There is such a thing as too much time off.
Just ask Ohio State after its 24–14 loss to Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday. It’s the same story as Oregon, Georgia, Arizona State, and Boise State last season.
Teams with byes in the College Football Playoff face a serious disadvantage with rust, which refers to a decline in players’ ability that comes with less practice time. The opposing teams are fresh off game action in first-round contests less than two weeks beforehand, and it has shown seven times out of eight.
Ohio State had 25 days off, and last year’s conference champions with byes had similarly long breaks between the conference championship weekend and the quarterfinal round. Victims now include the defending national champion, a team that was a field goal short of a perfect regular season and Big Ten championship.
Ohio State experienced the giving end of that last year by thrashing an unbeaten Big Ten champion Oregon team in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl. Oregon previously edged Ohio State in their regular season matchup in 2024.
Nothing came up roses in the first half for the Buckeyes on Wednesday in Dallas. Miami put Ohio State in a 14–0 hole, and the Buckeyes couldn’t weather the storm against the Hurricanes in the second half.
While Miami has an elite defense and an unbeaten record against ranked teams, the Hurricanes also lost Atlantic Coast Conference games and failed to make the conference championship game. The Hurricanes came into Wednesday’s game with a lot of momentum from a big win over Texas A&M in the first round.
“Well, I felt like it took us a while to get into the rhythm of the game. I thought we did coming out of the second half,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day told reporters afterward. “And by then, it was going to take a very, very efficient second half to win the game, being down 14–0. But I felt like at that point, we got into a rhythm. And when we had that drive there where we took a shot, it was incomplete.
“And the next play was a hold that got us way behind the chains, and that was the drive that we needed to go win the game,” Day continued. “And when you have a start the way that we did, you put yourself at risk of having to be really darn near perfect in the second half to go win the game.”
Ohio State only outscored Miami 14–10 in the second half, but the Hurricanes forced a turnover late to seal the game. The Hurricanes looked in full control early against a Buckeyes team that hardly gave up 14 points all season.
“So, we put ourselves behind the eight ball. We worked really hard during the last three weeks leading up to this game to come out of the gates and win the first quarter, win the first half, be ready to go,” Day said. “I thought we had an excellent plan on that in what we did. I think the guys bought into it. But at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done, and that starts with me and goes down from there.
“So I take responsibility for not getting the guys ready. And as you know, we spent an inordinate amount of time putting the plan together to get everybody ready to go play in that first half, and we didn’t win the first half,” Day added. “So, you know, we’ve got to figure out why that was and learn from it moving forward.”
Ohio State may not have to worry, as the College Football Playoff committee could review the setup if this trend continues. While last season’s conference champions with byes all fell, Boise State is a Group of Five team, and Arizona State wasn’t one of the top four teams last season.
Only Indiana broke the trend on Thursday, with a 38–3 demolition of Alabama in the Rose Bowl. Otherwise, Georgia and Texas Tech followed the trend of top-four seeds falling short on Thursday.
