First-half collapse dooms Ohio State as Buckeyes fall to Miami 24-14 in Cotton Bowl

Jack Diwik
Thu, 01 Jan 2026 06:02:50 +0000
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Miami defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor (3) sacks Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin (10) during the game Wednesday. The No. 2 Buckeyes lost to the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes 24-14 at the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Sandra Fu | Managing Photo Editor

Ohio State came to the Cotton Bowl expecting to leave Texas with a victory over the Miami Hurricanes that would propel the Buckeyes to a second straight national championship.

Instead, they left with an off-season worth of questions about what went wrong.

The Buckeyes were outplayed and outscored from the first quarter, losing 24-14 to a Miami team that looked hungrier and better prepared.?

The offensive line struggled to protect Julian Sayin, who was sacked five times. Jayden Fielding missed a 49-yard field goal, and another strong defensive effort was squandered.

Yes, they staged a second-half comeback that provided hope to the Buckeye faithful.?

Yes, they held Carson Beck to 138 yards through the air.?

But in the end, the scoreboard reflected a team that looked rusty from a month on the sidelines and could not sustain enough momentum to bring home a victory.?

“When you have a start the way that we did, you put yourself at risk of having to be? darn near perfect in the second half,” Day said. “We put ourselves behind the eight ball.”

Day knew Ohio State faced challenges it needed to address, as evidenced by its 13-10 loss to Indiana. He described it as ripping “open the scab on all the issues that are there.”

Inside AT&T Stadium, those scabs were open wounds through the first 20 minutes of play, and most exposed was the offensive line, which allowed Sayin to be under constant pressure.

“They have two really good edge rushers,” Sayin said. “We tried to get the ball out quick, but there were times I held onto the football and they were able to get pressure and get some sacks.”

The tone was set on Miami’s first defensive possession when, facing third down, Sayin dropped back and looked downfield for Smith. Instead, he was crushed by Akheem Mesidor, who bullied right guard Gabe Van Sickle.

Van Sickle, filling in for injured Tegra Tshebola, was overmatched, allowing two sacks before being benched in the second half for Josh Padilla.

The Hurricanes’ defensive line dominance fueled their momentum early, even when the Buckeyes briefly wrestled it back.

With 8:57 left in the first quarter, Payton Pierce punched the ball free from Mark Fletcher Jr., forcing a fumble and igniting a spark.

After a quick possession that ended in a punt, Miami responded with a back-breaking 13-play, 83-yard touchdown drive capped by a 9-yard Fletcher Jr. catch from Beck, a march extended twice by third-down conversions.

If Ohio State fans were uneasy after that drive, they were stunned five plays later.

Set up by a 59-yard connection from Sayin to Smith, two plays later, Sayin tried to force a screen pass to Brandon Innis. He floated the ball toward the left sideline, where Keonte Scott undercut the route, intercepted it, and returned it 72 yards to swing momentum firmly back to Miami.

“After it came out of my hand, I saw him make the play,” Sayin said. “It was a great play by him. Obviously, you can’t have that in that situation.”

The interception came one play after Reuben Bain Jr. recorded the Hurricanes’ second sack of the half, pushing the Buckeyes out of the red zone and reopening a familiar scab: empty red-zone trips.

Despite their struggles, Ohio State came out of the locker room looking like a renewed team.

Its opening possession was an 82-yard drive on 11 plays, capped off by a 1-yard Bo Jackson touchdown plunge.

The Silver Bullets’ defense held the Hurricanes to three points over the next 18:56, and Jeremiah Smith carried the team with 76 second-half yards and a touchdown.

The feeling inside the stadium shifted from doom to expectation, but Ohio State could not overcome its own mistakes.

“It took us a while to get into the rhythm of the game,” Day said. “I thought we did coming out of the second half, and by then, it was going to take a very efficient second half to win the game, being down 14-0.”

While the offensive line improved in the third quarter, helping Ohio State rush for 46 yards and score on back-to-back drives, the margin for error had already disappeared.?

A 9-yard sack and a Phillip Daniels holding penalty stalled the Buckeyes’ final meaningful possession.

As Ohio State continued to sabotage its own potential, Miami repeatedly extended drives, converting seven back-breaking third downs, including three on scoring possessions.

Even with all the mistakes and missed opportunities, Ohio State still had a chance to erase it all with a stop and a score late in the fourth quarter. Fletcher and Brown would not allow it.

The Hurricanes bled the clock with a 10-play, 70-yard drive, converting three more third downs as the running back duo, which combined for 146 total yards, gashed the Buckeyes and marched downfield.

Each first down brought louder cheers from the Miami sections and further drained the majority Buckeye crowd.

As the clock hit zero, Ohio State fans had already headed for the exits. Orange and green confetti poured down as the Buckeyes walked into the tunnel with their heads down, absorbing their third straight New Year’s Eve loss.

“We worked really hard during the last three weeks leading up to this game,” head coach Ryan Day said. “But at the end of the day, when you don’t get it done, that starts with me.”