Ohio State head coach Ryan Day leads the Buckeyes out of the locker room for warmups. The Buckeyes lost to USC 30-18 on Oct. 31, 2026. Credit: Liam Ahern | Managing Photo Editor

Over the last eight seasons, Ohio State has lost just 14 games during head coach Ryan Day’s tenure.

Following the Buckeyes’ 30-18 loss to USC Saturday, they have now lost four of their last 10 games dating back to last season.

The Buckeyes’ challenges are far from over.?

All four of the teams Ohio State faces on its regular-season schedule have winning records.

On Saturday, the No. 12 Buckeyes will face No. 23 Oregon, a matchup that features the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams.

“They have as much talent as anybody in the country, this team is excellent, I know that they’ve lost three games, but put the film on,” Day said of Oregon. “They have NFL players all over the field and they have speed at wideout. They have a good offensive line, a really good tight end. The running backs run hard, and then [Dylan] Raiola has played a lot of football as an experienced quarterback.”

Here are takeaways from Day’s Tuesday press conference at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

Learning from the USC game and moving forward

Ohio State’s 12-point loss to USC was its largest defeat since losing 45-23 to Michigan on Nov. 26, 2022.?

In LA Memorial Coliseum, the Buckeyes committed a season-high 11 penalties, while allowing a 69-yard passing touchdown and 70-yard reception to the Trojans’ offense.

“The penalties are ridiculous and the mistakes are ridiculous,” Day said. “So, ultimately, that leads me to believe that we’re not where we need to be. So, we got an opportunity here against Oregon now to go turn that around.”

Day said the Buckeyes must learn from their mistakes from the USC game before they move onto their upcoming opponent, Oregon.?

“It’s not going to go well if we don’t get these things fixed, like now, and so the urgency had better be really high for everybody, coaches and players included,” Day said.

Taking accountability as coaches and players

Day described that after the loss, it’s on both the coaches and players to improve.

While Day said he’s not in the frame of mind to consider any coaching changes at the moment, he emphasized the need for coaching to improve.?

“We got to coach it better, and again, that starts [with me] but then it goes to the coordinators, and then it goes to position coaches,” Day said.?

Day reiterated that holding the team to a higher standard goes for the players as well.?

“Now the players, they have to hold themselves accountable, too, there’s a certain level of accountability for these guys that they’re expected to do their job at a high level,” Day said. “That’s the way that I’m approaching this week, is that we all have to coach this better and take responsibility as a player.”

Evaluating red zone struggles

In Ohio State’s loss to USC, the Buckeyes made four trips to the red zone, but only scored one touchdown.?

The team’s red zone struggles have persisted throughout the season, as in Ohio State’s last four games, it has scored seven touchdowns on 16 trips.

Day described the process that goes into fixing the issue.

“You have to first off look at, like anything, anytime you don’t have success, is it the scheme, is it the personnel or is it the coaching? And yeah, we can continue to go back through and see if there’s schematically ways we can do better, which is exactly what we need to do,” Day said. “Ultimately, everything that happens on the field is my responsibility. So I’m involved with everything. But yeah, to say that it’s working very well, is not accurate.”?

Day said the issues near the goal-line have been frustrating.?

“At the end of the day, once we get in a red zone, we have to be able to run the ball, and then we have to be able to win a one-on ones on the outside,” Day said. “Certainly that is something that is extremely frustrating. So we got to keep working at it this week, and I don’t know what else to say other than that. But I’m as frustrated as anybody.”