Ryan Day Says Ohio State Weighed Letting Texas Score Before Choosing a Goal-Line Stand

With 1:23 left in the fourth quarter on Saturday night, Ohio State held a 23-17 lead as Texas lined up for first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. Coach Ryan Day’s decision from that point is likely to be among the most closely examined calls of the college football season.

Day could have called Ohio State’s final timeout as soon as Texas reached the goal line and then allowed the Longhorns to score. That would have left Ohio State trailing 24-23 with more than a minute to attempt a game-winning drive.

Instead, the Buckeyes stopped Texas on first and second down before the Longhorns scored the winning touchdown on third down with 25 seconds remaining. Ohio State’s final offensive drive lasted only two plays.

Day said after the game that allowing Texas to score had been considered, but he and his team ultimately believed they could get a stop.

“I considered it, but I felt like at that point we were gonna go play defense and see if we could get off the field, but it didn’t work out,” Day said.

Day said he ultimately placed his faith in the defense.

“We did, we talked about it, and decided that we were gonna play defense,” Day said. “When we got that stop right there we said, alright, we’re going to take our chances, put the ball down for one yard and see if we can stop them.”

Ohio State could not get another stop. By the time it recovered the ball, the Buckeyes were nearly out of time—even though Texas also snapped the ball too quickly before scoring and could have used more of the remaining clock. Day gave his defense a chance to win the game, but the decision left his offense without enough time to answer.

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