In the immediate aftermath of Ohio State’s loss at Michigan, coach Ryan Day stood by his decision to settle for a long field goal late in the second quarter.

But just over a week later, Day’s stance had softened as he reflected on one of the more critical calls from the Buckeyes’ devastating defeat by their archrival, a setback that kept them from winning the Big Ten and reaching the College Football Playoff.

With just over 30 seconds left until halftime, the Buckeyes faced a fourth-and-2 from the Wolverines’ 34-yard line as they trailed 14-10.

Instead of going for it in order to take a shot at the end zone, Day allowed nearly all of the remaining seconds to run off the clock before calling a timeout and sending out Jayden Fielding, a sophomore kicker to attempt a 52-yard field goal to end the quarter. Fielding, who had never made one longer 47 yards, pulled it wide left.

“I felt like, at the time, it was a good decision,” Day said. “If we make the field goal, it’s a better decision, but when you don’t and you come up short, you second guess all those things.”

Day also mentioned that Fielding had been “kicking pretty good” and pointed out that the wind was at his back when he lined up for the try. But it was on the edge of his range. Blake Haubeil was the Buckeyes’ last kicker to make a field goal at that distance when he hit a 55-yard try at Northwestern in 2019.

“We probably needed to get a couple more first down to add to the field goal,” Day said.

The situation was complicated by the fact that the Buckeyes had only one timeout left after burning their first two of the half in the first quarter.

“It wasn’t like we had a bunch of time to go score a touchdown in my mind,” Day said. “Fourth-and-2, maybe you add to the field goal. Maybe there is enough time to throw in the end zone. At that time, coming out of the first half, I just felt like if we can get three points here, it’d be a heck of thing, but it didn’t work.”

It marked the second time in the first half that Day was conservative on fourth down. On a fourth-and-1 near midfield on the Buckeyes’ second possession, Day called for a punt.

In contrast, Michigan's acting head coach Sherrone Moore went for it on fourth down three times.

While Day reevaluated some of his own in-game decisions, he thought the Buckeyes were well positioned in the leadup to The Game.

“Our guys were prepared,” Day said. “We had a good vibe going in that week. Our guys were locked in. They knew how important the game was, certainly. You live it all year round. But when you don’t get it done, you have to do a better job.”

Not only did the loss on the Thanksgiving weekend knock the Buckeyes out of the national championship race, but it also marked their third straight defeat at the hands of Michigan.

It has been 26 years since their last three-game losing streak in the rivalry, adding to their disappointment.

“No one’s going to feel sorry for us,” Day said, “so you got to push forward. That’s life. And we’re going to do that.”

The Buckeyes will end their season against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29 after receiving a bid on Sunday.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on Facebook and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He can also be contacted at jkaufman@dispatch.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ryan Day second guesses field goal decision in loss at Michigan