College Football

Ezekiel Elliott goes off after getting only 12 carries in OSU loss to Michigan State

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:02 p.m. ET

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Marcus Hartman

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- After carrying the ball only 12 times in Ohio State's 17-14 upset loss to Michigan State on Saturday, Ezekiel Elliott expressed his displeasure with the play calling.

"We weren't put in the right situations to win this game," he told reporters after being held to 33 yards by the Spartans.

Elliott also confirmed he was hospitalized early in the week with a medical issue and declared he will not be returning next year for his senior year at Ohio State.

He called Ohio State's loss "kind of like a bad dream," saying he was disappointed in the play calling from head coach Urban Meyer and his staff.

"I'm disappointed in the situations we were put in and I wish it all played out differently."

Asked if he felt he should have had more than 12 carries, he said yes. He also indicated he felt the Buckeyes relied too heavily on zone blocking as opposed to gap blocking. The latter worked on a 32-yard scoring drive for the Buckeyes in the second quarter.

"We were gapping 'em," Elliott said. "You guys saw that on that drive when we had a lot of momentum and obviously we didn't see those plays at all for the rest of the game. Those plays weren't called anymore. I asked for those plays to be called and they weren't. It just, it hurts, it hurts a lot just because of how we lost.

"I feel like we just weren't put in the right opportunity to win this game. We weren't put in the right situation to win these games. I don't think Michigan State was better than us -- they weren't -- we didn't execute."

He went on to say he has seen similar issues all season as far as finding the right combination of plays for an offense that was among the best in school history last season but has been beset by inconsistency in 2015.

"We'll have some momentum, we're calling plays that work and then we kind of try to play away from it and try to get cute," Elliott said.

Elliott entered the game with a streak of 15 consecutive games with 100 yards rushing, including three epic performances in the Buckeyes' three postseason victories last season.

"Honestly that's not even what I'm thinking about right now," he said. "I don't care if I would've had 100 yards today, I just wanted to win this game and kinda keep our playoff hopes alive."

He admitted he wasn't sure about whether or not the Buckeyes can kiss their playoff hopes goodbye or if they can even still make the Big Ten championship game.

As far as the latter, Michigan State maintained control of its own destiny. If the Spartans beat Penn State next week, they will win the Big Ten East and go to Indianapolis to face West champ Iowa.

If the Spartans lose, the winner of the Ohio State-Michigan game will claim the East title.

"I got up in front of the team after the game and I told them like, 'We're bigger than this loss. If this is the worst thing that's happened to us then we've had some great lives and we live great lives,'" Elliott said. "I told 'em that we're family. We play for each other and we don't have that much time left together, we really don't. We gotta cherish the moments that we have with each other and we gotta go out there and compete for the rest of the season, no matter what and no matter what bowl game we play in. It doesn't matter, we gotta go out there and we gotta finish strong."

He said he felt 100 percent healthy in the game but described a scary situation during the week.

"I had a scratch on my leg and it just was a skin infection that kind of turned really bad," Elliot said. "I had a 103-degree fever. I couldn't walk it was so painful on my leg.

"Honestly at that point early last week, early this week, Monday-Tuesday. Tuesday I didn't think I was gonna play. I was depressed in the hospital, crying like a baby, didn't think I was gonna be able to play. But things turned around and I was able to go out and practice ... with no difficulty."

After predicting Ohio State will bounce back and have a good performance at Michigan next week, Elliott declared he had played his last game at Ohio Stadium.

"I mean, there's no chance of me coming back next year, so I gotta make the most of my time left," said Elliott, who entered the game averaging 142.5 yards on 22 carries per game. "I just want to thank Buckeye nation for just making this place so special and I'm sorry about tonight and, I mean, we're gonna come out a different team next week."

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