You've been there. It’s a Saturday afternoon, the Horseshoe is rocking, and you’re frantically refreshing your phone because you missed the start of the second half. Or maybe you're just trying to figure out if the Buckeyes are actually a "second-half team" or if they just like to toy with our emotions in the first fifteen minutes. Honestly, looking at the Ohio State football score by quarter tells a much deeper story than the final tally on the scoreboard ever could. It’s about the momentum swings, the defensive stands, and those explosive bursts that make Ryan Day’s offense so terrifying—and occasionally frustrating.
The 2025 season was a wild ride, and if you look closely at the quarter-by-quarter breakdowns, you see a team that was elite but occasionally prone to slow starts in the biggest moments.
The Cotton Bowl Heartbreak: A Quarter-by-Quarter Collapse
Let’s talk about the game everyone is still dissecting: the CFP Quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl against Miami. If you just saw the final of 24-14, you might think it was a standard defensive struggle. It wasn't. It was a game of "what ifs" defined by a scoreless first quarter that set a grim tone.
In the first quarter, the Buckeyes actually won the toss and deferred. Smart move, usually. But the offense, led by Julian Sayin, looked out of sync. They punted on their opening possession after a sack, and while the defense forced a fumble to keep it 0-0, the rhythm just wasn't there.
The second quarter is where the wheels started to wobble. Miami's Keionte Scott picked off Sayin and took it 72 yards to the house. That pick-six changed everything. By halftime, the Buckeyes were staring at a deficit they hadn't seen in years.
Then came the third quarter. Usually, this is where Ohio State adjustments kick in. While the defense tightened up, the offense still struggled to find the end zone. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that we saw the real Buckeyes. Jeremiah Smith—who is basically a human highlight reel at this point—caught a 14-yard touchdown on fourth-and-2 to make it a one-score game. But a late holding call killed the final comeback drive.
- 1st Quarter: 0
- 2nd Quarter: 0
- 3rd Quarter: 7
- 4th Quarter: 7
- Final: 14
It's rare to see Ohio State go scoreless through the entire first half, and that’s exactly why they aren't playing for a title this year.
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Dominating the Big Ten: The Illinois Blueprint
If you want to see what this team looks like when the "score by quarter" matches the hype, look at the Illinois game from October. This was peak 2025 Buckeyes. They didn't wait around.
In the first quarter, they jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Jayden Fielding nailed a 26-yarder, and CJ Donaldson Jr. punched one in from the one-yard line. They repeated that exact scoring output in the second quarter (another field goal and a Bo Jackson touchdown catch).
Going into the locker room up 20-3 is a luxury. It allows the defense to pin their ears back. Even when Illinois tried to make a game of it in the third, Ohio State just answered with another 7 points. This kind of steady, relentless scoring across all four quarters is the hallmark of the Ryan Day era.
The breakdown for that afternoon in Champaign:
- Q1: 10
- Q2: 10
- Q3: 7
- Q4: 7
- Total: 34
Basically, they turned the game into a clock-killing exercise by the start of the fourth.
Why the Second Quarter Usually Belongs to the Buckeyes
There is a weird trend with this team. They often use the first quarter to "feel out" the opponent. It’s like a boxer taking a few jabs to see how the other guy moves. But the second quarter? That’s where they usually drop the hammer.
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Take the Grambling State game. Okay, it was a blowout (70-0), but the second quarter alone saw 28 points. Or look at the Penn State game—a much tougher opponent. After a relatively tight start, the Buckeyes exploded in the middle frames to pull away.
Historically, Ohio State’s depth allows them to wear teams down by the fifteen-minute mark of the second quarter. Opposing defensive lines start sucking wind, and that’s when the Sayin-to-Smith connection usually goes for 40+ yards.
The Statistical Reality of Scoring Trends
When you aggregate the Ohio State football score by quarter over the full 14-game 2025 season, some fascinating numbers pop up.
On average, the Buckeyes were most dangerous in the second and third quarters. They averaged nearly 11 points in the second quarter alone across the season. Conversely, their "slowest" period was actually the first quarter, where they averaged around 6.5 points. For a team that finished 12-2, that’s a bit of a slow-burn strategy.
Interestingly, the defense was most "leaky" in the fourth quarter. Now, some of that is "garbage time" points allowed when the second and third strings are in, but in games like the Big Ten Championship against Indiana (a 13-10 loss), the inability to find any points in the final fifteen minutes was the dagger.
How to Use This Info for Next Season
If you're a bettor or just a die-hard fan trying to win an argument at the bar, keep these takeaways in mind.
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First, watch the first two drives. If Ohio State scores on both, the "Over" is almost a lock because they tend to snowball. If they struggle in the first quarter, don't panic. The second quarter is statistically their strongest.
Second, the "Jeremiah Smith Factor" usually peaks in the third quarter. That’s when defensive coordinators try to shift their coverage to stop the run, leaving the superstar sophomore in one-on-one situations.
To truly track the progress of this team, don't just look at the win-loss column. Look at the quarter-by-quarter consistency. A team that can put up 7+ points in every single quarter is almost impossible to beat. The 2025 Buckeyes did that in 10 of their 14 games. The four they didn't? Those were the ones that came down to the wire—or ended in a loss.
For the most accurate, live updates during the 2026 season, make sure you're checking the official NCAA box scores or the Ohio State Athletics site immediately after kickoff. The trends for the next National Championship run will start in the very first quarter of Week 1.
To get ahead for the upcoming 2026 season, start by analyzing the returning starters in the offensive line, as their ability to protect the quarterback directly correlates with those high-scoring second quarters we saw last year. Check the spring game stats specifically for "red zone efficiency by quarter" to see if the slow-start habit is being addressed.