Well, the regular season is over for Ohio State.

There’s a slim chance the Buckeyes take the back door into the College Football Playoff, again, but it’s more likely they’re heading to the Orange Bowl.

A New Year’s Six bowl is likely disappointing to many Ohio State fans, especially after losing a third consecutive game to Michigan, so it seemed like the right time for a mailbag.

Let’s talk transfer portal, The Game, Ryan Day and more.

Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

How would you rank the reasons below and the biggest impact it had on the loss of the Game? 

Kyle McCord — Multiple missed throws including two devastating INTsRyan Day — Playing not to lose and short yardage decisionsDefense — No punts in the second half, refusing to get out of base defense in 7 min drive at enRefs — Missed (two) key holding calls on Sawyer and Tuimoloau, Roman Wilson TD/INT, no OPI call on last driveBuckeye attitude towards the Game — Lack of emotional leadership, treating it as another gameMichigan is a really good team that runs their system effectivelyHarbaugh being able to game plan all week despite suspension. — Tom G.

This is a good question. I’d probably go with this.

1. Ryan Day’s conservative play calling.

2. Defense not getting off the field. Ohio State gave up three fourth-and-short conversions — it couldn’t get off the field, and that’s been the team’s strength all year.

3. Michigan is a really good team.

4. Kyle McCord. I don’t fault him for the second interception, but the first one was bad, and he took a lot of time to get into rhythm and go through his progressions. I thought he was good in the second half.

5. Refs. I have a hard time blaming the refs. Although they were bad, that’s no excuse for the game result.

6. Buckeye attitude and Harbaugh game plan. I put these in one because I don’t think either are as big a deal as people make them out to be. The players definitely didn’t treat it like another game. They might have been playing tight — which I think is also on Day — but I don’t think anybody in the locker room treated it like just another game. Also, I don’t care about Harbaugh being able to plan all week, he wasn’t on the sidelines. Only one team had a full-time head coach on the sideline and that team lost. No excuses.

Do Larry Johnson’s and Jim Knowles’ schematic ideas work together? Could this be why we’re not seeing a game-breaking edge rush as in years past? — Anthony B.

What happened to Larry Johnson’s five-star DE sack machine? Will someone step up next season? Sawyer and JTT underwhelmed all year. 1 sack and 0 turnovers in The Game is not enough to win. — Adam M.

I’m combining these for obvious reasons, but each had something I wanted to address that the other one didn’t.