The Ohio State football schedule in 2026 is a daunting one and perhaps more challenging than what we’ve seen over the past few seasons. Not only are there away games at Indiana, Iowa, Texas, and USC, but there are home games against Oregon and Michigan.
If the teams we think are supposed to be good pan out, that’s a significant upgrade from last year’s schedule, one that should result in a battle-tested team if OSU can navigate the journey without getting nicked up too many times. To that end, the games the Buckeyes play figure to be tight ones that will need to be won late. Because of that, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day believes the Buckeyes have to finish games strong this fall.
While talking to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, Day touched on that very subject.
“We’re going to have to win games in the fourth quarter this season,” Day told Rittenberg. “Look at the schedule that we have. We’ve got to be really good at that.”
It’s a message the Ohio State players seem to be hearing as well. The Buckeyes lost a game to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship game because of a failure to win it in the fourth quarter, and a comeback against the Miami Hurricanes in the Cotton Bowl fell short because of a lack of execution in the last quarter.
“We didn’t start the way we wanted to, obviously, but we still had still had an opportunity in the fourth quarter, and I feel like we just didn’t play our best,” quarterback Julian Sayin said. “We all came to Ohio State to be in big-time matchups and be in games that matter, four-quarter games, two-minute drills. So we’re all really excited about it, and we’ve just been building that this offseason.”
Returning starting wide receiver Brandon Inniss also read the memo and knows that OSU has to find a way to better with the sands of the hourglass running out.
“We lost two games at the end of the year because of the fourth quarter,” wide receiver Brandon Inniss told ESPN. “We didn’t finish. That was our fault. We could have won that Miami game. We could have won the Indiana game.”
The defense is also hearing the same message. Projected starting linebacker Payton Pierce echoed much of the same with where that side of the ball’s mindset needs to be this fall.
“There’ll be some confrontations, there’ll be some little bit of yelling, a little bit of guys getting after one another, and it’s so good for us, because you have to play in the chaos in the fourth quarter, and you’ve got to have mature guys who are at their very best,” linebacker Payton Pierce said. “I think guys are going to be ready this season to go dominate in fourth quarter.”
So, it appears, the message is being receivevd throughout the team that things need to be locked and loaded in the final quarter of games to have the season the program strives for. Hearing that message and being able to put it into practice is another story, however. We’ll see if what’s being preached can make its way onto the field in 2026.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State coach Ryan Day believes Buckeyes have to win in 4th quarter
Reporting by Phil Harrison, Buckeyes Wire / Buckeyes Wire
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By Phil Harrison, Buckeyes Wire | USA TODAY Network
