Well written article. It reflects the suspicions fans have about the secrecy around the football team. No transparency about football injuries? What are they hiding? A hamstring injury knocks out a 20-year-old for a year? Caffey just disappears? Dallan plays great and then sits? Henderson & Miyan are good/out/in/unknown? You got blown out by the Blue! At home!
Literally every program is this secretive. No coach just gives out injury information minus NFL ones because they're forced to. Day has been this secretive his entire tenure at OSU. But suddenly because he has 3 losses in 2 years instead of 2 in 2 years it's a problem. Harbaugh is famously secretive and vague in his press conferences & media meetings too. This is all nonsense. If Cade Stover makes a catch on 4th & 2 to potentially put OSU up 17-3. And Cam Brown makes a tackle to force Michigan into yet another 3 & out, none of this shit gets said
I don’t want to be the guy but I’m gonna be anyways. I think JSN had it planned before the season just based on his draft status. Sucks to say or believe, but I do!
With JSN, I think he knew there was a considerable time for rehab in the injury and he factored in the length/duration of his enrolled classes and the timing worked out where he could rehab on his own time, un-enroll in classes and it worked out that way.
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
One thing is for sure - Ramzy is still mad as hell at this coaching staff for blowing the Michigan game (as he should be).
one thing he says that I’ve always said myself, Ohio State has a fan base with very high football IQ. We know what we see and what should be.
Complaining about the running game may have seemed nitpicky when you’re 11-0, but we knew - we knew - something wasn’t right and it was more than just injuries.
I was at the 1996 game, and this game was just like it.
One thing is for sure - Ramzy is still mad as hell
You sure got that right ScarletArrow. The flames shoot out of the page. I am a strong Buckeye, right or wrong, win or lose. But many of his points are hard to deny.
Still, no problem. Just things to fix; problems to solve. I will support and help any way I can and be loyal to the end even if these things are ignored. But NOONE can deny the validity of so many of his points. No problem making a mistake or heading down a wrong path. BIG problem not owning it and correcting it. WE CAN WILL beat Georgia. Never IF we get into the Championship game. We WILL be there. I got your six. But you have to take the point!! Can't get to Atlanta so I will yell at the TV. Can get to Inglewood, and I will be hoarse. GO-O-O Buckeyes.
If your opponent knocks you on your ass, honor the game and RESPECT him. But Gentlemen, no bastard ever won a football game by getting knocked on his ass. You won it by knocking the other poor dumb bastard on his ass and making HIM respect You!!
96 game clone for sure. I hate the taste still in my mouth from both. Now, what team shows up on New years Eve is the question. The 2022 MSU game version works for me.
Couldn't agree more. My biggest remaining questions are 1) When will the press ever ask Ryan Day to his face about this, with regards to being coy? and 2) When will the press ever ask Ryan Day to his face about this, with regards to the 6-0 team not showing up since the bye week?
Do you think getting more blunt, detailed answers, in and of itself, will solve anything? Just because they're vague in their answers doesn't mean they're clueless as to what's going on.
Couple other items since the bye: 1. RB health was an issue 2) sometime after bye, Matt Jones was hurt and has had issues since. Big problem running right
I'll also add, that it isn't just about what OSU did or didn't do after the bye. It is also about the opponent. As the season rolls along, you put tape out there for the whole world to see. Eventually, someone figures out a way to slow you down. And if you cannot adjust and find new wrinkles, every remaining team on your schedule is going to copy cat the team that found success. Remember, Iowa had a Bye Week before the OSU game as well.
They found a kink in OSU's armor: These WR's aren't the same as last year minus 18. If you man them up and get in their face, they will struggle. Once teams started punching Fleming in the mouth, he hasn't even barked back. In addition, one of the main weaknesses of man coverage, is negated by facing a QB who would rather eat a bowl of slugs, than run for a 6 yard gain.
My point is that I don't necessarily buy that OSU regressed. I think other teams caught on to what their strengths and weaknesses were, and then Ryan Day has failed to make changes.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Notre Dame showed the world how to defend Ohio State. Play a two-deep safety look and force the Buckeyes to dink and dunk down the field. Then, at that point, Ohio State has to try to figure out how to get into the end zone once they enter the red zone. Ohio State hasn't changed anything to solve that puzzle.
Georgia isn't really a two safety deep defense but something tells me that, on December 31...they could be.
This is a good point about ND. Somewhat left out of the discussion is that after the ND game, OSU played Arkansas State, Toledo, Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Michigan State prior to the Bye Week. Was the offense actually good then? Makes you think.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Well, they certainly executed well. Sure, the competition was weak, but the Buckeyes did what you are supposed to do to weak teams -- they stomped them early and often. But yes, after the bye week, everything sputtered including the spirit shown by the team.
Georgia literally could do Cover 3 shell or quarters, or a soft zone preventing any big plays, and forcing us to score in the RZ, which we still can't do that well. They know they have a dominant DL that can stuff our running game. We will get held to 100 rushing yards or less. How do I know this? Iowa did. They'll be content to let us accumulate 400+ total yards of offense, dink and dunk, so long as that only nets us 30 points or less. It most likely will work. Egbuka and Harrison could tally 200 yards, and it still may not matter, because it didn't matter against M. That's the blueprint to beating us. Notre Dame, M and Northwestern held us to 21, 23, 21 points respectively. Please don't give me the weather excuse for Northwestern. We still should overwhelm them upfront--and we didn't, because we cannot run the ball. Our offense isn't that difficult to stop, because several programs have done it easily in the last 25 games and beyond. Georgia knows it. Kirby Smart was blowing coach speak smoke when he said we are a physical team. We are NOT a physical team or a dominant rushing offense, don't let the stats fool you. People think that just because we overwhelmed garbage programs like Rutgers, Indiana, Toledo, etc means that we are a good rushing offense. We don't block well on the perimeter. OL can't handle bull rushes or hold onto their blocks. It's no wonder we are awful with stretch plays and bubble screens. Yet Ryan continues to stubbornly call those plays. This post will get downvotes, but reality and truth will always have its day. This team has way more flaws than the casual fan is willing to admit. Also, don't get me started on our secondary which Maryland, Penn State, and M exploited. Georgia has the athletes to do the same--and they will. Who is gonna cover Brock Bowers or Darnell Washington? Who will cover the RB wheel routes with Daijun Edwards and Kenny McIntosh? Who will cover the double move with Ladd McConkey? If Larry Johnson starts over rotating guys like Jerron Cage, Ty Hamilton and Taron Vincent in there, you know big runs will happen, because it happened with M last year and this year.
Young Boss - agree with all plus...Why don't we run wheel route with Henderson instead of trying to get him through the line? Whatever happened to the crossing routes that we DISSECTED Wishagain with a few years ago? Why did we settle on an O line coach who could only muster the 3rd best rushing offense in the PAC12? Why do we keep sending love love to Coach Johnson who indeed does a bang up job recruiting defensive ends but not so much on interior lately. (expect heat on that one!)
The Things I've learned Since I thought I knew it all
You said a whole lotta stupid nonsense, did Frye Call plays ? No , but his unit was one of the best pass blocking and run blocking units despite being full of 3 stars , thats like asking Saban why he brought in a career failure of a drunk to be his OC In Sark ? Oh yeah the guy who led Saban’s greatest offense ever …. Like most coaches are poached from programs that are middling and succeed when given TIME at a better program ….. and Larry Johnson has recruited DT fine … he has grabbed a top 5 IDL player every year , it isnt his fault that injuries happen
Damn YoungBoss....the truth hurts.
I've never seen it spelled out like that before but it's so true. ScUM flat out Said "they are who we thought they were "
This is a bad matchup for Ohio State with Bowers and Washington. Who will get Jalen Carter that guy is a monster. I don't see how OSU can correct these flaws in less than 30 days, Young Boss. Day struggles to score in the red Zone with his play calls against good teams.
I agree with everything you said, YBB, except your reference of Toledo being a 'garbage' program.......nada, the Rockets were MAC Champions and that should count for something and they had the best QB we seen all year, in sophomere Dequan Finn.
Correction: Injure the best mid-field receiver in college football (not saying it was deliberate, though), and then force the Buckeyes to dink and dunk down the field.
Still, Day should have come up with a variety of reliefs during that time to loosen up the running game, which would in turn open up the passing game. Hopefully, he's working on this, or finding a reliable substitute for JSN and a mid-field passing game.
