No. 13 Oregon’s 41-28 dismantling of Ohio State on Saturday likely pushed the Buckeyes out of the College Football Playoff race — and into uncharted territory.
With the loss to Oregon following their 30-18 road defeat to No. 20 USC last week, the Buckeyes have lost two straight regular-season games for the first time since November 2011. Heading into Saturday, Ohio State had almost always bounced back in the regular season after a defeat.
Earlier in the season, after losing 24-23 at Texas in Week 2, the Buckeyes responded with a dominant 59-3 win over Kent State in the following game.
That wasn’t the case against the Ducks in a matchup that ended Ohio State’s streak of 14 straight seasons with two or fewer losses. That was tied with Florida State and Notre Dame for the longest such streak in the AP poll era (since 1936).
Here are the top numbers from Ohio State’s second straight regular-season defeat.
8,057: Both of the Buckeyes’ defeats came by double-digit margins. It’s their first double-digit losses in consecutive games since 2004 — 8,057 days ago.
Ohio State has lost three straight games by at least 10 points only twice in program history. It hosts Northwestern next week.
5,467: To say it’s been quite some time since Ohio State was in this situation would be an understatement.
The Buckeyes went 5,467 days and 169 games without dropping back-to-back regular-season matchups. Ohio State lost its final three in the 2011 campaign before a bowl game defeat. Urban Meyer became head coach the following season, and a new era of dominant Buckeyes football began.
Coach Ryan Day, who succeeded Meyer in December 2018, entered Saturday 5-3 with Ohio State after a defeat — all three losses were in bowl games.
171: There was plenty of winning since the last time the Buckeyes dropped two straight. They were 171-24, the second-most wins of any college football program since the start of the 2012 season, with an 87.7% win percentage — the best of any program.
That type of success was bound to warrant championships. Ohio State won two national titles during that span, plus four bowl victories.
288: A key turning point in the game came late in the second quarter when Oregon pulled off a fake punt. Facing a fourth-and-9 at its own 31-yard line, Oregon brought out the punt team. But the Ducks didn’t kick it away.
Instead, linebacker Teitum Tuioti caught the snap and completed a jump pass to Matayo Uiagalelei, who scampered 30 yards for the first down. After that play, Oregon outgained Ohio State 288 to 47 until 12:51 remained in the fourth, when the Ducks led 38-14.
140: If you tuned out of the game after the first quarter, you might have thought an Ohio State victory was a formality.
The Buckeyes held a 14-0 lead and, heading into Saturday, had won 140 consecutive home games when leading by at least 14 points. The last time they lost a home game with that lead was against Wisconsin in 2001.
Ohio State had won 137 consecutive home games when leading by double digits — previously the longest streak by any team since 2004.
41: The Buckeyes gave up 41 points at home, marking the second-most points surrendered by a Day-coached team at home and third most allowed overall. It’s the second home game since 2000 in which Ohio State has allowed 40 points.
Oregon’s performance followed a 30-point performance by USC. Remarkably, this is the first time the Buckeyes have allowed 30 points in back-to-back games after a streak of 31 games in which they held their opponents under 30.
The Ducks had 38 unanswered points — the fifth-most consecutive points allowed at Ohio Stadium by Ohio State since the stadium opened in 1922.
ESPN Research contributed to this story.
