3 Ohio State scapegoats most to blame for heartbreaking loss to Georgia

Ohio State watched a 14-point lead fall apart in the fourth quarter of the Peach Bowl to suffer a heartbreaking loss to Georgia and we know who to blame. 

The Buckeyes had it. After a Noah Ruggles field goal just before the end of the third quarter, Ohio State went up 38-24 over defending champion Georgia in the Peach Bowl. 15 minutes separated them from the National Championship Game.

Those 15 minutes were fateful, though.

Stetson Bennett IV played the quarter of a lifetime to push the Dawgs back into it, including a late touchdown pass to AD Mitchell with under a minute left to play. CJ Stroud then put the Buckeyes back in it with some heroics but it wasn’t meant to be. Noah Ruggles missed a 50-yard field goal wide left in the closing seconds to give Georgia the 42-41 win and send OSU home.

Had you said that Ohio State lost in the College Football Playoff semifinal, my guess would’ve been Stroud struggled in a high-stakes moment again. That wasn’t the case, however. The quarterback was masterful. And let’s be clear, the Buckeyes were hurt by injuries, particularly with Marvin Harrison Jr. leaving the game after a big hit.

With that said, there is always finger-pointing that can be done and, as we look at the Columbus-flavored heartbreak for Ohio State, these three deserve quite a bit of the blame.

Ohio State football: 3 scapegoats to blame for Peach Bowl heartbreak vs. Georgia

Noah Ruggles doesn’t deserve to be piled on but his game-ending kick never gave Ohio State a chance

I truly don’t want to pile on Noah Ruggles here. Put simply, the Buckeyes would’ve been in a tough spot in this game and at times throughout the season if not for their kicker. He had only missed two kicks on the entire season coming into Saturday night and had already converted attempts from 25 and 48 yards on the night against UGA before the fateful attempted game-winner.

At the same time, though, the Ruggles kick was about as bad as you could imagine in that moment. As soon as his foot connected, the rotation of the ball and the angle it came off looked horrendous and the result reflected as much as it went a mile left of the goalposts.

This game didn’t get lost because of Ruggles. There were numerous plays on which other Ohio State players could’ve stepped up to make a play that would’ve ultimately sealed the game and they didn’t.

That can be true while it’s also true that the kicker had the opportunity to erase previous mistakes with one 50-yard field goal and his effort was likely one of the worst of his life. Here’s to hoping the young man bounces back and clears this from his memory, but it was a tough scene for him as the clock struck midnight and rung in the new year.