GA is going to pass rush him to get CJ off schedule like the mean nasty line they are...their secondary isn't bad...one fricking game does not make it so...Kirby just said that the CB and safety play against LSU will not be tolerated...i.e. you don't perform you're out. If our line is as big as we think it is better run until we can't....these guys have killed spread offenses all damn year so we better have a damn plan and the kitchen sink should be a part of it.
their secondary isn't bad...one fricking game does not make it so...Kirby just said that the CB and safety play against LSU will not be tolerated...i.e. you don't perform you're out.
Their secondary is literally the only part of the defense that OSU can attack with regularity. Stroud needs to get rid of the ball quickly and not research the field like he has all night. If the first or second read aren’t there, throw it away or run FORWARD and slide. He likes to run 25 yards backwards and that will be disastrous
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
true but the problem is Day only calls plays that take time for the receivers to get 20+ yards down field
Yes that’s a problem. Only about 5% of the plays are gonna be home runs. There’s no way to throw 60 yard TD passes on every series of possession but Day insists on it and it’s a failed plan. Who knows if he actually adjusts in this game. Can we see a two RB set of we know Sreoud isn’t going to run? Some misdirections perhaps. Then maybe bring in McCord for a change of pace inside the 20. He’s probably not the most fleet of foot but I bet he’ll run and UGA won’t be expecting it.
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
Did Day fail to make changes or is the team just not good enough? All year TE blocking has been a problem. That makes it pretty difficult to run the ball when your QB isn't a threat to run. And in the pass game the drop off from Embuka & MHJ is drastic. Teams in the second half of the year figured out quickly that if they double MJH and play tight man or zone on the rest of the WRs, the pass game is not that great. Like compare this team to 2019. 2019 teams had to put an extra body in the box to stop Dobbins & Fields. But doing so meant any combination of Wilson, Olave, KJ, Mack, & Victor were left 1-1 without safety help. And those WRs could all destroy man or soft zone coverage. So teams were just in a lose lose situation. When teams can play tight zone/man on your WRs & stop your run game with only 6 or 7 in the box, it makes basically any adjustment impossible to do.
I think other teams caught on to what their strengths and weaknesses were, and then Ryan Day has failed to make changes.
Then the question becomes, why are our coaches unable to make changes in response? I used think we were pretty good making adjustments under Urban/Tressel. We do not seem to adjust now. We keep running the same things that don't work. Receiver screens, RPO with no run threat, off tackle runs and Cover O at all costs to name a few. Are the other coaches better than ours at identifying tendencies and then making adjustments. What about the "advisors" we have that are supposedly doing just this sort of thing? Could it be that they are doing and Day just isn't listening? I seem to remember a comment that Hartline tried to tell Day something during the TTUN game and Day brushed him off. Maybe this coy thing is just for us and in reality its a "my way or the highway thing" about Day.
Also, Joel Klatt for weeks on end kept saying "Ryan Day is relying TOO much on Harrison Jr. He needs to diversify his offense". Apparently Coach Day took that to heart and proceeded to hamstring the offense
Urban Meyer >Jim Harbaugh for ever and ever, Amen. 0
I like Klatt, but I don't know how he came to this conclusion. I never felt that Day relied too much on Harrison. Actually quite the opposite. I felt like Day needed to rely on him MORE. The 4th quarter of the PSU game was the only time OSU has basically said "We have 18 and you don't. Try and stop us". And by the remarks of CJ Stroud, it sounded like that wasn't even Day making that decision, and more of CJ and Marv deciding to go rogue on an inept play-caller.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
It's almost like we've been playing without the top three players in the running back room since the bye week. Which we have. When you lose the running game in an offense that was designed to be balanced, it really fs things up. And we're still down the best WR in the country, which makes it harder to shift into last year's passing attack that featured three top 10 picks. Sure, the rest of the players are high quality, but still, I don't get the mystery it's all sitting right there in front of our eyes on the DNP lists.
You think this offense is designed to be balanced? I think that is the issue. Day has tried to force them to be balanced when the culture he has created was to be a passing first team.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
I wonder what happens if he just embraces that for the Peach Bowl (with the necessary caveat that he doesn't press too hard to go deep too often against a defense designed to take that away).
Who knows... I hope there is a massive change in mindset.
We already saw what happens when a well coached defense forces Stroud and Day to be patient and take what they give to him. We get toss sweeps to a LB hybrid on key third down plays.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
Yeah, when I saw that play, I thought I was hallucinating, because I thought the guy taking the pitch must be Calvin Murray or Jimmy Gayle or something based on the last era when that play was an effective offensive weapon.
I wonder what happens if he just embraces that for the Peach Bowl (with the necessary caveat that he doesn't press too hard to go deep too often against a defense designed to take that away).
Can Stroud sit in a pocket, be patient, scan the field and not bail quickly. If so this strategy works. Watching him in tight games he does the opposite and locks onto receivers while missing clear and obvious opportunities.
Such an underrated comment. Fields had a staring problem too, but nowhere near as bad when Stroud is under pressure. He’s great in a clean pocket which he had for most of the Michigan game, but dear lord.
We ran the ball more than we passed this year, even with hardly any QB runs. That can be skewed by playing with a lead but we ran the ball the same % of the time (53%) as Georgia did.
"Ryan Day doesn't want to run the ball" is a myth. We have had good to great running teams every year he has called plays, including this year. People act like he is Mike Leach and this is Miss St offense, when that's not the case.
Nah. He's right. Day called more runs that passes this year. That was probably a mistake given how fucking injured our RB has been but it's still a fact.
Urban Meyer >Jim Harbaugh for ever and ever, Amen. 0
Steel on your earlier point of OSU passing much more in the TTUN, PSU, and ND, is skewed a lot by the TTUN game where OSU passed 48 and ran 29 times. I think having RB 1 out, RB 2 hobbled, and relying on RB 4, 6, and 7 with starting RG out along with the deficit does at least provide a rationale for that games statistics being so heavily skewed towards the pass.
Spot on. People act like we can trot out the scout team players to replace all american level players and not miss a beat. That's usually not how it works. The RB injuries have been a big factor as to why the run game has taken a small step back this year. Even when Chop and Tre played they haven't been healthy more often than not.
The difference between pre-bye and post-bye is mostly harder competition, and RB injuries. ND was before the magical bye week, and we struggled there.
Also don't think enough is made about JSN's loss in terms of our passing game taking a step back this year. We went from 3 top end NFL WRs to 1 top end NFL WR and a couple good but not great WRs. It makes a huge difference.
The overall offense is still one of the best in the country by any metric you use. We are not going to go out there and score 50 every game, nobody does that in big time college football. Expecting a blowout win and great performance every single week is not realistic. Go look at national champs schedules each year and you will see a game or two in there that was close/not their best performance - quite often even a loss.
Does the team have problems? Of course, but so does every other team in the country, basically every season.
Losing JSN was a massive kick in the nuts for the offense. The entire scheme had been drawn up around having him in the slot and suddenly he wasn't there before the first quarter expired week 1. Harrison Jr is the best WR I've seen play college ball since the late 90's when Moss was at Marshall but MHJ would be even MORE effective with JSN on the field at the same time. Defenses have been able to try to take away Marv and pray that EE doesn't suddenly turn into JSN and chew them up.
Urban Meyer >Jim Harbaugh for ever and ever, Amen. 0
I guess you can call it lose him. He quit to secure his draft spot without injury. Preplanned, hamstring fine the whole time. Down vote me until I’m frayed out but JSN quit in the off season. Can I blame him, No but can’t convince me otherwise…especially after his mom speaking out saying he’s gonna play, not another Nick Bosa. I love JSN but he is a sign of the softness this locker room has. Watch what happens in the trenches lol.
Seriously what the fuck is this article. Like you said the RBs were constantly hurt. So that automatically makes the run game more difficult because the RBs aren't practicing. The oline was constantly hurt too. In the final 6 games Ohio State played three top 20 defenses and had a game with 30mph+ sustained winds & upwards of 60mph guests. And you factor in that the average defensive ranking went from an average of 45th to an average of 40th (average of 35 in non-hurricane winds), it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the offense was much worse. This article is so dumb
I know team leaders don't necessarily have to be captains, and it's possible to lead when not on the field, but I wonder about the significance of there being 3 of six captains (and one prior year captain) almost never being on the field due to injury. If so, why was no one else stepping up (sufficiently). And was something going on with the coaching staff we didn't hear about, possibly something as simple as the defensive coaches all working together for the first tome?
Somethings wrong for sure. I've been wondering for awhile how Iowa's (or michigan's)defense is so much better than ours with much less stared players coming out of high school. I'm thinking these high 4-5 star players come thinking they don't have to risk or play with booboos because the NFL awaits while lesser stars know they have to work their tails off just to be legit. Michigan knew at the half if theycame out and punched our team in the nose they would fold.
