Ryan Day, OSU Slammed by Fans for Abysmal Offense in Cotton Bowl Loss vs. Missouri

The No. 7 Ohio State football team failed to score a touchdown for the first time in seven years on Friday en route to a 14-3 loss to the No. 9 Missouri Tigers in the Cotton Bowl.

Quarterbacks Devin Brown (who left early due to an ankle injury) and Lincoln Kienholz completed just 10-of-23 passes for 106 yards. The running game posted only 2.9 yards per carry (33 yards, 97 attempts). Ohio State scored on just one its 11 drives, including eight straight in which it came up empty after a first quarter field goal.

During and after this game, fans and analysts pointed the finger at Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, who has been the subject of a torrent of criticism over the years.

For starters, Day’s Buckeyes have not fared well against the best in the nation.

OSU has lost three straight games to Michigan since 2021. The Buckeyes have entered each contest as the No. 2 team in the nation. Two of those defeats led to OSU being shut out of the College Football Playoff, including this season.

Under Day, postseason success has been hard to come by. The Buckeyes lost in the CFP semifinal in 2019 and 2022. They reached the final in 2020 but were crushed 52-24 to Alabama once there. The 2021 campaign did end with a Rose Bowl win over Utah, but now this year ended in about as ugly of an offensive fashion as possible.

Ohio State fans haven’t seen something akin to this since 2016, when the Buckeyes fell 31-0 to Clemson in the CFP semifinals. Friday marked OSU’s lowest scoring output since that game.

That Clemson team was elite and ended up winning the national championship though. Missouri is certainly impressive in its own right as the ninth-ranked team in the nation, but it also entered the Cotton Bowl allowing 22.3 points per game (40th in Division I FBS).

In fairness to Day, the Buckeyes entered this one shorthanded. Superstar wide receiver and Heisman finalist Marvin Harrison Jr. skipped the Cotton Bowl, presumably in advance of declaring for the 2024 NFL draft.

Starting quarterback Kyle McCord has left for Syracuse. Wideout Julian Fleming, who finished third among OSU wideouts in receptions and receiving yards, is in the transfer portal. Running back Chip Trayanum, the team’s second-leading rusher, has already left for Kentucky.

However, there was still talent left over, and yet Ohio State could not muster any points in the final three quarters.

Folks had plenty to say about Day and the Buckeyes while viewing this performance.

Now Ohio State moves onto 2024 with more questions than answers after a tough ending to the season. Next year kicks off on Aug. 31 with a home game against Akron.