Whichever team won the line of scrimmage was going to win the football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Miami Hurricanes and the final scoreboard didn't lie.
I thought it was wildly overblown all week long. Everyone and their mother was talking about how the Miami Hurricanes had the clear advantage up front against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Head coach Ryan Day and his squad had faced several top-tier defensive lines this year, and for some reason, I thought that Wednesday night would be different.
It was not.
For three out of the four quarters, the Miami front on both sides of the ball really dominated the football game. Defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. was an absolute game wrecker in both the run and pass game. He finished with three tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and one sack.
The Hurricanes' upfront were living around quarterback Julian Sayin and making his life nearly impossible. On the night, they finished with 22 total pressures, seven tackles for loss, and five sacks.
However, the more shocking fact was that on the flip side, Ohio State's defensive line and, frankly, their front seven, got equally beaten up by the Hurricanes. Ohio State finished with just two sacks on the night and only four tackles for loss.
Clearly, there was a skill differential up front, but the lack of physicality is what stood out to me and surprised me the most. Miami took the fight to Ohio State, and the Buckeyes were unable to answer the bell.
The bigger, and probably more concerning issue with what we saw on Wednesday night is that it is not an isolated instance. In the four games against premium competition, Ohio State lost the line of scrimmage in three of the games.
Day and company lost it against Texas, they lost it against Indiana, and they lost it against Miami. Against Michigan, they actually won both lines pretty handily, which provided a sense of hope that they had fixed their issues.
That game was merely a band-aid on a bullet hole.
The Buckeyes have a major issue on their lines of scrimmage that is not going to get solved overnight. First, they need to look inward to see if any of the young guys in their program have what it takes from a pure skill standpoint. And frankly, I don't care how they match up against 90 percent of Big Ten opponents.
Does Ohio State have anyone in their program that is a first-round draft talent and can block the elite that college football has to offer? If the answer is yes, they better coach it out of them so they reach their potential.
But, if the answer is no, they'd better hit the transfer portal hard and find whoever they can that can fill that clear void.
The same exercise needs to be done on the defensive side of the ball, too.
I hate that we are at a spot where we are calling the Buckeyes soft, but that's what they were on Wednesday night. They got punched in the mouth, and they backed down.
An unfortunate way to end a promising season.