3 Reasons Why Ohio State Lost To Miami In the College Football Playoff

Reasons are posited why Ohio State lost to Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal. Ohio State lost in a huge upset, and there have to be reasons why. The first reason is that Ohio State was outplayed in the trenches. The second reason is that Ohio State was awful on third down. The third reason is simple. Ohio State had a first-round bye and had not played in about a month.

The layoff resulted in apparent rust, which was also the case last year, when all four teams that had byes lost. There are certainly more reasons why Ohio State lost, but they boil down to these three. Can you think of any more reasons why Ohio State was upset?

First Of the Reasons For the Ohio State Upset

In the College Football Playoff quarterfinal loss, Ohio State was simply outplayed in the trenches. Ohio State rushed for only 45 yards, and Miami had 153. A football team cannot win if it gets out-rushed by more than 100 yards. It gets worse when you consider the passing game. Ohio State was sacked five times in the game against Miami. They were also sacked five times in their Big Ten Championship loss to Indiana.

The Buckeyes gave up six sacks all season. That is a huge difference. On the other side of the ball, the vaunted Ohio State defense gave up 153 rushing yards. They could not stop Miami from rushing. Former Ohio State commit Mark Fletcher had 90 yards rushing and gashed the Ohio State defense almost all night.

The Ohio State defense has four potential first-round picks in the National Football League Draft. Everyone says Ohio State Safety Caleb Downs, the Thorpe Award winner, is one of the best players in college football. A close second is Ohio State Linebacker Arvell Reese. He was basically not heard from in the quarterfinal game.

Second Of the Reasons For the Ohio State Upset

The second thing that went wrong for Ohio State was that they were terrible on third down. This reason is related to the first one, but is a distinct manifestation. Ohio State was only 3-of-10 on third down. Miami was much better at 7-of-14. Ohio State’s first third down conversion did not come until the sixth possession, an 8-yard pass from Julian Sayin to Brandon Inniss, but that went for naught as Jayden Fielding missed a 49-yard field goal try four plays later to end the first half.

The inability of Ohio State to get off the field on third down was a frustrating story for Ohio State fans. Ohio State punted five times in this game, to Miami’s four times. Ohio State punter Joe McGuire has only punted 24 times this season.

Third Of the Reasons For the Ohio State Upset

Ohio State had a long layoff before playing this game. They last played on December 6. They layoff helped the Buckeyes heal, in particular, injuries to Wide Receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. Smith, in particular, was great in this game. That said, Ohio State appeared rusty in this game. Sayin, a Heisman Trophy finalist, threw an interception on the second series of the game for Ohio State. This was his third consecutive game with an interception.

Conclusion

There are myriad reasons why Ohio State was upset by Miami. However, those reasons boil down to Ohio State losing in the trenches, being awful on third down, while their opponent was quite good, and the long layoff for Ohio State.