Down go the Ohio State Buckeyes in Los Angeles. The USC Trojans handed Ohio State a loss that stings far more than the final result suggests, and it comes at the worst possible time for a program playing without starting quarterback Julian Sayin.

The biggest takeaways from this one point to a team that looked unprepared, physically outmatched, and too cautious to adjust. That leaves Buckeyes fans with an uncomfortable question about whether they should already be looking to 2027.

Recapping a loss is never easy, mostly because nobody wants to stare at a disappointing performance. But this was a brutal gut punch for the Buckeye faithful. Sayin’s absence had a clear impact on this game, and that was obvious from start to finish.

This isn’t about Luke Fahey

To be clear, I’m not here to bash Luke Fahey. I watched this game with my own two eyes, and I understand the context. There was plenty of rain, the conditions were difficult, and Fahey made some good throws that his receivers dropped. Putting this loss on the backup quarterback misses the point.

What concerns me the most is the preparation. Ohio State had two weeks and a bye week to get ready for this game, and the Buckeyes still came out flat.

And I get it. USC had its back against the wall. The Trojans play better at home, they were the more desperate team, and they have some incredible athletes. That’s exactly what makes a young team like USC so dangerous. You have so many young players that you’ll get a performance like the one they had against Wisconsin, and then they turn around the very next weekend and play like we saw in this game.

But that doesn’t excuse Ohio State getting punched in the mouth physically.

The defense looked vulnerable in a way we haven’t seen

Defensively, this was the most vulnerable I’ve seen an Ohio State defense look in the Matt Patricia era. Now, I know it’s not the biggest sample size in the world. It’s more than a season, though, and USC’s offense could do whatever it needed to do to put itself in position to win.

And you may say, Tegan, the rain made it tough on everybody. Well, it did, and that’s my point. USC was dealing with the same rain. The Trojans’ offense found a way anyway, and the Buckeyes’ defense didn’t have an answer.

I also question the decisiveness of the play-calling. It felt too focused on holding back because of a backup quarterback and the weather. I’m not trying to be Hindsight Harry here, but it felt like Ohio State was calling plays as if it were protecting a lead. The Buckeyes squeezed the game themselves, and there was no sense of urgency. I don’t know if that brings larger ramifications down the road. It was weird to watch in real time, though.

Can this team win without Julian Sayin?

For the broader picture, I struggle to see the upside of this Ohio State team without Julian Sayin. And that’s coming from somebody who wasn’t particularly high on Sayin to begin with. He’s your starting quarterback for a reason. Depth at the quarterback position is something very few teams have, and Ohio State is no different.

Any loss is concerning for a program like this one. But for Ohio State to come off a bye and look as flat as it did against USC presents some serious red flags. The preparation was off, the defense got pushed around, and the offense played scared.

I’m not going to stamp this season as over. That would be overstating it. But I’m also not going to pretend this Ohio State team has the same ceiling without its starter, because what we saw in Los Angeles says it doesn’t.

If the Buckeyes’ season does slip away from here, it will come down to an injury at the most important position in the sport. And this loss proved that the rest of the roster isn’t built to cover for it.