I swear I had the biggest John Cooper deja vu during the *ichigan game (as OSU was failing to score in the red zone and they were in the process of losing the lead instead of building on it.)
The announcer said the uneasiness could be felt throughout the stadium and he was right -- Hell, I could feel it sitting at home. It was like this coaching staff and team did not have an answer when they got punched in the mouth. Then a player head butts someone on a critical series (right after getting a penalty, anyway) and the air went completely out of the stadium.
It was all downhill after that and my Cooper PTSD was in full sway.
There is most assuredly a culture problem in this program. Exactly what it is and what the source of it is, I don't know. I'm not in that locker room, but I'm aware enough to recognize when things are off -- and they are off in a bigtime way.
Frankly, I'll be shocked beyond reason if OSU beats Georgia. I'll even be surprised if it's a close game in the second half, because it seems like this coaching staff isn't good at making adjustments to counter what opponents do.
Now having said all of that, I am hoping and praying that Coach Day and this team prove me very, very wrong. And if they do, I will happily come back in here and eat a steaming pile of crow.
I actually have felt this more on the offensive side of the ball than defensive.
To me personally - the defense has been playing like their pants is on fire.. Even with all the broken coverages, they still seem to play with passion and heart.
The offense on the other hand seems like they are robots doing what they do whether right or wrong. No emotion, no discipline, no care, and it just seems weird to me like a lot of other fans have stated. I do believe this is a culture problem and coming from Ryan Day - but I also believe that CJ just is NOT a leader and that resides on Day. CJ to me - plays like Ryan Day coaches.
Day needs to figure out how to score when the other defense drops 7-8, man under (or match up zone) with 2 safeties deep over the top. The deep ball won't be easy and there is tight coverage. His scheme does not attack that succesfully.
Man-under with 2 deep safeties is essentially impossible to run when there is even a remote threat of the opposing QB running. It is why that style of defense has transitioned from an every down type scheme to only a 3rd and long style scheme. Craig Krenzel talked about it in 2012 during their 10 year reunion, when he was joking about having more rushing yards that Clarett in that game. 5-7 yards in available every single time for the QB. You just have to keep doing it, until the defense gets tired of it, and changes their scheme.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
To your point, 7-8 man drops require an adequate running designed to succeed. I have always been told you run at a zone defense not side to side. Our best running plays against Michigan were running at them with some counters. The next thing is Day has to be patient with the running game if he wants to use it to set up the pass. If he wants the pass to set up the run, then he must run at them with quick hitters. Regardless, I seen some awful blocking in the last weeks of the season in which players like Stover were out hustled to the point of attack on the outside like they were confused...
Outside of the ND, Wisconsin, and 1 block during the Penn State game, Stover has been atrocious. He's gotten love because "omg OSU is throwing it to the TE", but he has been considerably worse than Ruckert, Farrell, Vannett, etc.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Wholeheartedly agree. Farmer Gronk has been the worst blocking TE we have had (I'm laughing as I type this because I never thought I'd see the day I'd be complaining about one of our TEs not blocking enough). I honestly wouldn't mind if we didn't throw to him and just use him more as a decoy - unless our backup TEs can't block either.
"I don't apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there." - Woody Hayes
We have evidence of knowing what to do, but we don't have the same dogs in the fight anymore:
Exhibit A: Northwestern was probably the first team to really challenge Day's tendencies in the B1G Championship game. Thankfully we had Trey Sermon and were able to punish them for trying to take away our pass.
Exhibit B: Almost every defense has started to try to make us dink and dunk our way down the field anymore... How has Day adjusted? Trying to tire out defenses using stretch zones and bubble screens to make them defend the whole field... Problem is that we don't stick with it or put enough time in making it creative enough that defenses are NOT convinced we will stick with it. Like everyone and their grandmothers know that Day loves to live off of big plays that take time to develop. It just doesn't help that we can keep defenses honest anymore without an effective run game.
"I don't apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there." - Woody Hayes
Not sure if there is a note of suspicion about JSNs injury. I can say I have been there and a hamstring is everything and all that has been reported. In my own case, it occurred during a baseball game. The pain felt like a hot poker was rammed deep into my crotch. It took the better part of a week before I could walk without looking like an old west gunslinger. The day after, I did manage to climb the steps of LSU's death valley and watch the Bucks tie the Tigers (which was a joy).
It was at that point I decided to resume my daily 3-mile runs. However, my hammie said, "not so fast there Bucko". I slowed and ended up walking back the 50 yards or so I managed to run. Ahhh, I'll just give this a bit more time. Right?
After a conservative 2-3 months (and with an abundance of stretching), I resumed my daily run. About two blocks later, BAM!!! I was right back to square one. This time I hobbled back two blocks.
In the end, it took about six months of personal therapy and careful exercise. My heart goes out to JSN. Hamstring injuries suck.
Jim "DooDah" Day
"If I were giving a young man advice as to how he might succeed in life, I would say to him, pick out a good father and mother, and begin life in Ohio.” --Wilbur Wright, 1910
The suspicion comes from the national media reporting things in a different vein that the local beat. Todd McShay, et al, create the confusion through what could be considered irresponsible click bait reporting.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
The "suspicion" comes from Day's and staff's lack of transparency. What has the local beat reported exactly? He's week to week, week to week, week to week.....totally unnecessary. Day created this drama, not the national media.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
This x 1000. Day continuing to speak about it early on, with "expected to play", "day by day", and BS about taking him out of the Iowa game because of the "pitch count" didn't help matters.
Anyone with eyes could see something was off, and Day going dead silent after the bye was very telling. JSN was done.
There are three different types of people in the world.....those who can count, and those who cannot.
A possible explanation is that TTUN is a better team (more complete at least) and that is the reason the Buckeyes lost. Buckeyes remind me of the chip Kelly Oregon ducks. Everyone drooling over their offense and tempo until they played a tough team like the Buckeyes or any top tier SEC team. Flash and no substance.
Having said that the games need to be played and yes any game can be won with flashy talent like the Bucks have. There is a chance and it has a decent probability of happening
"A possible explanation is that TTUN is a better team (more complete at least) and that is the reason the Buckeyes lost. Buckeyes remind me of the chip Kelly Oregon ducks. Everyone drooling over their offense and tempo until they played a tough team like the Buckeyes or any top tier SEC team. Flash and no substance."
Well-said, as much as it pains me to admit. If your offense loses its mojo in the face of adversity, it isn't much of an offense.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
Come to think of it, it really took JSN having a performance for the ages in last year's Rose Bowl to overcome that adversity, and he hasn't been here this year.
TTUN is definitely more disciplined. They also have an identity as a team. They are going to run the ball no matter what. A lot of teams are now geared to stop the passing offenses that are now seen in college football. That puts its defense at a disadvantage. The biggest difference: Ohio State can play with the big boys of college football while TTUN will continue to get curb stomped because the SEC teams will stuff a one dimensional running team.
We will see if they can hang with the 'big boys'. Besides one victory over Clemson, I see no evidence of Ryan Day having the ability to beat teams with equal or more talent.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
Make clutch plays against good teams and all this goes away. I'll root for OSU until the day I die regardless of rank or record. It's in my blood. It has been odd to watch opportunities get missed by tremendously talented players when the stress level is high. Plays are there to be made but our guys have been missing too many of them. That is the only difference I see over the last two seasons. Conversely, our toughest opponent(s) seem to shine under that pressure (also different from years past). We need to get back to playing with DISCIPLINED violence. Execute at a high level when the light is brightest. We are more than capable of winning 2 more games this season if they do this.
"Everyone has a plan, 'til they get punched in the mouth."
One more from the peanut gallery: Tight End play has stunk since the bye week, yes that included Farmer Gronk. In most of the post-bye week games we have had trouble running the ball in short yardage. It seems like whenever the TEs come down the line to block on the edge, one of them misses. Gee Scott, Mitch Rossi, Cade Stover all have been whipped on the edges. Every time the RBs run wide and get tackled, look for that one missing block. Similar with the Bubble screens on the edge.
The Ohio State University - "Haters love us!"
Baskins and Robbins? Nah, Haskins and Dobbins - KannonMic
I don't quite remember when Stover appeared with the brace on his right elbow but it seemed that his play has been affected since that time. Someone better versed might have seen something different.
The brace is a range of motion brace, meaning it will not allow the elbow to become fully extended. So yes that could negatively impact his blocking. However, most of the complaints have been with how slow he's been to fire off the ball. Seems confused at times. His roll on inside zone plays, is to seal the backside. He's been burnt several times on those. On the infamous 3rd down toss to Chip, the play would've gone for 20 yards if Cade made the block.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
The way reporting of injuries has been handled, they would be better off being truthful instead of vague. I compare this to scum's reporting of the Corum injury - you pretty much knew where he stood as soon as the injury happened - and I think fans - and players - appreciate it. To me there is nothing worse than an injury announcement making the player look bad or have to constantly defend himself (Henderson).
