Ohio State saw its season come to a stunning close Wednesday night against the Miami Hurricanes in the Cotton Bowl, 24-14.

With a shocking, abrupt playoff exit and coach Ryan Day facing scrutiny, Day attempted to clarify where things may have gone wrong during his post-game availability. 

“Well, I felt like it took us a while to get into the rhythm of the game,” Day said. “I thought we’d be coming out of the second half. And by then, it was going to take a very, very efficient second half to win the game, being down 14-0.”

The Buckeye offense couldn’t really get in rhythm despite cutting the Hurricanes’ lead to three, 17-14. Quarterback Julian Sayin said there were a few plays he wish he had back.

“Yeah, I think there were some opportunities today where I could have maybe taken off and scrambled for some yards and taken some sacks that weren’t necessary and got us into tougher situations,” Sayin said.

The pick-6 was a prime example, but Sayin gave credit to the Hurricanes’ CharMar Brown for being in the right spot.

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

Day said he trusts Sayin to learn from this experience moving forward.

“I think Julian has a chance to be as good as he wants to be,” Day said. “Now, he’s got to learn from this. That’s a big part of playing quarterback. When you look at a lot of the guys who have success at the highest levels of college football, they have a lot of games under their belt. And Julian’s got this now — this season to learn from and grow from, and he’s going to come back even stronger next year.”

We’ll see how the Buckeyes attempt to bounce back.