Has Ryan Day restored fans’ confidence after victory over Penn State?

I feel more optimistic about Ohio State’s coaches than I have in weeks, thanks to three major improvements.

In last week’s You’re Nuts column with my friend Matt, I argued the game between Ohio State and Penn State was really a battle between Ryan Day and James Franklin, and while Franklin continued to be exactly who we’ve known him to be this whole time (someone who is unable to come up with big wins when it matters), I’m almost ready to apologize to Day.

I say “almost” because Day and the Ohio State coaches corrected nearly all the issues we saw against Oregon and Nebraska—but it still has a bit of an asterisk because there’s always the chance that’s just what happens when you play Franklin’s team. The Buckeyes didn’t need the game handed to them—they earned their win—but

In order for me to truly remove the asterisk that accompanies my confidence in Ryan Day, the Buckeyes need to win out (which requires victories over No. 8 Indiana and a lackluster Michigan team who still has the ability to give us trouble and will likely be extra motivated by the opportunity to end a bust of a season on a high note), and they need to win the Big Ten title game (which, if the Buckeyes win out, would presumably be a rematch between them and the Oregon Ducks).

Losing any of those games would, essentially, put the nail in Day’s coffin in my book.

But until he gives me a reason to doubt him, he’s earned my confidence back after the Buckeyes’ performance in Happy Valley this past weekend. Was it a perfect game? No. Does that matter? Not really. It’s not that the mistakes aren’t worrisome, but there’s not a single team in college football this year who’s executed their game plans flawlessly.

Sometimes perseverance and grit tell us more than the mistakes, and I believe that was the case for the Buckeyes this weekend. There are three areas in particular where I feel like Ryan Day and the Buckeyes surpassed my expectations, and for these, I would like to apologize.

---

Offensive Line

There’s no way around it. The offensive line played abominably against Nebraska. The o-line was plagued by the loss of left tackle Josh Simmons to a knee injury, and while he tried his hardest, poor Zen Michalski was simply in over his head. The unit’s poor performance squashed any semblance of a run game, allowed far too much pressure on quarterback Will Howard, and hampered the Buckeyes’ overall offense from top to bottom.

Much of the fault for that lay with the coaches—what they were doing wasn’t working, yet they failed to make the necessary adjustments. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly kept calling run plays, despite the fact that the run game kept getting shut down. They didn’t pull anyone out (though admittedly, they probably don’t really have enough depth to have done that mid-game).

What a 180 we saw against the Nittany Lions. Michalski was out with an injury of his own, forcing the Buckeyes to start guard Donovan Jackson at left tackle for the first time in his career, and while it wasn’t great for him to face off one-on-one against Penn State defensive standout Abdul Carter, overall, Jackson stepped up and really rose to the occasion for his team.

Heading into this week, I questioned the coaches’ ability to make necessary adjustments to the offensive line to make sure we could handle Penn State’s defense, and I also questioned Ryan Day’s refusal to add more depth at tackle via the transfer portal in the offseason. While I still think it would have behooved us to do so, he proved me so wrong on Saturday overall that I’m willing to consider his side of things here.

The issues we saw against Nebraska were all but gone. Howard had time to read the play and make decisions (something that was even more important this week as Howard worked through some nerves and adrenaline-fueled mistakes). The running backs had space to run the football, putting up 179 rushing yards on 38 attempts compared to an abysmal 64 rushing yards on 31 attempts the week prior.

Overall, the front five did a spectacular job, and while that is a testament to the resilience and athleticism of the players themselves, it’s also a testament to the way they were coached following the performance against the Huskers.

---

The Defense

The defense had a hard time against Oregon, giving up more points and total yards than they had since the 2022 loss to Georgia in the National Championship game. After the loss in Eugene, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles took responsibility for the struggles, saying he had to do a better job of coaching.

A big struggle was defending against plays of 20 yards or more. The secondary struggled to keep up, always looking like they were a step behind the Ducks’ receivers. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, for his part, could have cooked dinner and still had time to throw the football given the lack of pressure from the defense.

Somewhere between then and Saturday’s win at Penn State, Knowles made good on his promise, because the defense has turned on and turned up in major, game-altering ways, almost as if a switch was flipped.

Knowles commented on the lack of execution against Oregon—this wasn’t an issue against Penn State. The defense executed flawlessly on two separate situations in which the Nittany Lions had first downs within OSU’s five-yard line. Buckeye cornerback Davison Igbinosun made an unbelievable interception in the endzone (so crazy you almost have to see it to believe it).

The Buckeye defense ultimately kept Penn State’s stellar offense out of the endzone completely, shut down the Nittany Lions’ dynamic run game by holding them to just 42 yards on 18 carries and controlling Penn State’s third down attempts.

It was a shockingly good performance from a defense that looked lackluster at best in the two weeks preceding, but I should know better by now than to doubt Jim Knowles, and he proved why this weekend.

---

Coaches’ Management Decisions

Baked into each of the above issues in the two games preceding Penn State was an underlying lack of confidence in the coaches’ decision-making.

I mentioned the offensive play-calling against Nebraska, as well as the lack of adjustment in the offensive line. We discussed Jim Knowles’ acknowledgment that he bore responsibility for the defense’s inability to execute against the Ducks and the Huskers.

And in addition to those aforementioned concerns, there were also the issues of clock management against Oregon (including Day’s failure to call a timeout and Howard’s baffling game-ending slide).

Again we saw a complete 180 against Penn State, and in particular, the Buckeyes had exceptional clock management at the end of the game to ultimately secure the win. My confidence in Day’s ability to manage the clock returned after watching the fourth quarter play out this weekend.

---

While, again, I still need to see continuous improvement, Day, Kelly, Knowles, and Co. delivered big when it counted to save the season, so they’ve certainly earned a vote of confidence and an apology for the time being. In the meantime, they’ll need to continue to deliver in the three areas above to lead their team to victories through the rest of the regular season and beyond.