The identity of the team has gotten so unclear - I'm not sure anyone - including the coaches - knows what they are trying to be. Seems like we just call random plays on offense and we stopped making meaningful adjustments. I've seen this more on the offensive side of the ball and thought the defense was doing ok but then the lack of adjustment by the D in the scum game was headscratching.
Michigan literally said nothing about Corum's injury. The fuck are you talking about. Harbaugh was literally as vague as Day has always been. Gus Johnson even joked on the Rich Eisen show that Harbaugh in the production meetings always says "the players who are healthy will play. And the ones who are hurt won't" when talking about injuries. He gives zero information out
We were getting injury reports daily leading up to the game on Corum? May have been speculation but it was VERY accurate. That's the F I'm talking about.
No the hell we weren't. The entire week literally no one knew what his status was gonna be. All we knew was he had a knee injury, which everyone could see just from the video. Michigan was even so unsure that he ran twice vs us but was then pulled because he just couldn't cut
There is no doubt in my mind at this point, that OSU is thoroughly being outcoached on both sides of the ball. TTUN is doing more with less. A lot of it is their DC in my opinion, who might be Harbaugh's best hire ever. There is little doubt in my mind that sign-stealing is part of the equation (second half dominance following "adjustments"), but even if that's the case, they're outsmarting us. OSU should have caught on to that and planned accordingly.
Some of it is on the players too (secondary in particular), but Day and Knowles need to do some soul-searching in the offseason. Georgia offers an immediate distraction and chance at righting the ship to some degree, but it may end up just further exposing the weaknesses. We'll see. I'll be pulling hard for the Bucks no matter what, even if I'm also hoping for changes to be made.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
All due respect, 15, but where is it "less" with TTUN? Perhaps the playoff will settle this once and for all, but for now, I have tossed out the notion of our talent advantage vs. Michigan. Outside of the QB and WR rooms, (LBs and DEs are even) I submit that advantage no longer exists. Hell, Ruggles is as good as we've had since Nugent -- and their guy is the f-ing Groza winner. Their O and D lines have battled ours to a draw or at times, beaten them up considerably. Their DBs vs. ours....do we want to go there?
IF....it is coaching, then we are seeing a generationally or maybe historically bad example of it, but for now, I refuse to write it off that quickly or so easily. All that aside.....a lot can be "made good" on NYE.
I agree that there isn't a significant talent disparity overall, but if you're just going off of recruiting rankings for starters, I'd imagine you'd have to give OSU the advantage (I'm too lazy to do the work required to defend this). But to your point, that obviously doesn't tell the whole story. Many a 3 star has proven to be more gifted in relation to his peers than initially judged by "professional" starhanderouters as Stxbucks calls them. And some 5 stars are busts. It's reality. And development also matters.
But if the talent is roughly equated and OSU is getting beat handily on the field, how is coaching not at least a significant contributor? Like, if the players are about the same caliber and one team is way better, what gives? Gotta be coaching and prep, right? What else do you chalk it up to?
My personal opinion is that Day is still learning and has not built a resilient, reliable offense. It's feast or famine- either explosive and impressive (relying heavily on NFL throws to NFL receivers) or completely stagnant and immensely frustrating. TTUN is quite the opposite- they execute simple things to dang near perfection and are remarkably efficient. They chip away until the dam breaks. It's not as fun but it works. Day needs to hire an outsider OC in my opinion and hand over the keys to the offense with the understanding that he'll still be heavily involved in the pass game and QB development.
On defense, Knowles is super experienced but there's no denying that he didn't have his best day against TTUN, which kinda sucks cause that's one of the main reasons he was brought on. I hope he obsesses more over the rivalry than he has previously (watching the last two losses maybe 10 or so times each for good measure) and continues to watch over the LB's while also being heavily involved with the secondary (the obvious weakness).
Someone else mentioned this, but I think our coaching staff hasn't been the best at making in-game adjustments. And that's killer. You gotta know when to abandon the plan and either go to plan B or improvise. Take what the opposition gives you and don't force things that are simply not effective.
Part of the struggles against TTUN this go around were also player execution failures. And that's not all on Knowles and I acknowledge that. I hope in the offeason some new, young, talented players rise to the top and we see more dogs/fighters in the secondary in particular. Something I've noticed about Georgia and some other SEC teams (and old OSU teams) that I think we are missing is corners and safeties that instill a healthy amount of fear into opposing offenses. Speed is necessary but we could also use strong, physical dudes who tackle HARD and make life for opposing receivers really unpleasant. You need that physicality combined with intelligence/assignment-soundness to get it done and the secondary just isn't there yet.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
What hasn’t been answered, and is an indicator that something is up in the lock room, is what’s going on with the the RB room? Why did Day elect to play the #4 RB, who came to Ohio State as a LB, in the Michigan game after the #3 RB looked good the two weeks prior? Why rotate weekly the #1 & #2 RBs, who we learned at the end of the regular season were playing with major injuries. Now there are rumors that the #3 RB is considering transferring to Tennessee. Something is up.
SCat and not one f’n reporter asked why he chose to run a LB in the most important game of the year instead of the the guy that had 27 carries for 146 yards in the 2nd half the previous week? WTF?
Probably because the LB looked really freaking good, and was in no way, shape, or form, the reason we lost that game. I was actually impressed with the decision. Thought Chip played fantastic.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
The decision still needs to be asked by the media because it was an odd move. Hayden looked great starting in the Maryland game and did really well as a backup. Even though Chip had college experience as a RB, he had been practicing with the defense all season, while Hayden practiced with the RBs/offense.
Every time Day was asked about Dallan leading up to the game he used words like "ball security" -- every single time. I think it's pretty easy to read between the lines to know what happened at practice leading up to The Game. I know it wasn't Day being completely forthright, but I think he told us what we needed to know in that case.
Yet he never once fumbled in a game, including fumbling and recovering to maintain possession. I hear what you’re saying, but asking the question and highlighting the fact that it was never a game day issue is warranted.
Every time Day was asked about Dallan leading up to the game he used words like "ball security" -- every single time. I think it's pretty easy to read between the lines to know what happened at practice leading up to The Game.
This is actually related to the bigger issue, for me. Day was playing scared. There were opportunities to go big, including on that critical drive with the penalties. When you start 1st and 35, or whatever ridiculous situation it was, and your team fights back and gives you a 4th and 10 at midfield, you roll with that momentum. I know you don't usually go for it on 4th and 10, but when the team has just found enough rhythm to give you 25 yards in 3 plays, having just completed back-to-back 13 & 14 yard gains, you play the hot hand. At the time, even the commentators were stating how every metric says you go for it there. Instead we punted it for a net gain of like 20 yards.
Same with the RB situation - Day was afraid to play the hot hand because of the risk of fumbling. You can't be completely reckless, and no coach worth their salt goes for it just because the crowd wants it, but there is the opposite problem as well. When he pulled the offense on that 4th, he signaled to them that he doesn't trust them, and they played deflated for a time. Frankly, I think it deflated our defense as well - they had just shut down Michigan on two straight possessions. Going for it signals to both sides you trust them.
I've said it multiple times since The Game and I'll say it again: NOT playing Dallan Hayden borders on coaching malpractice. I really thought leading up to The Game that the light bulb turned on for Hayden AND Day. So frustrating. And even though Chip was having success, he gave up on it. I think Day has adult ADHD.
As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.
1. I never bought the “nagging hamstring injury” for JSN. If you look at the play in question it should have been a targeting call against ND. There was a helmet-to-helmet collision on that play that screams “concussive injury” to me. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you wish but I think that JSN’s issue has been brain or neuro-related and not hamstring-related. If I am correct we will see this further manifest itself at the NFL level.
2. Success in the game of football is all about adjustments. All teams have a game plan coming into the game, but the best teams will take what is given to them in real-time if their game plan is not otherwise getting it done. TOSU coaching staff seems to be too rigid in this regard. Game plan not working ? No worries, we’ll just run the same failing plays, just at a faster pace. I lost count of how many times throughout Ryan Day’s tenure (both as OC and HC) where we ran a jet sweep, failed to get any positive yardage, and then ran the same play to the other side of the field. We run play after play of straight-up run blocking for minus yardage, yet refuse to run any type of play that involves pulling a guard or misdirection blocking. Defense giving you a soft middle ? No worries, just continue to run sideline routes and throw into 2-3 deep coverage. And, don’t get me started on a QB who sees an escape lane up the middle of the oncoming rush only to roll to his non-throwing side so that he has to then attempt to pass back across his body. Difficulty factor of 11 on a scale of 1-10.
