5 things we learned from Ohio State's loss to Miami in the Cotton Bowl

Ohio State came into the College Football Playoff as the odds-on favorite to win it all. In the end, it couldn't even get past its first game against a Miami team that looked more prepared and energized. In the end, the Buckeyes played too flat in the first half and couldn't dig themselves out of the hole with a better second half being too little, too late against a very good defense.

We were on site for the game in AT&T Stadium and now have time to reflect on what went wrong against a team that Ohio State was better than all year, and should have been able to get past to try and defend its national championship.

But now the season is over, and we're here to give you five things we think we learned after the depressing result against Miami in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

Miami wanted it more

It was 23 years in waiting. I don't know what else is needed for motivation, but it was clear that the Hurricanes had more energy and purpose than what we saw from Ohio State. Nobody wants to hear that, especially the OSU coaches, but the Buckeyes are the better team, and that comes down to heart and wanting it more.

You'll hear the coaches and players point to execution, but at the heart of execution is having the motivation and fury to get the job done. The more aggressive team won tonight, and now the Buckeyes sesason is over, and it's time to take stock in how these games don't happen in the future.

Perhaps the lack of competition did make a difference

Ohio state played no one this year and when they had to they got beat https://t.co/XPGp10RPwg

— #SKOLONG (@golongbuffs) January 1, 2026

Ohio State is good. Really good. But there were really only a couple of teams that could match up with what the Buckeyes had personnel-wise. At the end of the day, OSU lost two out of three of those games (Texas, Indiana, Miami).

Let's call it what it is now at the end of the season. The Buckeyes looked like world-beaters against teams that had no shot at competing, but in matchup games, it fell flat. That's something that has to be looked at, and it won't get any easier in this new age of the 12-team (soon to be expanded) College Football Playoff. You can't just win a couple of games and then catch lightning in a bottle. The program was able to get to the right level last year, but not this time.

Ohio State peaked too soon

It just looks like Ohio State peaked early and over-performed most of the season. They started to look a little weaker in November.

— Orange_Bat (@The_Orange_Bat) January 1, 2026

Last year, after the 13-10 loss to Michigan, Ohio State played with its hair on fire and got better and better each week all the way to a CFP national championship. The team peaked at just the right time to build through the playoff and win the whole thing.

This season, it sure feels like the Buckeyes peaked midseason, or maybe at the Michigan game, but then seemed to digress. It lost to Indiana because of poor execution and energy, and the same happened against Miami here in Dallas. It's a hard thing to bottle and get just right, but to win a national championship, you have to peak at the right time, and this team simply did not do it.

The Ohio State defense didn't live up to its billing in this one

The final stats look good, yes. The Buckeyes gave up 291 yards, and only 138 through the air, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Even though Mark Fletcher didn't quite reach 100 yards on the ground, the Hurricanes were able to put together very long drives and frustrate the Ohio State sideline. A lot of that had to do with not being able to get off the field on third downs. Miami converted 7-of-14 third downs, and that allowed it to win the time of possession.

And, with the game on the line and OSU down by three points, the Ohio State defense couldn't get the 'Canes off the field, and let them go on a touchdown-sealing drive to put this thing away. As good as the defense has looked all year, if you have a championship defense, you get a stop there and give your offense a chance. That didn't happen, and here we are.

There are too many weapons on offense to see this kind of result

Despite the defense not playing up to its standard, the games Ohio State lost this year have more to do with an inability to do enough on the offensive end. The Buckeyes almost lost to Texas by scoring just 14 points, and we can excuse that away as first-game issues, but then they only scored 10 points against Indiana in a loss, and then 14 tonight against Miami.

There's something wrong with the operation of the offense when you have guys like Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, Bo Jackson, Max Klare, and more, if you can't put up more points against even the best defenses. Look no further than the offensive line in the two losses as the thing the coaching staff will need to put their thumb on, because a rushed offense and quarterback is a very inefficient one, no matter who you have in the mask and cape.

This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State vs. Miami: 5 things we learned from the Cotton Bowl loss