Greg McElroy: Ohio State isn't going anywhere despite loss to Oregon

Ohio State is officially a one-loss team. The prospect of an undefeated season is gone this year in Columbus, and a roster touted for its abundance in talent is now under the microscope, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

That said, the Buckeyes dropped only two spots in the AP Poll, from No. 2 to No. 4. They still have all of their goals in front of them. And, according to ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, they are still a major player.

“Ohio State is not going anywhere,” McElroy said Monday on his show before launching into his breakdown of the Buckeyes’ 32-31 loss to now-No. 2 Oregon.

“Look, fast start — it was very impressive: Get out, Buckeyes go right down, score on the opening drive, stop Oregon. Now, when you look at kind of where things are going or whatnot, statistically speaking, I thought Will Howard had a solid performance. Solid. You look at the numbers, you’re going to look at it and say, OK, there were a lot of things to like about this performance. No picks, was efficient, I thought he made some nice throws in the game, I thought he at times used his legs accordingly. But there were also some huge mistakes made.”

McElroy conceded that Ohio State’s potential game-winning drive put Howard in a tough spot.

The Kansas State graduate transfer got the ball back with 1:47 remaining and one timeout left, facing a 32-31 deficit. A 26-yard completion to senior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka slingshotted Ohio State to the Oregon 28-yard line, setting up a 1st-and-10 with 34 seconds left and that lone Buckeyes timeout still in head coach Ryan Day’s back pocket.

One play later, true freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith was called for a controversial offensive pass interference penalty that pushed Ohio State back 15 yards and out of its target field goal range. That flag was thrown with 22 seconds to go, and the clock continued to move as soon as the ball was set.

Howard later had to deal with an illegal substitution penalty on Oregon that gave Ohio State five free yards but cost the Buckeyes four precious seconds.

With six ticks to go, he didn’t have the opening he wanted on a flood concept, so he tucked the ball and gobbled up a handful of yards. Then he slid with the intention of getting down in time for Ohio State to use its final timeout and kick a game-winning field goal. But Howard didn’t get down in time.

That was obviously a rough moment for Howard, except so was his dropped snap on 3rd-and-3 in the third quarter, a blunder that spoiled a drive that could have seen the Buckeyes take a two-score lead.

Still, Howard threw for more than 300 yards, completed 80% of his passes, accounted for three total touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. Plus, as McElroy mentioned, he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders in the second half, considering Ohio State struggled to run the ball in the final two quarters.

“They ran for a 141, but 121 of those 141 yards came in the first half,” McElroy explained, “so they kind of abandoned the run game and really couldn’t get anything going in the final two quarters. They really only had 31 offensive snaps there in the final two quarters as well.”

McElroy continued: “But the offensive line played pretty well. There weren’t a ton of quarterback hits, there were no sacks, there weren’t a ton of pressures, and I know they lost a couple guys, which is something that we’ll be monitoring moving forward. Hopefully it’s not for an extended period, even though it’s sounding like it might be (redshirt junior left tackle Josh Simmons will likely miss the rest of the season).”

That’s when McElroy shifted gears.

“This was I think more about what we saw from the defense of Ohio State,” he said. “We knew this would be the best offense that Ohio State had faced up to this point, and the defense just didn’t do what they needed to do.”

Ohio State came in with the top-ranked scoring defense in the country. The Buckeyes were allowing 6.8 points per game. They gave up 32 points to Oregon.

Before the top-three showdown in Autzen Stadium, Ohio State hadn’t allowed more than 264 yards in a game this season. The Buckeyes gave up 496 yards to Oregon, including 201 in the second quarter alone.

“The defensive line, guys, these guys have been playing a lot of football, and I am constantly looking at Ohio State’s defensive line and wondering why we don’t get more production,” McElroy said. “They have talent, but I just want to get more production. I mean, no sacks in a game like this, tackles for loss not happening, and then their best cover guy (senior cornerback Denzel Burke), you give up 180 yards when targeting him, including 51 yards after the catch and a couple touchdowns. That’s just not going to get the job done.

“So Ohio State is back to the drawing board on defense. You got to give tons of credit to Oregon, for sure. But I just want more from Ohio State’s front, and I think the back end needs to elevate their level. They were left on islands a couple times, too. They were left on islands, and that pass rush needs to have more of an impact, because it just wasn’t felt as much as it should have been in a game of that magnitude.”

McElroy believes the Buckeyes have to reset defensively, but he still has faith in them. After all, they lost by only point on the road to a top-three team in the country — even with all of their mistakes.