Until this coaching staff can show me that they can put our talent in a position to win against a quality opponent I am not too confident that success will be had.
If you want to truly destroy a man, give him everything he ever wished for . . . .
I understand your point about JSN walking around with a limp. He could have a hamstring injury that is secondary to a neuro issue. It’s just a sneaky suspicion that I have. The closest comparison that I might offer is this: we all just recently learned that Andrew Luck’s shoulder injury wasn’t the sole cause of his retirement. There was also the added impact of mental health issues which arose as a result of the anxiety that AL had about being “the man.”
We only know what they tell us, and sometimes what they tell us doesn’t totally add up. That is the sense that I get with JSN’s injury. To me it doesn’t totally add up.
If you want to truly destroy a man, give him everything he ever wished for . . . .
The only way the hammy injury doesn't add up is if you're just looking for something else to blame. Even light strains can take a couple months to heal fully. JSN tried 2 times to come back and play. Both times ended with him struggling to run at all and barely even being able to walk while on the sidelines without a major limp. He had a hammy injury and that's all
Keenan Allen has been dealing with the same thing for most of the NFL season. hes fully back now but he also tried to play too early, only played one half, and then missed a couple more weeks before returning again.
All we have to decide is to cheer on the Buckeyes with the time that is given us
The jet sweep is particularly obvious because there's motion that goes across the formation, rather than just using short motions to identify man or zone. Run the motion on every play like Wisconsin used to and (a) the jet sweep becomes a threat every play, and (b) gives the motion receiver a free release.
Here's a take for you all, that I don't think has been addressed:. THE FEAR OF LOSING SHOULD NOW BE OVER.
Sometimes, there is some built in pressure to stay perfect on record. And sometimes? There are squads that are too afraid of it, and it creates mistakes, on both players and coaches. And it's understandable.
Now? The Buckeyes have experienced loss this season. And during a crucial game, no less. But, by the good graces of The Football Gods? Ohio State has a chance once more this season.
And with that? The fear of losing should be over with by now. A second chance, and a new lease on life this remaining season. I think the critics (including myself) should be seeing it in this way: Our Buckeyes, for better or worse, are playing with "house money" right now. And if our program takes the stance that they have nothing to lose, and can "go for broke"? They can beat the house.
That’s why I’m glad Ohio State got Georgia in the semifinals and not Michigan. In addition to Ohio State’s offensive strengths playing well to Georgia’s defensive weaknesses, I also think there is a lot less pressure to win the game. If Ohio State loses to the team perceived at the best team this year, Georgia, then it was expected by everyone outside of Columbus. Win and it’s a major confidence boost. If Ohio State lost to Michigan twice in the same year and in the semifinals, then it’s a very dark offseason.
I think the pressure of possibly losing to Mich for the second straight year as big faves, this time at home, was pretty high up on the list of reasons that we lost to the game. 2nd half the coaches/crowd/buckeye nation all got tight and the players followed suit. Do agree that there should be significantly less pressure here when nobody in the national media is goingto be picking them to win the game. Their only shot is to be play fast/loose/aggressive football. I also think that this is a game that can be won, if we play our best game.
Where I was seeing a train wreck in Days system leading upto TTUN, I actually see OSU as the favorite playing in Domes on fast turfs from here on out. I am excited AF. In my opinion all Day has to do is tell his guys for the next month that we are going to do nothing but run it down their throats for a touch down on the first drive. That will build the mentality and edge needed to win. We have seen all year that passing to set up the run is fools gold, time to switch gears.
This feels like a repeat of 2015 rather than 2014 with the bye week as the point of self-inflicted decline. Ramzy is spot on and articulates hard facts unvarnished.
Exactly what I've been thinking - all of it (love that grandma reference) ... I have not understood so far why Day is so vague and enigmatic in his injury reports and why there has been a solid RB1 each and every week in the turnstile-like RB room (I mean c'mon ... Henderson, Williams, Pryor, Hayden, Trayanum ... and even Caffey ... all of them amazing). I haven't understood why there's been a seeming lack of intestinal fortitude on the team as well. The "grit", as the old-timers call it, is not team-wide. To me it seems like the team plays (or is coached as Ramzy might say) like they don't want to accidentally wreck the Lamborghini not recognizing that they're so much more than a souped-up speedster. It's like a Lambo is crossed with an A-10, crossed with a Hummer, crossed with an F-22 ... and a tank ... and an octopus ...
You don't know what you have until it's gone .... for example, toilet paper.
" To me it seems like the team plays (or is coached as Ramzy might say) like they don't want to accidentally wreck the Lamborghini not recognizing that they're so much more than a souped-up speedster. It's like a Lambo is crossed with an A-10, crossed with a Hummer, crossed with an F-22 ... and a tank ... and an octopus ."
This is both funny and sadly true at the same time.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
The pre/post bye week contrast is fascinating and something we’ve all seen and felt for weeks. Day even said it after the last game before the break (paraphrasing): “it’s too bad we’ve got the bye right now, as things are really humming”. While there was evidence of continued DB issues (see Toledo game), the offense was more than enough to mask the “few big plays” disclaimer we got from Knowles. My suspicion is that some good, old-fashioned corporate overthinking made its way into the Woody during the break and someone introduced the idea of “New Coke”. In what was one of the biggest, and most unnecessary strategic blunders in history, Coke (the market leader), decided it was a good idea to mess with a formula that had kept them in front of their competition for literally 99 years. It took them 79 days to right the ship and re-introduce Classic Coke. We’re 60 days removed from the start of the bye week - here’s hoping Day & Co. are hard at work planning the relaunch of our own classic brand of offense with the ingredients he worked so hard to curate.
As for the defensive backfield, well, I fear we’re being forced to drink Tab soda for the balance of this season. Best to pinch the nose and just chug it.
Good point on the bye week. Baffling. I personally had the opportunity to attend the pre-bye MSU game in East Lansing on October 8th with my wife as a weekend getaway, my first ever OSU football Road game, and it was glorious. We walked the whole campus that morning and took it all in. OSU played so well. More importantly, I’ve always wanted to experience the 4th-quarter away stadium “O-H-I-O” chant, and I was not disappointed. You wouldn’t believe the empty seats on their home side after halftime. Then the Bye week came, and all the air left Day’s program. Again, just baffling.
Beautifully written, Ramy (because I absolutely agree with everything you said, lol). Be careful though, you lost some credibility with THE super obnoxious fanboy here. You know THE guy who will call you a clueless effin idiot "armchair qb" if you dared question the staff or tell you to shut up and go root for another team like some grade school kid would. THE guy who blamed any Buckeye misstep for 2 years on covid as if no other university dealt with that. THE same clown who hasn't posted here since Nov 26th. I sure miss that guy.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
It's really not beautifully written. Anyone with even basic research skills could see why the offense struggled in the 1st half of the season. In the first half of the year the defenses they averaged a 61.5 SP defensive ranking. In the 2nd half of the year the average was 41. Including 3 of the top 11 defenses. And one of the games being in such conditions that it made the passing game impossible so it was purely option football. Not to mention the running back was injured all year, getting worse after the break. The oline got injured in the second half of the year. Oh, and because they faced better defenses, they also faced coaches who had seen half a year of film to adjust to what Ohio State does offensively. And because of the limitations of the team (bad TEs at blocking, drop off from WR1 & 2 to WR3 and below, and a QB who refuses to run at all), the offense struggled to adjust to the defenses they now faced. Instead of going with the intelligent answer of the teams they faced were much better, injuries hit hard, and teams adjusted to what we did. The article decides that the answer is because Day is too secretive that is the problem.
(1) " Teams we faced were much better". I'll grant you that, but shouldn't our Buckeyes have improved over the course of the season also? Where did you see the improvement? (2) "Injuries hit hard". True, but how many programs have stacked recruiting classes like ours? All teams get banged up; our depth should have been an asset rather than an excuse. (3) Teams adjusted to what we do". That's what good coaching staffs do. I'd like to see our staff show that same ability. I just haven't seen it this season, even when we were sitting 11-0. Too many excuses. Something just seems off.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
1) " Teams we faced were much better". I'll grant you that, but shouldn't our Buckeyes have improved over the course of the season also? Where did you see the improvement?
