Texas Stuns No. 1 Ohio State with 20-Point Fourth-Quarter Comeback

AUSTIN, Texas — Stuffed into a small room in the bowels of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, dozens of reporters listened as Ohio State coach Ryan Day attempted to explain the almost unimaginable: How the No. 1 team in the country blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead in a 24-23 loss to No. 4 Texas .

"I can't really sit here and tell you exactly why that happened," Day said. "We all have to take accountability, and we have to get this thing fixed.

As Day spoke, a "Texas Fight" chant broke out on the other side of the door as Longhorns fans jubilantly departed the stadium after one of Texas' biggest victories in years.

Teams were 0-223 against AP No. 1 teams since 2003 when trailing by 17-plus points before Saturday. Texas, with three straight-fourth quarter touchdown drives and three straight fourth-quarter stops, secured the unlikeliest of wins.

It's a potential launch pad for a Texas team seeking its first national title since 2005.

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For Ohio State, losers of three of its last four dating back to the 2025 campaign, it's another confounding loss in a game that slipped away.

Day's record a conundrum

Day doesn't lose often in Columbus.

He's 83-13 as Ohio State's coach. But of those 13 losses, six of them involved the Buckeyes squandering a second-half lead.

As weird as it is to say a national championship coach has a troubled history of closing games out – Day does. Even the 2024 national title provided a scare. The Buckeyes were up 31-7 in the third quarter and had to endure a 15-point barrage from Notre Dame before putting the game away.

Consider this: Since Day's first full season as a head coach in 2019, the Buckeyes have played in 14 games decided by seven points or fewer.

The Buckeyes are just 6-8 in those contests.

For all of Day's success, his teams have developed a troubling tendency to get conservative when games tighten, especially against elite competition. You could point to the amount of drop-eight coverage the Buckeyes played, which Texas picked apart in the fourth quarter after Arch Manning struggled against it early. There was a punt on 4th-and-5 from Texas' 39 yard line while up 20-3 that netted Ohio State all of 26 yards.

The late-game decision that doomed the Buckeyes

More than anything, however, it's Day's decision to not let Texas score.

The Longhorns reached the one-yard-line with 1:23 remaining on an Arch Manning strike to Emmett Mosley. Ohio State had just one timeout left. Instead of letting Texas cross the goal line and go ahead by one and leave time remaining for a comeback, Day, with a defense that had been on the field in 90-plus degree weather for basically an entire half and was getting picked apart in the run game, opted to play straight up defense.

It took two more attempts, but Texas punched it in.

Ohio State had just 25 seconds on the clock and no timeouts to attempt a comeback.

After Texas scored, Manning told Mosley it was better he came up short of the end zone in that situation.

Asked about the decision not to let Texas score, Day said he considered it but wanted to play defense for two plays and go for the win.

"It didn't work out," Day said.

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A lot didn't for Ohio State in the second half.

Buckeyes QB Julian Sayin posted the third-highest completion percentage in college football history last season at 77%. He completed 13-of-17 passes in the first half against Texas. He would hit only 5 of 16 in the second, including a bad miss on a would-be touchdown pass to Devin McCune midway through the third quarter that forced Ohio State to settle for a field goal.

The best player in the sport, Jeremiah Smith, dropped a key pass on third down – against tough coverage from cornerback Bo Mascoe – that could have prevented a three-and-out and stalled Texas' momentum.

There were two second-half fumbles, both 50-50 balls, Texas recovered.

Baylor transfer kicker Connor Hawkins missed a 45-yard field goal with less than five minutes remaining that would have put the game away – a familiar feeling for Ohio State, which has had kicker issues in key moments the last few seasons.

There's the two fourth-and-long plays that Texas converted in the second half that led to touchdowns.

There are the rushing struggles in a third straight game against top 10 competition. The Buckeyes averaged only three yards per carry against Texas, failing to close out the game on the ground. It's the third straight loss Ohio State averaged three yards per carry or fewer.

"It's not just one thing," Day said postgame. "It's all of those things."

Added center Carson Hinzman: "We really just beat ourselves."

Season not over for Ohio State

The end result is three losses in Ohio State's last four games and a concerning pattern in games the Buckeyes should be able to close.

Ohio State isn't out of the playoff race with a September loss.

Even a two-loss Buckeyes team with a schedule that includes Indiana, USC, Oregon and Michigan is good enough to get into the playoff.

"Everything we want to do is still in front of us," Hinzman said.

Yet it's hard not to look at the Buckeyes and Day a little differently after this loss.

A national championship deservedly changed the perception around Day, a coach with elite results but who too often came up short despite every advantage.

It didn't change the way his team finishes games against top competition. Saturday night was yet another reminder.