Buckeyes Can’t Let Ducks Beat Them Twice

EUGENE, OR — The Buckeyes woke up on Sunday morning still having to deal with the pain of losing. It didn’t go away in the night. It stood patiently at their bedsides, waiting for the first waking moment to eagerly remind them of the night before.

Hours earlier, the clock hit all zeroes and Ohio State came up short in a 32-31 loss at Oregon. A loss that will be with them either as a token scar or a the start of some serious bloodletting.

This one clearly hurt, which is why the messaging coming out of the game is that they can’t allow Oregon to beat them twice. This game is over. It won’t be played again. They can’t allow this game to stick to them. They need to shake it off.

Quarterback Will Howard said it himself after the game. This wasn’t the end of the season, merely the starting point.

“I hope it lights a little fire under us, man, because I still got all the belief in the world in this team,” he said. “This is a good football team. I don’t think they necessarily beat us, I think we beat ourselves a little bit. I think we left some stuff out there that we’ve got to learn from and get better because of. But at the end of the day, I think this is a good team and we’re gonna see them again.
I think the message has to be, we’ve gotta grow from this and learn from this. This obviously isn’t how you wanna do it, but you can’t let them beat you twice.”

If the Buckeyes do want another shot at Oregon, they have to move on from this one and fix what needs fixing. The problem for Ohio State, however, is that there were no flukes in what Oregon’s offense did to the Buckeye defense.

What proof is there that the next game will go better? How do you fix what you do when that’s all you do?

If the Ohio State defense can’t get off the field in big games, those big games are always going to be treacherous. And yet, as Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said after the game, the Buckeye offense had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win.

It was a back-and-forth classic, but classics in sports are generally only appreciated by the winning side.

The losing side wears it like last year’s fashions.

After what happened Saturday in Eugene, you get the feeling that the Ducks would welcome a rematch, even if it’s at a neutral site like the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis.

But the Buckeyes would welcome it as well.

This was a game that got away and also one that Ohio State had to hold on for dear life just to stay in it. The stakes were high with every snap and both teams executed throughout the game. The offenses answered back time and again, until time ran out for the Buckeyes.

But time only ran out in this game. There are still six regular season games to play, and Oregon will not be one of them.

This game is over and done. The pain will remain, but it will also remind. Ohio State got beaten, and the score could have been worse than it was. The Buckeyes have their share of “what ifs” in this game, but so do the Ducks.

The “what if” game is pointless, but it can also be dangerous if Ryan Day and his staff think the rematch will go in their favor if they simply get the breaks that they didn’t in this one.

It’s time to start making breaks rather than hoping for them. Everything the Buckeyes are playing for this season is still in front of them. They still control their own fate. If they win out, they are the Big Ten Champs.

“If” is a four-letter word, however. Ohio State needs to eliminate the questions and start providing the answers. This is now their only path forward, and it’s not going to be easy.

But it is still possible, even if it may not feel like it at the moment. Time will heal all wounds, but it could also just lead to deeper cuts down the road.

Ohio State doesn’t need to be perfect the rest of the way out, but they need to get a hell of a lot closer to it than they were on Saturday.

Ryan Day wants the Buckeyes to leave no doubt, but right now doubt is all that they’re left with.

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