Ohio State coach Ryan Day acknowledged that the Buckeyes’ late-game issues against Texas could be costly. He said the team’s struggles “are going to force us to make some hard decisions.”

The Buckeyes squandered a 20-point fourth-quarter lead Saturday before the Longhorns rallied for an improbable 24-23 victory.

“We had an opportunity certainly to finish the game and knock them out there in the third quarter,” Day told reporters on Tuesday. “It didn’t happen. Then we lost momentum and couldn’t get it back.”

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Ohio State entered Saturday with a 115-game winning streak when leading by 20 points, the sixth-longest active streak in the FBS. The victory moved Texas to No. 1 in the latest AP Top 25, while Ohio State dropped to No. 6.

“It’s extremely frustrating, it’s maddening,” Day added. “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.”

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“We have to win the fourth quarter.”

Throughout the summer, Day returned to a theme he believed would define Ohio State’s season: Against a daunting schedule, the Buckeyes would have to find a way to win the fourth quarter. That mantra took shape after Ohio State failed to close out the final two games of the 2025 season, suffering late-game losses to Indiana and Miami.

Those fourth-quarter miscues notably surfaced in last season’s Big Ten championship game, when a missed field-goal attempt allowed Indiana to clinch the title. In the College Football Playoff quarterfinal, Miami responded with a 10-play touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to seal the Buckeyes’ defeat.

“We have to do a better job of identifying how we’re going to win these games in the fourth quarter as a group — and do it,” Day said. “We put a lot of work into it, so to see it happen like that is extremely disappointing.”

While the Buckeyes look to regroup Saturday at home against Kent State, Ohio State’s 2026 schedule still includes road games against Big Ten opponents Indiana and USC, both ranked in the top 12. Indiana went undefeated last season en route to the program’s first national championship.

Ohio State is scheduled to host Oregon the week after facing USC in Los Angeles, then close the regular season with three consecutive games against conference opponents.

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Day emphasized the push for Ohio State to use the painful loss to Texas as a lesson and emerge as a better team.

“If we win that game, then we’re not probably having those conversations. So as much as this hurts and is miserable, we have to move forward with it,” the longtime Buckeyes coach said. “And the plan is to be a better, stronger team … and making sure that as we get ourselves in that situation again, we’re able to finish the game the way we should.”

Ohio State University president Ravi Bellamkonda and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther condemned harassment to Buckeyes football players and coaches after the 24-23 loss to Texas on Sept. 12.

Everyone packed into the stands at the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday saw senior running back Hollywood Smothers surge into the endzone to bring Texas one step closer to one of its greatest comebacks in program history. Twice.

What they might not have noticed was the way he threw himself into the line of fire without the ball in his arms to keep victory against Ohio State within striking distance.

When head coach Steve Sarkisian’s decision to go for it on 4th-and-6 with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Smothers didn’t show any signs of fear. Instead, he stepped into the A-gap and took on a blitzing player to give junior quarterback Arch Manning the space he needed to convert to junior wide receiver Emmett Mosley V for an outcome-altering first down.

Smothers hadn’t experienced firsthand the painful onslaught Texas had suffered against Ohio State the previous two years, but he did everything within his power to prevent his teammates from falling a third time at the hands of a program that had already taken so much from them. 

“(He’s) willing to risk his body, put himself on the line for the team,” graduate offensive lineman Trevor Goosby said about Smothers in a Monday media availability. “That shows how much of a team player he is.”

Smothers was recognized by his program as one of Texas’ Players of the Game, not just for his fourth-quarter clutch factor and physicality, but for the work he put in continuously throughout the matchup. 

The Longhorns struggled extensively to generate offensive momentum during the first half, but their best attempts at driving the ball down the field seemed to be centered around Smothers. The North Carolina State transfer finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns, relishing the larger-than-life seeming atmosphere at DKR.

“You come to Texas for games like this and atmospheres like this,” Smothers said after Saturday’s win. “It was everything we needed it to be … It was tough, and we got it done.”

Smothers recorded 1,510 yards and 12 touchdowns across two seasons at NC State, and his speed, agility and intelligence have so far transferred to his career at Texas. Following the Longhorns’ worst rushing year of the Sarkisian era, the energy Smothers brings to the table is welcomed.

Both he and Arizona State transfer graduate running back Raleek Brown have impressed Sarkisian so far with their ability to feed off one another and make big plays in big moments.

“Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown are really tough, and they love football,” Sarkisian said in Monday’s media availability. “They run the football with passion … They were competing at a really high level Saturday night, and that’s something you don’t know until you actually get into the fire with them.”

Smothers and Brown, having transferred into Texas at the same time, have cultivated a relationship throughout the offseason and relied on each other since arriving on the Forty Acres. 

“Before I took the visit here, I called (Brown) because he was already committed – I called him and he welcomed me, showing up with love and knowing we can do this together,” Smothers said. “It’s gonna take more than one back.”

The two of them, along with the rest of Texas’ roster, still have a long way to go. Smothers faced some difficult opponents at NC State, but the weekly grind required to endure Southeastern Conference play will reveal more about both his character and his ability to continue developing as an impact player.