It’s been over a week since Ohio State's devastating 32-31 loss to Oregon, and apparently, neither head coach Ryan Day nor quarterback Will Howard can stop crying about it. While the rest of the world has moved on, it seems Howard and Day are still replaying that final play like a broken record.
For those living under a rock, the Buckeyes were down by one and in position for a game-winning field goal when Howard decided to slide with seconds left. The problem? Time expired, the game ended, and Ohio State walked away losers. But according to Howard, he’s been beating himself up over it ever since.
“Believe me, I’ve played it over in my head a million different times – what I could have done,” Howard lamented as quoted by Eleven Warriors. “Could I have thrown it to Brandon Inniss for a long field goal attempt? I wanted to get our goal. We said we wanted 15 yards, so I was trying to get as many yards as I could. I thought I had enough time. It’s been nagging at me.”
Cue the tiny violin. Howard still insists there was time left to call a timeout and give the Buckeyes a shot at a game-winning field goal. “Yeah, I thought I was down with one second,” Howard said, as if the league office is going to reverse the result just because he’s sulking. “But they didn’t feel like clearing the field with all the kids that were already on it. It’s tough. But we always talk about leaving no doubt. I probably should have gotten down even quicker.”
And, of course, head coach Ryan Day has joined in the pity party. According to Day, Ohio State submitted the play to the league office to review, because, you know, maybe that would change the outcome. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
“We sent it in. They said that there was no time left,” Day said. “Brandon was calling a timeout. I was next to the referee calling a timeout. You can see it on the coach's copy. They said time had run out.”
Well, Ryan, that's how clocks work. They run out. No matter how many times you send in reviews or beg for a redo, the scoreboard still shows Oregon 32, Ohio State 31. But hey, keep crying about it.
And don’t worry, Day’s not done yet. He’s vowed to ensure that this never happens again. “It’s my job as the head coach to make sure that if we get into that situation again, we win the game,” Day said, clearly still stewing. “Trust me, nobody is working harder and nobody felt worse coming out of that game than I did.”
Sure, Ryan. But here’s a tip: instead of rehashing the same old sob story, maybe try focusing on, I don’t know, winning next time. Because the only thing worse than losing by one point is whining about it for the next two weeks.