\n\tFielding enters Ohio State\u2019s first CFP game this season, a quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl vs. Miami, coming off a 27-yard field goal miss against Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game, a game the Buckeyes also lost 13-10. And the harassment he\u2019s faced for that miss has been even more severe than the backlash he faced after the loss to Michigan a year ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring Cotton Bowl media day on Monday, Fielding told Eleven Warriors that his phone number and home address were leaked after the Big Ten Championship Game. He received threatening messages that prompted investigations from the Ohio State Police Department.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI’d say it was probably worse this year than last year,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cI was constantly in contact with the OSU Police Department for my safety because they were worried about me and my mom was worried about me. They were always in constant contact with me, making sure I was all right.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFielding understands, though, that criticism comes with the territory of being a kicker for a high-profile football team. While the harassment he faced after the Big Ten Championship Game went further than anything anyone should ever have to face over failing to make a play in a football game, he also knows the best way to silence his critics is to deliver once again in this year\u2019s CFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere’s always consequences for your actions. I gotta do my job, and it wouldn’t be a problem,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cSo I know that, and it makes it a little bit easier to deal with that when you go out to practice every day and you go out there and make kicks.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile a 27-yard kick is one that an Ohio State kicker will always be expected to make, the kick came at a challenging angle, with Fielding having to kick back across his body from inside the right hash. Fielding said improper technique resulted in him pulling the ball too far left.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cToe came up and just swung across a little bit,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cThose angles are a little tough for me. It\u2019s pretty sharp from that close, so I think I just overcompensated.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tNo one felt worse about the miss than Fielding, whose dismay was evident immediately as he buried his head in his hands after the kick sailed left of the goalpost. But Fielding\u2019s trying not to dwell on the miss anymore as he turns his focus forward to the CFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cObviously disappointed. You always want to come through for your team,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cBut I didn’t that day, and I gotta bounce back and do my job in the playoffs.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\t![\"Jayden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27762934.jpg\" "\\"Jayden")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\tJayden Fielding buried his head in his hands after missing what would have been a 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of the Big Ten Championship Game. (Photo:\u00a0Adam Cairns\/Columbus Dispatch\/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)\n\t<\/p>\n
\n\tBefore his miss vs. Indiana, Fielding had made 15 of 18 field goal attempts this season. For his career, Fielding has made more than 80 percent of his field goal attempts (45 of 56) and all but one of his 177 extra point attempts. That track record gives him confidence that he will bounce back when called upon in the playoff.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI have a lot of confidence,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cI’ve played for four years and I have really good stats over four years. I’ve always had confidence in myself, and that’s not stopping me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tMost of Fielding\u2019s makes have come in situations where Ohio State already had comfortable leads, so his misses against Indiana this year and Michigan last year leave in question whether the Buckeyes can count on him if they need him to make a clutch kick with the game on the line. It\u2019s impossible to fully simulate the pressure that comes with those situations until those situations actually arise, but Fielding feels like he\u2019s been able to build momentum for himself with his performance in practice over the last few weeks.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou just try and create as much pressure in your own head as you can, and I think Coach Day helps me with that a lot, too. He’s always behind me yelling at practice, and he’s more intimidating than any crowd could ever be, to me at least,\u201d Fielding said.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tIt also helps that Fielding has proven he can deliver on college football\u2019s biggest stage with his two made field goals in last year\u2019s national championship game, including a 46-yard kick.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt’s always in the back of your mind,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cYou’re like, \u2018I’ve done this before, I can go do it again.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI’ve played for four years and I have really good stats over four years. I’ve always had confidence in myself, and that’s not stopping me.\u201d\u2013 Jayden Fielding on believing he\u2019ll bounce back from his Big Ten Championship Game miss\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPerhaps most helpful of all, Fielding\u2019s Ohio State coaches and teammates have rallied their support behind him as he\u2019s faced backlash over the last few weeks. Numerous Ohio State players said after the Big Ten Championship Game that Fielding shouldn\u2019t be blamed for the Buckeyes\u2019 loss, noting that it\u2019s a team game and that they shouldn\u2019t have put him in that position where they needed his kick to win the game.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere’s more plays the defense could have made, there’s more plays the offense could have made, more plays on special teams we could have made,\u201d Ohio State defensive end Caden Curry said after the Big Ten Championship Game. \u201cI mean, there’s not just one person that defines a game, so nothing’s wrong with Jayden.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile Ryan Day hasn\u2019t excused the miss, he\u2019s also expressed that the Buckeyes still believe in Fielding and that Fielding wouldn\u2019t still be Ohio State\u2019s kicker if they didn\u2019t trust him to make his kicks going forward.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt’s like everybody else: If you do your job, everybody does their job \u2013 we talk about 10 units doing their job \u2013 then we feel like we’re going to win every game we play. When you don’t do your job, then you’re coming up short, then you’ve got to get that fixed as well,\u201d Day said earlier this month. \u201cThere’s a reason why we put him in there. We’re not putting guys in the game that we don’t believe in. So once we put you in the game, we believe that you’re going to do your job, and it’s your job to make sure that that gets done. So just like everybody else, he’s got to take a hard look at it and make sure that everything that he’s doing is on point.\u201d\n<\/p>\n