Wild concept. Ohio State could've improved while also facing much tougher competition. Ohio State vs Notre Dame, a top 20 defense by SP, struggled to do anything for 3 quarters on offense. They only averaged 5.72 yards per play. Ohio State vs Iowa, Penn State, & Michigan, all top 20 defenses by SP had 47 points & 5.8 ypp, 38 points & 7.5 ypp, 23 points & 6.38 ypp. They clearly improved offensively even though the defenses they faced got better.
(2) "Injuries hit hard". True, but how many programs have stacked recruiting classes like ours? All teams get banged up; our depth should have been an asset rather than an excuse.
Another wild concept for you apparently. Recruiting rankings =/= depth. And just because someone is highly ranked doesn't mean they can magically come in as a true freshman and play at a really high level. Guys like Henderson or Garrett Wilson or JK Dobbins who can just come in an be borderline studs immediately are rare. Dallen Hayden lighting up Maryland (who run defense was atrocious) is not the same as running against Michigan. And the fall off from Marvin & Emeka to Flemming was drastic. And everyone behind Flemming are either seniors who were just never good enough, true freshman WRs, or Jaylen Ballard who only played in garbage time mostly. Fucking Michigan saw a drastic drop off from Corum & Edwards to their backups. And they have an absolutely elite oline. Injuries absolutely matter and pretending they don't is peak stupidity.
(3) Teams adjusted to what we do". That's what good coaching staffs do. I'd like to see our staff show that same ability. I just haven't seen it this season, even when we were sitting 11-0. Too many excuses. Something just seems off.
You probably haven't seen it because you lack the ability to understand it when it happens. They clearly adjusted vs Notre Dame & Penn State when the offense was struggling. Vs Notre Dame they moved to run heavy 12 personnel and dominated the 4th quarter. Vs Penn State they started attacking the empty zones left by their blitzes and off coverages. which is why the offense started to take off in the second half. Vs Maryland they clearly adjusted by putting in Hayden and attacking the right side of their defense where they were struggling to stop the run. And defensively only three teams had good days (Penn State, Maryland, & Michigan). All of them off big plays. Penn State had 7 plays over 20 yards, Maryland had 6, & Michigan had 6. All but 3 of those plays were due to the lack of talent in the secondary, which Knowles tried to hide by blitzing a lot to force QBs to pass quickly or showing disguised coverages to confuse the QB enough for JT or Harrison to get home on a sack. There's not adjusting for lack of talent. Which Ohio State lacked at DB, TE, & WR due to either injuries, transfers, or just general lack of talent
Agreed. It's well written but a mixture of cute (who doesn't love grandma stories even if they aren't really germane to the main accusation this article makes), salty, and too-clever-by-half. Is anyone still waiting for Jim Tressel to come to a podium and explain how a #1 undefeated team with a Heisman winning QB got eviscerated so badly by Florida that they didn't even look like they belonged in the same league? Good Lord, when did fans suddenly think they were a jury for this program any more than in their ability to stop being paying customers?
Throw the ball to #18. When running, set up the play so it looks like you are throwing to #18. Stop worrying about hurt feelings and the transfer portal. Play the best (and healthiest) running back. The best player plays at every position. If someone transfers, so be it. Bring in a transfer to replace them. It's the new world.
And maybe see if Kerry Coombs has any interest in coaching the secondary again (but ONLY the secondary). With so much talent back there, how can it be such a mess?
Nobody posting here is paid $10m to figure it out. Equating questions we have with actual strategy reviews by the coaches seems foolish to me. Posting here is a fun hobby for me. I certainly don't assume if I had the chance to communicate directly with Coach Day I would say anything other than Go Bucks and if I did ask a legitimate question out of curiosity, I wouldn't expect an in depth and fully truthful answer. The Buckeyes are playing hard and trying to win. Even the greatest college coach ever couldn't make it to the semifinals this season. Enjoy the success while we have it and keep working hard to get better. Go Buckeyes.
Great sentiment. To add one thing to your post - I actually do know what I’d say to Coach Day given the opportunity. As a OSU alum, Buckeye fan, and season tickets holder, who also happens to live in Annapolis, MD. I can say with 100% certainty, that win or lose, Navy football players, coaches and mangers, and entire student body, all sing the the Navy alma mater - to its full completion - at the end of every game. Won or loss. And with tears streaming down their faces when they lose to Army. This symbolic gesture is how internal fortitude is forged. Not some half-assed “O-HI-…” and make a run for the locker room. This is a tradition Coach Tressel started - modeled after the service academies. I know I stayed to the bitter end to sing Carmen Ohio. I’d ask Coach Day if he buys in. Based on what I saw, I’m not sure. He might need to do some thinking about starting his own damn tradition. Forge some steel! Go Bucks!
I bet you didn't see the full video of the post game where coach Day was gathering the players up, reminding them that we go sing with the band win or lose. What you saw was one moment, deceptively edited, and a coach that understands that his life just got exponentially more difficult with that loss. You're reading something into it that just isn't there because you have been told to.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
The program is currently 0/2 in its three-goal platform, with the B1G championship and Michigan game both lost.
Correction: The program is currently 0/5 in its three-goal platform, with the 2021 and 2022 B1G championship, 2021 and 2022 Michigan game, and the 2021 National Championship game all lost.
Those are 3 very different things. It is better to be great at all things, rather than elite at 1 or 2.
But it is better to be elite at 1 or 2 things, than pretty good or decent at everything. OSU is pretty good at a bunch of stuff. When you are "pretty good" at something, you cannot rely on that in the key moments. When the going gets tough, you need that identity you can pull out to get you through. Ryan Day doesn't have that this year.
Last year, the passing attack was Elite. But it isn't even close to the same with the losses of Olave, Wilson, and JSN. They still have talent out there for sure, but it doesn't "suit" what Ryan Day likes to do.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
I was thinking earlier, how these last two years remind me of 1976-1978, we went from being a juggernaut, to not being able to beat anyone who was a decent opponent.
Yeah if you no longer count Penn State this year, Notre Dame, Utah in the Rose Bowl, 2021 Sparty who was 11-2 as decent teams. Y'all are fucking clowns. Suddenly because Ohio State lost two games vs Michigan, the teams are actually horrible and can't beat anyone good
That's just wrong if it's based off time of ranking considering OSU is 6-4 (2-1 2019 & 2020, 1-1 in 2021, & 1-1 in 2022) in their last 10 games. And if it's rankings at the end of the season that means nothing because if Ohio State wins a team drops, and they drop hard if Ohio State blows them out. So the only way to beat a top 10 team by end of the year is for them to end with only 1 or 2 losses, and that second loss basically has to be the bowl game to OSU. And considering Ohio State has made the CFP 4 of the last 7 seasons and hasn't won the CFP they automatically start with 4 losses to top 10 teams.
Also that number is just wrong even looking at the last 10 games for teams that finished top 10:
2022 Michigan - Loss (0-1)
2021 Michigan - Loss (0-2)
2021 Sparty - Win (1-2)
2020 Bama - Loss (1-3)
2020 Clemson - Win (2-3)
2020 NW - Win (3-3)
2019 Clemson - Loss (3-4)
2019 Penn State - Win (4-4)
2017 Wisconsin - Win (5-4)
2017 Penn State - win (6-4)
So they're 6-4 in they're last 10 vs top 10 teams. In order to get 6 losses you gotta go back to 2016 Clemson
Well stated Ramzy. I too was promoting that Ryan Day was holding back against teams they would handily beat as we watched vanilla week after week. I was confident that coach was playing a brilliant game of chess, lulling opponents in to thinking vanilla then would bring out all the flavors when we played Michigan. The weather was perfect to implement creativity and talent. I still think Day has the ability and indeed, injuries have plagued the team. I disagree that we a privileged to injury/medical information unless the athlete agrees to release to the public. No one is entitled to that information for any number of reasons, including federal law.
I still think we have the most talented QB in college football and that running him would only lead to injury, as we have seen with nearly every other running QB. We have also been plagued by REALLY BAD officiating where both our receivers and D line are being held at will without consequences.
I am on the side of conspiracy: the BIG 10 needs Michigan to be relevant given the giant contract they just signed. My hope is that Gene Smith will make a call to the league office that is supplying the referees for the Georgia game to express the expectation that Buckeye nation wants to see an equitably called game. I don’t like to lose, but understand it will occur. Losing because the refs refuse to call a penalty on our opponent for 50% of playing time while calling penalties on us is unacceptable.
Ohio State goes wild against average football teams, but get ravaged by the programs that play mean, smashmouth offense and defense. At this stage of the season, we can't pivot to something other than what we already are.
I am not sure I agree with most posters on some of these, but I do think that OSU needs to push what it is good at. It seems like Day really pushed the physical run game when the fans were demanding it sometimes at the expense of the passing game. I get it, but it would be interesting to see if they went in seeking to light somebody up than how would it work. Still need to run but balance it out.
