Ohio State capped the 2023 season Friday night with a 14-3 loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. Sophomore quarterback Devin Brown started the game but was lost to a high-ankle sprain after six pass attempts. His early departure makes it harder for the Buckeyes to evaluate the position going into the offseason, and head coach Ryan Day admitted being “disappointed” in not finding out more about his quarterback situation moving forward.
“Devin wanted to play in this game worse than anybody,” Day said after the game. “This is not what we were expecting coming out of the game. We don’t have a game to look at, go through and evaluate. We know what we see in practice. It’s certainly different when you play in the game. Disappointed we don’t have that.”
Day went in-depth on the play of Brown and freshman Lincoln Kienholz in his postgame press conference and assessed where the quarterback position stands entering the offseason. He also addressed the potential for offensive staff changes, finishing the season with two-straight losses and what went wrong along the offensive line, among other things.
Quick Takes: Injuries, confusing decisions cost Ohio State in Cotton Bowl loss
Here’s everything Day said after the Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri:
“There was some zero pressure that came, and they were aggressive. In the run game, there were a couple of things that hit, but we had a young kid in there, and you have to be able to run the football and take some pressure off. We didn’t do that well enough in order to win the game. The defense played plenty good enough. They played their tails off and ran out of gas a little bit down the stretch. We gave up 14 points and 331 yards. They played great. They played good enough to win on defense. We just couldn’t put it together on offense. That’s the story of the game.”
ON LINCOLN KIENHOLZ’S PLAY AT QB
“I feel like Lincoln got put in a tough spot, to say the least. He battled his tail off, but clearly, we didn’t help him up front. We didn’t run the ball well enough. We had a freshman quarterback out there for the first time, and we’re not running the ball well enough upfront. So, it’s hard to get much of an evaluation coming out of the game when you can’t get any balance. I felt like we could have helped him in certain areas, and we didn’t.”
ON THE PLAN FOR KIENHOLZ ONCE HE GOT INTO THE GAME
“When you’re a freshman quarterback who comes in during the summer, you don’t have the spring, and you really don’t have much of a preseason. When Kyle McCord was in there, and Devin Brown was getting reps with the twos, Lincoln really did not get many reps. His first few drives were inside the 10-yard line; that’s a tough place to be. What I didn’t want to do is put him in a situation where he’s going to turn the ball over.
“What I felt like we could do was get into halftime, get it settled, and try to get the ball towards midfield. We stalled and missed the field goal. I felt like that was our chance to jump on top a little bit. I give Lincoln credit. He got put in a tough spot. He battled out there and did make some good throws. That was a tough ask right there. We needed to give him more help.”
ON DEVIN BROWN’S PLAY BEFORE THE INJURY
“I felt like he was going to have nerves early on. I felt we were going to be able to play through it and figure out what that looked like going into the second half. He had a little bit of nerves, but you can see the athleticism and see him break the pocket. He missed the screen early on, but I felt like he was going to have to play through that a little bit. This is his first start. Then we lose them. We had a lot of things in the game plan designed for his style of play. When we lost him, it was a little bit of a scramble.”
ON NOT HAVING A FULL GAME TO EVALUATE BROWN
“Devin wanted to play in this game worse than anybody. After he hurt himself, he wanted to get back in there and actually did it for a series. It just wasn’t fair to him. He couldn’t move. He wasn’t supposed to be in the game at that point. He was fighting to get back in there. He kept a great attitude the whole time. I don’t have a great answer for that right now. This is not what we were expecting coming out of the game. We don’t have a game to look at, go through and evaluate. We know what we see in practice. It’s certainly different when you play in the game. Disappointed we don’t have that.”
ON HOW HE WILL EVALUATE THE QB POSITION GOING FORWARD
“Devin has a high-ankle sprain, and he was not able to return to the game. I am fresh off the game. It is hard for me to process all of that right now. We have to figure out what’s best for the team moving forward. That is in a lot of areas. We have got to take a hard look at that and get that figured out. Everything will be looked at this offseason.
“We didn’t reach our goals this year. That’s everybody. The quarterback room is one of them. That’s the bottom line. When we look at it as a whole, we didn’t get our job done. I’m not going to go through and evaluate Kyle at this point. I don’t think that’s fair. You saw what happened in this game. We got to help them out more. Some of those zero looks Lincoln saw — we can do a better job as coaches.”
ON FINISHING THE SEASON WITH TWO-STRAIGHT LOSSES
“A lot of guys played really hard in this game. Nobody wanted to lose this game. You saw guys fighting here and there. We got put in a tough spot, and we didn’t respond well enough. We did not help the young kid at all, and that’s why we lost the game. It hurts to finish the season like this, with two losses. That’s not good enough at Ohio State, and we all know that.”
ON WHAT OHIO STATE NEEDS TO TURN THINGS AROUND
“This game was very different than the last game. It was a different situation altogether. We wanted to finish this game and build some momentum into next year. It didn’t happen. The first thing I mentioned in the locker room was the guys who are deciding whether to come back or not have to rally together. We have to put this team together moving forward. Guys who are coming back want to finish some unfinished business. I know there are some guys who feel that way.”
ON BENCHING CARSON HINZMAN AT CENTER, STARTING MATT JONES
“Carson was having a tough time the last couple of weeks in practice, and we just felt like this was the right thing to do at the time. He was having a few issues. It’s not like Carson will never play here again. Based on the last couple weeks of play, Matt gave us the best chance at center.”
ON THE POTENTIAL FOR OFFENSIVE STAFF CHANGES THIS OFFSEASON.
“Nobody cares that you have a freshman quarterback in there; you have to go win the game, and it didn’t happen. Everything is going to get looked at. If it’s what helps Ohio State to reach our goals and win these games, then we will make those changes. We have to really evaluate it the right way and make sure I’m doing it the right way. I have to do what’s appropriate and what’s best for the program.”
