EUGENE, Ore. – Will Howard couldn't believe it.

As he slipped and gave what he thought was Jayden Fielding's field goal attempt to win, Howard heard the whistle. He looked at the clock and saw that the time was up. He threw the ball downfield and rested his head in his hands as Oregon fans stormed the field around him.

The game was over. Fielding didn't get a chance to kick and the Buckeyes went home after losing Saturday's classic top-three matchup 32-31.

Howard sat on the floor, still in disbelief, thinking he went down in time.

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“I don’t think I have,” he said. “I focused on getting us into field goal range. … I guess I need to come down.”

This game will leave a bad taste in your mouth after an otherwise outstanding game. Ohio State University offensive coordinator Chip Kelly put the game in his hands and delivered, completing 28 of 35 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns.

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard slipped on the final play of Saturday's game at Oregon, but time expired before the Buckeyes could call a timeout. (Troy Wayrynen/Imagn Images)

“It sucks,” Howard said. “A move like that, you don’t want to lose a game like that.”

While Howard will be hard on himself, the loss hardly rests solely on his shoulders. In front of a record crowd of 60,129 spectators at Autzen Stadium, the Buckeyes faltered in the biggest moments and under the almost deafening noise in the stadium.

It's over. 🦆

NO. 3 OREGON TOPPLES NO. 2 OHIO STATE IN EUGENE. WHAT A GAME. pic.twitter.com/pzrROxapap

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) October 13, 2024

The final play was a microcosm of major mistakes like penalties, missed calls, a defense that was supposedly the best in the country and botched coverages all over the field, along with plenty of mental errors. For a team as experienced as Ohio State, this is a problem. These are mistakes that you shouldn't make in big matches, especially away from home.

Despite the defeat, the season is far from over. All of the goals the Buckeyes scored in the preseason are still there due to the expanded College Football Playoff. But if Ohio State wants to achieve them, the margin of error has shrunk and the problems that plagued the Buckeyes at Oregon must be addressed.

Howard knew how much time was on the clock and how many yards Ohio State wanted to gain on its final play. It needed 15 yards, so it called for a flood approach to the boundary with freshman Jeremiah Smith running a dig route on the backside.

With only six seconds on the clock, Howard didn't have much time to develop the pattern, and when a defensive lineman flashed in his face as he was about to throw, he decided to scramble. It was his best option, but it shouldn't have come down to this game.

Ryan Day spent the entire offseason saying that Ohio State needed to “leave no doubt” in these matchup games, but he hasn't done that at all. Instead, Ohio State left things up for grabs on a questionable offensive pass interference call against Jeremiah Smith with 26 seconds left in the game.

“It shouldn’t come down to one play,” Day said. “We don’t want to leave any doubt. I felt like we should have done that today, but we didn't. If you put it in the hands of a caller and you don’t get it, then it’s on us.”

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The program believes it has cost itself its chance at a big win.

“I don’t think they necessarily beat us; I think we beat ourselves up a little bit,” Howard said. “We left some things out there that we need to learn from and get better at.”

He's right. The difference in talent wasn't glaring, but Ohio State definitely made more mistakes. At every opportunity to take control of the game, something happened that gave Oregon a chance to get back on track.

It started right away. Ohio State opened the game with a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive and then got a stop on defense. Star running back Quinshon Judkins had a chance to go up by two points, and Oregon scored two plays later.

“We talk about taking care of football. Turning the ball over there and giving it to them in plus territory was a big play in the game,” Day said.

It was a day like that for Ohio State, which stumbled just once in the second half. This came after Howard took an accurate snap from center Seth McLaughlin, pushing Ohio State from third-and-3 to fourth-and-13. But that wasn't the only mistake of the second half.

Trailing by one with eight minutes to play, right guard Tegra Tshabola was called for a false start assisting Ohio State and had to settle for a field goal three plays later.

This may not seem like a big play, but they were small mistakes that added up. Ohio State finished with eight penalties: six on offense, two on defense. The six penalties came on three separate offensive attacks, and Ohio State combined for three points.

“Penalties are a discipline thing and when you play in an environment like that you can't be overwhelmed by what's going on,” Howard said. “There were too many penalties today, we need to watch the film again and correct it.”

These were all mistakes that Ohio State couldn't afford to make, especially when it lost the battle for turnovers and gave up 496 yards of total offense.

Defense is a different story. A group that is supposedly one of the best in the country allowed eight plays of 25 yards and couldn't find a way to put pressure on quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Saturday's game was the most anticipated game on the Big Ten schedule. It felt like a chance for Ohio State to establish itself as a national contender and ease any worries about losing big games under Day.

Instead, it heads into the bye week looking for answers that have plagued the program. Why can't it make the right play in the biggest moments?

Too talented to miss the playoffs, Ohio State still has a chance to finish atop the standings and secure a rematch with Oregon in the Big Ten title game. But it won't win the national championship until it's the most disciplined team on the field, not just the most talented.

“The message has to be that we need to grow from this and learn from this,” Howard said. “You don’t want to do it like that, but you can’t let yourself be hit twice.”

(Top photo: Adam Cairns / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)