I will say that the Rose bowl, despite being fine to watch from an offensive perspective did have Utah with a RB playing CB and JSN made him look really bad over and over again. That usually does not happen.
Playing good teams is harder but I want to see them throw caution to the wind against Georgia. Use your best players all that you can.
2 things. We lost to Michigan 2 years in a row by 2 different d coordinators. Also, if stroud didn’t run against Michigan he sure isn’t going to run against Georgia.
Yes, what's interesting though is the way we lost in both instances. The D played poorly in both games but in different ways. One defense got physically dominated and the other one gave up explosive plays galore.
A common denominator though was sputtering on offense, especially in the second half. You do your D no favors if you're not moving the ball and scoring. And Day has to answer for that, not the D coordinators.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
Look, this is how we should have played and how we should play against Georgia and the NC game:
Throw the ball to Marvin Harrison UNTIL someone stops it. When they do, throw it to Emeka. Rinse Repeat.
Don't play coverages that these CBs can't play (Cover 0 or Cover 1 press man...if you want to press, play quarters.
Play your healthiest best players. Dallan AND Chip should have received all of the RB snaps in the game. The week prior, Dallan should have started and played the whole game backed up by X.... resting Henderson.
CJ needs to take free yards/green grass when it presents itself. I don't really need to see read-option or designed QB runs from CJ. I need to see him do what the QBs from Utah & TCU do...go pick up free yards EVERY TIME they're open.
love the article, Ramzy, but just what the hell does it have to do with the title "Choosing Violence" ? it's hump day, I'm tired and cranky, so hope someone can splain it to me...thank you in advance
just what the hell does it have to do with the title "Choosing Violence" ?
It was called “title” until yesterday. That part is usually the last thing I do before publishing. I didn’t know what to call it, so I just cherry-picked from the column.
Rumors and facts start to sound like each other. Choosing to be opaque before a fiercely-attentive audience is choosing violence.
It’s a fitting title. Look no further than these boards after or loss or even when we’re not winning with enough style points. Violence is the perfect word.
Very well written article. To me, intangibles like leadership can be important in "moments", but 98% of football games are still won by talent, scheme and execution. The latter two have been lacking.
As others have said, teams have figured out the blueprint to stopping us - let us get our yards between the 20s ans bog us down in the red zone. It doesnt help that execution by the players has been lacking as well in these moments.
Day is going to need to crack the code to change things up, as it appears to this layman, that he hasnt adjusted much to what other teams are doing. The good news is that nothing thats happened before today matters anymore - its a 2 game season now and a fresh start. So he still has an oportunity to fix it. Hoping he's able to.
The code is obvious to everyone. CJ needs to actually run the fucking ball. Multiple times vs Michigan he'd hand the ball off and the DE on his side didn't even attempt to keep the edge. Had CJ kept the ball it would've been walk in TDs.
The reality is this offense presents more as a checklist than a plan of attack. We are going to try this and that and if it does not work try a different variation. It does not seem to be organized or have a plan associated with it. This for me is evident the way we stand and stare at the side line waiting for a call. They have that whole card of plays and yet we see the same plays. Now some of this is player execution, but regardless, it seems lie there is a disconnect. Of course, when this is all over we will hear about it eventually and I am speculating that it is a QB issue.
It does not seem to be organized or have a plan associated with it. This for me is evident the way we stand and stare at the side line waiting for a call.
This^^^^ right here! CJ stands and stares at the sideline to change the play numerous times, it seems. I understand he's requesting a change after seeing the defensive formation. In the meantime, we get a Delay of Game call, and the defense gets five extra yards and more rest. Hurry the fuk up!! This offense in NOT a "hurry-up" offense by any stretch. Pick up the pace, fellas, if you're looking to tire the defense. I HATE the multiple play call changes.
As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.
Stroud is like the baseball pitcher that shakes off all the signs until he gets one for a fastball. You may have a 100+ mph heater but if it’s all you throw all year guys are going to light you up.
Of course, when this is all over we will hear about it eventually and I am speculating that it is a QB issue.
I tend to agree. But where is Day to pull Stroud aside and tell him to go through his progressions? If X or Y aren’t open, look to the check down. If you don’t have time for that, run forward and not twenty five yards behind the LOS. Slide. It’s your best friend
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
Ramzy is spot on about the O becoming queer after the break. I have been saying for weeks the erratic play was manufactured. Day purposely running plays that marginally worked or ran them so often their D coordinator could watch film of 1 offensive series and figure out all the plays Day was running and how to stop it. Refusing to make any substantial changes or show new wrinkles off of existing plays much less any new plays. Vanilla, predictable, unimaginative. Day stubbornly held the offense back. Refusing to let it loose. It was once said that the only one who could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points was Dean Smith. Ryan Day is the same with OSU's offense. It is as good as he will let it be.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
CJ cannot hear Day;
Things fall apart; the centre is called for a hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Ann Arbor to be born?
Thanks Vball10set for saying this. Shouldn’t the article have been titled “Choosing Coyness”? That word sums up this whole season under Coach Day…reluctant to give details, especially about something regarded as sensitive.
We can strategize forever, but in the big picture, maybe this team just isn’t as good as we want it to be. Maybe our $9.5M coach is struggling to be a Head Coach. All the good teams have us figured out. We’ve got a group of good kids, but no leadership or spirit on the sideline. We may need a miracle to beat UGA.
Does Day have it in him to go for broke? It took Woody going for broke by throwing to TE Fred Pagac to shock the Trojans and finally beat USC for once. We may need a similar miracle on 12.31.
As far as the RB rotation goes, do we know who actually decides who plays? Does Alford as the RB coach decides who plays or does Day have input?
I've been wondering since halftime of the Maryland game if whoever makes the playing decision was either told (Day to Alford) or convinced (Day by Alford) to take out Henderson and play Hayden?
The rotating injury carousel of RB's this season has been maddening. Is the RB playing time decider saying that an RB can play even with a nagging injury until it becomes obvious they can't perform well and then the next guy goes in? Once Chop and Tre started trading injury weeks it seemed to take a lot for another back to get any carries.
half time score Georgia 21 OSU 3 ...2nd Half it gets worse ...Day will not magically make this very talented team into a nasty mean kick ass violent team in one month .....
really great article Ramsey !.... been wondering what's going on/ with this team.... seems so many think it's a Day Problem as this is his (first) HC job. Yes 44-5 is damn good, but his stubbornness hints at an inferiority complex and HC experience in the big games. I know we dont like Hairball, but he's got tons of experience as a NFL player, (14 years) NFL coach (super bowl) big time college player... etc..... (vs Day played QB at sub- FBS UNH ) ..... even took Stanford to a BCS ....... and he was smart and confident enough to beg his brother to lend him an NFL wiz kid as DC, who went back to the Ravens, then he brings in another one this season. Yes he couldnt beat Urban ( who was fantastic w/ years of HC exp). ....... And i dont think HairBall calls the O plays (does he ? ) Smart confident CEO's dont have any problems bringing in talented people to work for them,,,, knowing they could take their Job.... but less confident Execs are less transparent & protective. I sure hope Day listens to someone.... and lets someone else call the plays.... being the CEO of the OSU football program is tough enough.
There are keyboard warriors on here who played football in Jr. High and act like they know football. The reason Day (shame on you who compare him to John Cooper) does not disclose injuries is so that opponents can’t practice towards any one player and is a coaching strategy. If you did not practice this as a coach then you would not be a D1 coaching candidate. The writer of this article actually complains about our Buckeyes using walk-ons as valid weapons for the cause. Have you heard of the Georgia qb?
For those of you who are concerned that the coyness of a coach (who has only lost to playoff teams and Oregon) as the raison d’etre for the downfall of this team, wait until you hear about how far behind OSU is in the NIL race which will play the most significant role in future losses and have fuck all to do with anything Ryan Day does or anyone else holding a whistle for that matter.
Brilliant article. Ryan Day is coy. Team is getting progressively worse. Players haven’t played well. No accountability. Lack of discipline. Matt Jones hurt and is ineffective yet he’s not replaced. Stover can’t block or catch in the clutch since the bye week and he’s not replaced. Our 4 & 5 star corners had zero interceptions all season. Our three 5 star Edge Rushers had zero sacks vs TTUN. Coaching on both sides of the ball has been suspect. Special teams play is below average. What angers me is that we have all this talent and get pushed around by Northwestern and Maryland, get boat-raced by TTUN and cannot play a 4 quarter game. Bottom line: TTUN does more with less, we do less with more.
I love Ramzy’s writing. He’s creative and truthful simultaneously. That’s a rare gift.
