I saw both coach fail and what you are saying here. It was coach fail to call for that last snap of the half. That was very WTF. It was coach fail to not sit Ewers in the 3rd and let Card dink and dunk with short passes just to throw OSU D off. He isn't all world but he would have been a change that would make their D uncertain. They were keying on the run and it wasn't going anywhere. If Card had made some short throws, it might have opened the run game up. But even if he had done that with Ewers, it might have helped settle him into the game. I don't know but they don't pay me to figure shit out and it is on a coach when he doesn't change shit up to help his team.
A tentative team performing like you are talking about needs a coach who will talk them out of their tepidassness and get them to perform what they know...what is muscle memory shit. That didn't happen and I say it is on both coaches and players.