Upset losses in the College Football Playoff will always be over-analyzed, from maybe having a bye is a bad thing, but the simple answer is that Ohio State is not who folks thought they were. For the majority of the season, the Buckeyes were put on a pedestal as being unbeatable because of how they were wrecking teams. The problem is that the majority of those they were dominating are not really good, which gave the false idea that Ohio State was a level above everyone else.
When you look back at their season, they had three competition games, and they struggled in all three. Week one, we saw Texas go to Columbus, and the Longhorns should have won that game. They had many opportunities, and the Arch Manning we saw put up numbers on Michigan in the Cheez-Its Citrus Bowl would have won that game.
Fast forward to the second competition game, which did not happen until the Big Ten Championship Game, and the Indiana defense kept the Buckeyes in check. Yes, Jeremiah Smith got his numbers, but the team only put up a total of 10 points. The Hoosiers have an elite defense, and they stifled Ohio State anytime they were in a position to possibly put up points. This Buckeyes team looks good when they do not really get punched in the mouth, but they got punched against the Hoosiers and left that game looking very pedestrian.
And then, of course, fast forward to the Cotton Bowl, a game where Ohio State was a heavy favorite and many thought that the Miami team, which only put up 10 points in College Station, would not be able to hang with the big bad Buckeyes. The Cane's defense is elite, as we saw in the first half, allowing the team to go 14 up early in the game. The Buckeyes did respond after getting punched in the mouth initially, but did not respond well to the late onslaught when the Miami defense got their swag back.
Miami has just as much talent as Ryan Day's squad has, and that has been the problem for this team when matched up with teams of equal talent. They are not consistent the offense looks overly pedestrian, and in the last two games, the high-flying Buckeye's offense put up a whopping 24 points.