COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The despondent Ohio State fans who began streaming toward the exits with 12:51 remaining in the game -- on the heels of a sack taken by overwhelmed quarterback Luke Fahey on the wrong side of the 50 -- surely knew an unfortunate truth. 

The calendar may only read Nov. 7, but Ohio State's 2026 season is over. The legitimate title aspirations that come with being the preseason No. 1 overall team have been destroyed. 

No. 23 Oregon delivered the final blow to No. 11 OSU's College Football Playoff hopes in a 41-28 win that was much worse than the final score would suggest. At one point Oregon scored 38 consecutive points, the first time since 1999 the Buckeyes gave up that many points in a row. By the end of the game, all you could see inside The Shoe were green Oregon jerseys and jackets as Ducks fans made their way down to the bottom of the stadium to celebrate the road upset victory. 

"We didn't expect any of this to happen," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. 

Day looked bewildered and lost when Oregon coach Dan Lanning pantsed him on a gutsy fake punt play call on 4th-and-10 from the Ducks' 37-yard line. Down 14-3 with little working offensively, it was the high-risk, high-reward call that the great coaches make, and shades of something Lanning may have learned from Kirby Smart. 

The dice roll near the end of the first half ignited an Oregon team that scored 14 points in less than two minutes and took a stunning 17-14 lead into halftime. Ohio State would not lead again. 

The defeat guaranteed Ohio State three losses on or before Nov. 7 for the first time since interim coach Luke Fickell's ill-fated 2011 season. The free-falling Buckeyes are 6-3 with games remaining against Northwestern, Nebraska and Michigan. 

Before the season began, multiple rival personnel executives and talent evaluators highlighted Ohio State as the most talented team in the country. Against Oregon, Ohio State looked like a team with a few stars (namely Jeremiah Smith) and a lot of players who could be classified as just another guy. 

For a roster that is among the most expensive in the country (more than $40 million, according to CBS Sports sources), this was completely unacceptable. 

And it is sure to crank up the fan conversation again on whether Day is the right man to guide the Ohio State program. The grace period from the 2024 national championship is now officially over. The OSU coach told his team in the postgame locker room it'll have to "weather the storm" that was coming. 

The Buckeyes are 6-5 in their last 11 games. That might work in College Park and West Lafayette, but it doesn't play in Columbus. 

"Not some place we thought we'd be," Day said. "Beyond disappointed. Understand what the expectations are ... your expectation is to win every game here. To lose three games is unacceptable, and I own that. That's never going to change from my point of view."

The loss of starting quarterback Julian Sayin is a clear factor there, particularly with the last two losses, but it doesn't explain why the run game is putrid. It doesn't negate the fact the defense was completely incapable of getting a stop in the second half of a must-win game against the Ducks. That an all-world talent like Smith may never win the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver, let alone the Heisman Trophy, is as abject a failure as Day has had in his eight seasons as the Buckeyes' head coach. 

How badly Ohio State has looked without Sayin has amplified how little success Day has had in developing high school quarterback recruits. That Day would continue to stick with Fahey, the 3-star prospect, who looked OK in the first half before struggling in the second, and the limitations it places on the offense, is an indictment on a staff that hasn't developed a viable alternative. Sophomore quarterback Tavien St. Clair was a top-five overall recruit and yet clearly the staff didn't trust him enough to play him against either USC or Oregon. Ohio State did not enter the 2026 season with an tolerable solution in the event Sayin went down, and his expected absence for the rest of the season means the team has zero chance -- none -- of winning big without him. 

Day has found himself with his back against the wall before and found a way out. It got ugly after a home loss to Michigan in 2024, and yet the team regrouped and went on a playoff run to win a national title.

While a playoff run is technically still a possibility, it's not happening. Neither is another Big Ten Championship appearance. The Buckeyes look destined for the kind of bowl game their fans will have little interest in attending. The dream 2026 season has turned into a nightmare.

The big question centers on how Day turns the tide on a wave of negative momentum. 

Is it bringing back Sayin for another year? Is it making major staff moves at one or both the coordinator spots? Is it an all-in aggressive transfer portal approach to replenish the star power on a team that will surely be without Smith next season? On both sides of the ball, Ohio State wasn't able to properly replenish the ranks after losing four top 15 draft picks (linebacker Arvell Reese, receiver Carnell Tate, linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs) off last year's team. Next year's receivers room, long the best in the nation, looks respite of the typical talent you expect at Ohio State. 

On a bleak Saturday afternoon inside Ohio Stadium, Ohio State fans in droves turned their backs on what they had hoped could be another national champion. Day, in the next few weeks and months, needs to find a way to give his fanbase a reason to hope for better moving forward. The disappointment of this season casts doubt on whether he can.