Ohio State Football: 5 Things We Learned from the Gator Bowl

The Ohio State Buckeyes (6-7, 3-5 Big Ten) fell to the Florida Gators (7-6, 3-5 SEC) by a score of 24-17 in this year's TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl.

This is the first time since 1988 that OSU has finished a campaign with a losing season.

Urban Meyer is officially the head coach after the loss. Interim coach Luke Fickell was given the nod to lead the team through the postseason while Meyer took care of recruiting responsibilities.

Fickell will go back to his old job as co-defensive coordinator, this time alongside of Everett Withers.

Here are five things we learned while watching the Gator Bowl.

Ohio State Needs More Playmakers

Ohio State possessed a lot of young, raw talent this season with little on-the-field leadership from the more experienced group. That said, the Buckeyes need more than just a few stud athletes to step up and be playmakers in 2012.

Braxton Miller was a non-factor for most of the game, exempting the final drive when Florida was playing a prevent defense. The true freshman quarterback was held to 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) passing for 162 yards and two touchdowns. He ran the ball 15 times for 20 yards and was sacked on six different occasions.

Senior running back Dan Herron averaged 6.8 yards per carry, but was limited to just 12 carries. He also had four catches for 11 yards.

Senior wide receiver DeVier Posey had five catches for 38 yards and a touchdown, but had a costly fumble in Florida territory.

The Buckeyes converted just 2-of-10 (20 percent) on third down and had over 10 plays that went for negative yardage.

Speed Kills

Have you ever heard the never-ending saying that "speed kills"? Well, SEC speed kills.

Ohio State's defense and special teams looked completely overmatched in the Gator Bowl, unable to contain some of Florida's best legs on the field.

Senior tailback Chris Rainey rushed for 71 yards off 16 carries (4.4 ypc) and had three catches for 31 yards. Jeff Demps and Trey Burton combined for 11 carries and 53 yards on the ground (4.8 ypc).

More notably, Florida's Andre Debose flew down the field untouched for a Gator Bowl record 99-yard kick return touchdown. This gave the Gators a 14-7 lead and changed the momentum of the game.

Special Teams Needs to Be a Huge Focal Point This Offseason

OK, so most of us already knew this, but Ohio State's special teams are just plain awful.

Minus the fact that punter Ben Buchanan had a solid season and kicker Drew Basil made 16-of-19 (84.1 percent) field goal attempts, the unit has a whole did not perform up to par.

Miscues haunted the Buckeyes throughout the year, but none more detrimental than those conceived in the Gator Bowl.

A kick return touchdown and blocked punt gave Florida an extra 14 points, which proved to be the difference in a one-score game.

The Offensive Line Is in Trouble

If you watched the Gator Bowl, you saw just how putrid Ohio State's offensive line can be at times. It allowed Braxton Miller to be sacked six times off 23 pass attempts.

I won't credit all six sacks to the offensive line, because I did notice Miller holding on to the ball too long a few different times. Still, it struggled—just as it did all year—which is a bad sign for the Buckeyes.

They will be losing senior center (and team captain) Mike Brewster, senior right tackle J.B. Shugarts, and first-round talent Mike Adams at the left tackle position.

None had outstanding seasons, but all were a huge part to the offensive line and it will be hard to replace them.

Braxton Miller Has a Lot of Growing Up to Do

As I stated earlier, statistically, he had a good game through the air. Miller completed over 78 percent of his passes and threw two touchdowns.

However, his offense performed poorly on third down, as it converted just 2-of-10 (20 percent). Miller played a big role with this problem, as he was seen holding on to the ball too long and taking untimely sacks.

He also showed a lot of indecision and overthrew two potential touchdown passes, one that included a wide open DeVier Posey in the end zone.

After rushing for at least 100 yards in three out of his last four games, Miller was held to 20 yards off 15 carries (1.3 ypc).

The true freshman has a bright future ahead of him, especially with a quarterback-friendly coach like Urban Meyer taking over. Still, he has a lot of work to do to get there, and will need to dedicate the offseason to making strides for improvement.

Just as everyone else on the roster should do.