2022 — 43 Yards Short of Georgia

Ohio State went 11-2, lost to Michigan in Columbus for the second straight year, earned a CFP semifinal berth, and fell to Georgia 42-41 on a missed 50-yard field goal in the final seconds.

Record 11-2
Final Result CFP Appearance
AP Final #4 post-bowls
SP+ +14.8 last-week
Era The Day Era
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
W vs ND 21-10 W vs Arka Sta 45-12 W vs Toledo 77-21 W vs Wiscon 52-21 W vs Rutgers 49-10 W @ Mich St 49-20 W vs Iowa 54-10 W @ Penn St 44-31 W @ Northw 21-7 W vs Indiana 56-14 W @ Maryland 43-30 L vs Michigan 23-45 L @ Georgia 41-42 CFP

Who carried it

Season leaders, 2022.

Defining Moments
The Inflection

The Game, November 26. Michigan 45, Ohio State 23. The first back-to-back loss to Michigan of the Day era; the loss the committee weighed when placing Ohio State at #4 in the CFP field. The Buckeyes backed into the bracket.

The Ascension

CFP Semifinal, Peach Bowl, December 31. C.J. Stroud threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns against the best defense in the country. The Buckeyes led 38-24 at one point; Noah Ruggles's career as the kicker came down to the final possession.

The Near-Miss

Georgia 42, Ohio State 41. Ruggles's 50-yard field goal with 3 seconds left missed wide left. The second-closest CFP semifinal in the format's history. The Georgia title run's tightest game.

"Forty-three yards. That is what stayed in my head."
— Columbus voice, post-game · December 31, 2022· synthesized
What It Meant

2022 is the chapter the Day era spent two years answering. An 11-2 season with a Michigan loss and a CFP semifinal on a missed field goal is a season where the program's argument and its result diverged by one kick. The Stroud performance against the Georgia defense became the scouting argument for his NFL draft position; it also became the recruiting argument for Ohio State's 2023 and 2024 classes. The chapter's legacy is not the loss. It is the proof-of-concept that the Day scheme could hang with the era's defensive-identity program for four quarters. The 2024 title was built on the template 2022 laid down.