Snap Judgments as Buckeyes come unraveled in rivalry loss at Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The End arrived for Ohio State.

The winning streak in the rivalry is over.

The Big Ten reign has been overthrown.

And the dreams of a national championship for one of the most talented offenses in program history are dead.

Michigan brought everything the Buckeyes hold dear crashing down on Saturday amidst the snow flurries in the Big House. There’s really no argument that it was a fluke, either, as the Wolverines never flinched and pulled off a 42-27 upset over the Buckeyes that cost the visitors everything in a winner-take-all brawl.

Ohio State will get a consolation trip to a New Year’s Six bowl, but that will do little to ease the sting of what happened against the Wolverines. Maybe the story wasn’t going to last forever, but the end sure arrived sooner than the Buckeyes expected.

Bottom Line: Ohio State may have had the highest ceiling in the country, but it couldn’t reach it when it was needed most.

That’s where the Lettermen Row instant analysis of the rivalry loss to Michigan begins as Snap Judgments start looking at what went wrong for Ohio State.

Self-inflicted wounds again slow down Buckeyes offense

The personnel is the best in America, the coaching staff isn’t shy about dialing up aggressive plays and the Buckeyes have used that combination to score more points than anybody in the country. But Ohio State has shown a tendency in the second half of the season to bog itself down with costly penalties, particularly in the red zone. There were a couple key chances to punch in touchdowns in the opening half that slipped away due to execution breakdowns, and those are magnified when the level of competition ramps up. And the amount of false-start penalties were devastating and inexcusable, even in front of one of the largest crowds in rivalry history.

Ohio State didn’t answer defensive challenge in championship moment

The improvement from the start of the season to the end was obvious. But it wasn’t enough. The first loss of the year was triggered by an inability to stop the run and get off the field, and Michigan did the exact same to Ohio State — albeit in a far more physical fashion. The Buckeyes were overpowered up front and suspect at linebacker, letting Michigan control the pace of the game and get exactly the kind of matchup it wanted. There is a lot of talent expected to return next season, but Ryan Day might have to ask some hard questions about the makeup of his defensive staff before then.

Bryson Shaw gives Ohio State lone bright spot defensively

The Buckeyes didn’t necessarily have a ton of other options to try at safety. But they certainly could have experimented more at the position as the Silver Bullets tried to replace Josh Proctor in the backend early in the season. Instead the coaching staff stood firmly behind Bryson Shaw and allowed him to work through a few growing pains, believing in the end his production would match up with this athleticism once he gained a bit of experience. Shaw paid the Buckeyes back in a huge way with an absolutely massive interception in the first quarter, snuffing out a drive that could have given Michigan an early two-possession lead. Shaw has steadily improved throughout the year, and Ohio State needed him in a major way in the rivalry to keep it close early.

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