Ryan Day regrets not letting Texas score late in the fourth quarter of Ohio State loss

Texas bled nearly a minute off the clock after Day elected to 'hold the line' and try to stop the Longhorns from the 1-yard line

Sep 15, 2026 at 3:22 pm ET • 2 min read

Ohio State coach Ryan Day took the blame for Ohio State's questionable time management late in the Buckeyes' 24-23 loss to Texas over the weekend.

Up by six points with 1:20 left to play, Day could have let the Longhorns score on a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line and given the ball back to his offense with one timeout and a chance to drive for a game-winning field goal. Instead, Day elected to send his defense back onto the field in an attempt to stop Texas from scoring. 

After Ohio State stuffed Hollywood Smothers for no gain on first down and used their final timeout, Texas ran two more plays, milking the clock, before Smothers' third-down carry went for the go-ahead touchdown with 25 seconds to play.

"It didn't work, so the answer's yes (it was the wrong call)," Day told 247Sports on Tuesday. "If we win the game, it would've been the right decision. In the moment, you've got to make a hard decision and I decided to try to hold the line. There's a lot that comes with that. 

"As the head coach of my team, I decided to make that call and ultimately would've love to have seen what it would've looked like if they had scored, but I made the decision."

Smothers' touchdown capped 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points for the Longhorns, who trailed all but the last 21 seconds in a contest largely dominated by Ohio State. According to Sportradar, it marked the largest fourth-quarter comeback ever against a No. 1-ranked team.

The Buckeyes fell to No. 6 in Sunday's new AP Poll while Texas moved to No. 1.

The loss was Ohio State's first in program history when leading by at least 17 points at halftime. It's also the Buckeyes' third consecutive loss to a ranked opponent dating back to last season, after falling to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship and to Miami in the CFP.

"It's extremely frustrating, it's maddening and we're excited to get back on the field and get going because the last couple of days haven't been fun around here," Day said. "Had some really good conversations with the guys. I think they're going to be in a good mindset moving forward. We understand we have a lot of football ahead of us. So this highlighted some things that we got to get fixed."

Ohio State's loss is particularly worrisome for its College Football Playoff hopes before the start of Big Ten competition. Last season, the Buckeyes' win over Texas was part of what kept the Longhorns out of the 12-team bracket after a 9-3 finish.

Sarkisian vouched for Ohio State not to be docked too much by the CFP selection committee for losing by a point on the road.

"I hope, if they end up being a 9-3 team, that the committee can appreciate that they came to Austin, Texas, in September when it was 100 degrees and played us in that environment and played a heck of a game," Sarkisian said. "They should not be punished."

Ohio State still has games against ranked Iowa, Indiana, USC, Oregon and Michigan this season.