What Ohio State coach Ryan Day said after the loss to the Oregon Ducks: The position “cost us”

The Ohio State Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks played an instant college football classic on Saturday night. The No. 3 Ducks pulled off the upset over the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes 32-31.

The Buckeyes attempted a game-winning field goal late, but offensive pass interference derailed the drive. On the final play of the game, with a few yards left for a field goal, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard went running and the clock hit triple zeros before the Buckeyes could call a timeout.

“You hate pointing fingers, and I won’t do that,” Day said. “This is a team loss.”

Day talked about what happened in the final sequence where Ohio State went for a game-winning field goal attempt.

“It felt like we were in field goal range there,” Day said. “We wanted to continue to expand the field goal because every time you add five yards, it gets bigger. You get a small penalty like that. It’s heartbreaking, but that’s football.”

Ryan Day wasn't happy with Jeremiah Smith's offensive pass interference.

“We did a great job of taking the field and continuing to fight, but the only play there… (defensive back) is to grab Jeremiah Smith; Jeremiah fights there. They called the flag there and it cost us, but it wasn’t supposed to come down to a play,” Day said. “I've said that before. We don't want to leave any doubt. I felt like we should have done that tonight, but we didn't. So we put it in the hands of a call, and you don't get it. That's up to us. We should never have let it happen.

Day went into more detail about some of the mistakes the Buckeyes made.

“There were some long throws down the field where they ended up behind us. There were some runs that separated and didn’t fit right,” Day said. “There was more than one thing.”

Daily lectures about the atmosphere and noise at Autzen Stadium

Day praised Oregon for the job they did but acknowledged that Ohio State didn't do their best.

“When you're out and about, you're going to be playing in great environments. We had a few penalties, some of the young players. “Some false starts there hurt, and ultimately we can’t accept that,” Day said. “I thought our guys kept fighting. They kept swinging, even down to the one-yard line at the end…As far as the message to the team, it's halfway through the season. It hurts. We should have won the game. You have to give Oregon credit, they played well, but there were just too many things we could have done better in this game and we didn't. We have a lot of football ahead of us. We need to get these things fixed.”

About Will Howard's appearance…

“He’s tough,” Day said. “He fought until the end. I give him credit for fighting until the end. We tried to get three players to the edge of the field on the last play to finish the ball. Someone flashed into his face and he scrambled to his feet. He will be hard on himself, but he competed until the end. Made some big throws to give us a chance to be in field goal range. He threw a good ball to Jeremiah (Smith), but there was contact with Jeremiah. On the next play there was contact with (Emeka) Egbuka. We're not going back with these other things. At this point it doesn't matter. It shouldn't come down to that, but I like the way Will (Howard) played. I thought he was competitive and strong in the game.”

With the win over Ohio State, Oregon improved to 6-0 and started the season for the first time since 2013 and the ninth time in program history. It was the Ducks' ninth win in program history against a top-five opponent. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel led the Ducks' offense to 496 yards of total offense, collecting 341 yards through the air and 155 rushing yards.

Next up, Ohio State has a bye week and Oregon plays Purdue on the road on Friday, October 18th.