We tried to help out. I mean, they have a very goodfront. And we felt like it was a little bit of a different scheme than what we dealt with the weekbefore against Indiana. Indiana was a lot of pressure, a lot of movement, a lot of twisting andthings. This was a bigger group of guys who are hard-charging front.
So, we went in with a certain plan, and you could tell right from that first third down that wehad a hard time. And being on silent, we didn’t quite get off the ball on that one and thatcaused the first sack, and it kind of went from there.
But I do think there was a point where we got it under control, and we were moving the ballpretty good. And certainly, the play that [Keionte] Scott made there on the pick six was a hugepart of the game. He triggered and hit that thing, and we didn’t quite execute it right in termsof what was going on in the perimeter.
I think Julian’s [Sayin] decision to throw was the right thing to do at the time. But he made aheck of a play. And that early in the game, certainly flipped the scoreboard fast and put us in ahole.
And at that point, you’ve got to fight yourself out of it, and we weren’t able to do that.
So, we wanted to be aggressive. We felt like we did have an advantage downfield in the passinggame. And so that was the give-and-take of it, was — I think Jeremiah [Smith] ended up with157 down field. We felt like we could do that, and we were going to be aggressive, but we alsoknew the give-and-take of it. And so that was part of what we were working through. At theend of the day, it didn’t work.
Q. Julian, on that pick six, what did you kind of see as the play developed as it came out of yourhand? Did you see the guy? You understand what I’m asking there. When did you realize”uh-oh”?
QB JULIAN SAYIN: Yeah, after it came out of my hand, I saw him make the play. It was a greatplay by him. Obviously, can’t have that in that situation.
Q. Ryan, obviously, you shifted some things around for play calling and the way the coachingthing was set up. Obviously, a slow start in the first half. Did you feel like the coaching staffwas in a groove, or did you feel like there was some stuff that you guys had to iron out in thatfirst half that led to some of the slow start?
COACH DAY: I mean, I’ve got to look at it all and figure out what that was and what that isbecause it’s not good enough. So we’ll look at it all. We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to dobetter. So, that’s the bottom line. Whatever it takes to get better, we’ll do.Q. Coach, despite the loss, what can you say about Caleb [Downs] and Julian [Sayin], what theydid to try to create especially in the second half after the first half didn’t go the way you wantedit to go?
COACH DAY: Oh, yeah, first off, what Caleb Downs has done for Ohio State and does every day,most of what you see is on the field; but what I see is off the field. He’s a special young man whohas done a lot for this program. And I’ll forever be in debt for what he’s done for us, not only hisplay but what he stands for off the field, who he is, his family. He’s tremendous. He played histail off tonight. Nobody hurts more than he does.
And then Julian, you know, this is somebody who hasn’t played a lot of football. This is his firstyear of playing. And he competes. He works at it in the meeting room, what he does in terms ofpreparation, what we put on his plate in getting us in and out of plays, protection checks. This guy here has got a very, very bright future ahead of him.
I think Julian has a chance to be as good as he wants to be. Now, he’s got to learn from this.That’s a big part of playing quarterback. When you look at a lot of the guys who have success atthe highest levels of college football, they have a lot of games under their belt. And Julian’s gotthis now — this season to learn from and grow from, and he’s going to come back even strongernext year.
Q. Ryan, when was the decision made to go with the silent count in this game?COACH DAY: Right from the jump.
Q. You could tell that it was going to be that kind of crowd?
COACH DAY: Yeah, yeah. I mean, indoors here. We’ve played here before, and it doesn’t take alot to really echo inside here.
And so we felt like that was the right thing to do.
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