I feel like we’re at the beginning of “John Cooper, 2nd Edition.” The best Ohio State coaches were men whose were roots were in Ohio: Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer.
Much like John Cooper, Ryan Day is an outsider. Day seems like a nice man, maybe a good coach. But Ohio State needs a great coach who understands physical football. I’m not sure that Day can get there.
Patient privacy doesn't extend to college football injury lists. This unnecessary quasi-HIPAA treatment began during the COVID season when player availability was deliberately kept mysterious for, well, foggy pandemic reasons which made sense at the time.
Why does the media feel like they have the right to know about injuries? It’s nobody’s business but the player, the parents and the team. It’s not the NFL.
Attaining perfection is overwhelmingly unlikely, if not impossible, but not having that as your goal sets you up for failure. It's a journey, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Besides, it gives us mere mortals something to bitch about, lol.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
Pandering to angry Buckeye fans is a great way to make a living. Not that I'm complaining. It's awesome having a great writer in our corner -- but, man, it's easy to drum up likes when you're speaking to the upset feelings of sports fans.
A lot of commenters, including me, have been comparing this Buckeye team to Rocky in Rocky III and I think it’s accurate. The Rocky in Rocky III was fat and happy. He was rich and famous and living his best life. He was being protected from Clubber Lang by his manager, Mick. Rocky III was soft and scared and weak, and he got the crap beat out of him by Clubber Lang and Mick died. AND THEN APPOLO CREED CAME ALONG and took him to LA and out of his cushy showroom training and got his EYE OF THE TIGER back. That HUNGER. THAT is what this team is missing. Not all of them, but enough of them. This is corny. I know it. But if it weren’t for quoting movies I wouldn’t be much of a conversationalist at parties. Bottom line is that this Buckeye squad has EVERYTHING IT NEEDS to bring home that championship. EVERYTHING. They just gotta BELIEVE. And I believe they will DO IT.
So, now you want the Team to cater to IRRATIONAL fans? What a load of BS.
This Coach and this Team does not owe personal medical information to ANY fan. Period. Was it only a year ago, when the info on Miller came out, that everyone on here was pontificating how they would never, ever again demand personal information on players because they had no damn idea what these young men were going through? Lots of crocodile tears shed, but it appears that was just a CROCK. Now you're demanding personal information on players and calling out specific young men with nasty comments on the Board and pieces like this. Sad that someone who could write so eloquently about Kam Babb a few weeks ago would stoop to THIS drivel. I expected better from Eleven Warriors.
I love my Buckeyes. Always have, whether they won all their games, or lost a lot of them. In my fifty years as a Buckeye I have never felt ashamed of the team, no matter what happened. But right now I AM ashamed of Buckeye Nation. Or at least a portion of it. The IRRATIONAL fans. The IMPATIENT fans. The fans that demand to know things that are none of their damn business. I'll be watching the Buckeyes on the 31st, and hopefully again on January 9th. But I won't be ashamed of them if they lose and I won't kick them if they're down.
Amazing comment. Well done. Buckeye fan for life. These are just kids out there doing their best (unless you are 25 year old Stetson Bennet) so I refuse to take shots at their will to win or effort in games. I love cheering for them on gamedays but I realized years ago I was much too attached to the outcome of the games and that meant the emotions were coming from somewhere else. Cheer these players on to victory and if defeat is the result, cheer them on for their effort. Go Bucks!
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness - Lao Tzu
Never have I heard one coach with coachspeak. They are all upfront and honest about every aspect of their program. Being transparent with the weekly injury report would put osu on an alabama like championship run no doubt about that. Good that all the grandma's know as much as the coaches do, especially the grandma writers.
I suspect the osu defense had much to do with the video game rose bowl, and that includes the 5, 6, and 7 best db or rb playing db for utah. The offense may have looked similar against um if they played with their 2nd team db's as well. The bye week voodoo may be better explained by playing 3 of the 4 teams with a pulse after the said bye. Even tho we all know that it's really not a bye week, it's an off week. It's also just as likely if the schedule was flipped front to back osu would have improved immensely after that 1st week loss to um, especially against that other mi. team. Hell, mh jr. may have had his best game in the second half of the season. That's how seasons are judged you know, after the bye.
I think you hit on the real problem, with a defense that is still evolving after 13 weeks of football. And you were being very kind. Osu had to hold um to less than a td in the second half, one team's defense did the job holding the oppositon to 3 pts. the other didn't. I do agree constituents may find the worst possible version of the truth to be illuminating. This article prooves that.
Killing osu for a player's injury, it is football isn't it? They played well without him for the entire season. He tried to come back several times, should that too be criticized? That's acting like the wolves on here howling about the A&M boosters. Maybe the NIL directive should ask jsn for their money back too? They didn't get their money's worth after all. What was that, about $120,000 a catch? Care to chip in?
Not one mention of a Defense that gave up 275yds rushing to scUMin that master piece of an article, Ramzies is wanting injury reports and answers why? Well here you go bone head, Myian Williams had a 270lb guy rollover on his foot, that can cause soft tissue injuries, Henderson has a broken bone in his foot, not soft tissue, JSN had an almost targeting hit how do you condition for those? You want someone to give you a daily injury report? Have Coach Day write it on toilet paper and put it under your windshield wiper. You know the 6hrs it took to write this comic strip, you will never get that time back, wow how old is Ramzies ? 14?
Sadly, some time after JSN went down, I posted that we'd seen his last game in a Buckeye jersey and got hammered for it. I have no idea what went on but it felt to me, at some point in the weeks following, that there was more to the story than a hamstring injury. He took a massive blow to the head which nobody talked about. Then radio silence took over, but the repetitive we're taking it day-to-day continued coming out of OSU. To me, at some point, this went from a medical discussion with doctors to an NFL future conversation with agents. It has always, and should, be JSN's decision, but this just seems to have been badly mishandled on a few levels.
As for what happened to the offense after the bye week - Ryan Day seems to have become an Earle Bruce type predictable play caller - scared shitless to lose a game so play it safe. Earle Ryan relentlessly call the Dave Right, Dave Left on 1st and 2nd downs leaving a constant stream of 3rd down and plus 8 yard situations. Running back injuries have a hand in it, but predictable play calling was the main killer of its effectiveness. It BAFFLES me how successful throwing down (the 10/15 yarders) was, and yet, they were quickly replaced by Dave Right/Left and that fucking constant dialing up of the 100% ineffective bubble screen plays.
This obsession that we have to pound the shit out of the running game and doing it so predictably, had a serious cause/effect vacuum result leading to the constant narrative we couldn't run the ball, causing Day to get more predictable trying to force it to happen, only to enforce the false narrative that we couldn't run the ball!
The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced
Day get paid nearly 10 million a year to call “unpredictable” plays. You could hire literally any one who calls run plays to the A gap. There is no creativity at all and the defense stuffs it when we need it. First half it was working against Michigan but they made adjustments because they have a NFL level coordinator over there.
Maybe if Day had a NFL level offensive coordinator to match up he’d have a better shot at this. But he insists on calling plays and that bogs down the offense. Let’s look and see where his lack of focus on the overall team cost them in the Michigan game. Gee Scott with personal foul penalty, fourth down fake punt that never transpired because the long snapper didn’t understand the play, numerous false starts on the offensive line when trying to go tempo, guys dropping passes. Of course these aren’t all on Day but if the players aren’t focuses, it is the coach’s job to reach them and get them prepared.
Defensively with the stupid ass pass interference penalties (which seemingly were called only one way but that’s for another topic), pass rush not getting to McCarthy in time, wide open receivers, missed tackles. Guys have to execute but ultimately who will be blamed? The coaching staff. Despite Day telling everyone they have great weeks of practice, who actually believes this anymore? And the article is spot on about injury reports. Coach speak is absolutely acceptable when all is well but not when they look uninspired and bored the second half of the season.
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
Agree with everybody on this site calling for Day to hire a progressive and aggressive play caller. Day can continue to devise plays, schemes, etc., but when it comes to seeing/feeling what is happening on the field and adjusting. It is frustrating to watch CJ successfully pick apart a defense with downfield shots (5/10/15 yard variety) because his receivers are wide open, only to have each one of those followed up by a constant flow of Daves and bubble screens. I cannot stand this mentality that we have to force a running game first... fuck that. Those downfield shots should be used the majority of the time until the defense adjusts to try and shut it down. THAT should have been Day's mentality but somehow he slipped into forcing a running game while abandoning the progressive and unpredictable.
The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced
Coach Day came in as a fearless play caller. The "my defense is based on me scoring a touchdown every f'ing time I have the ball" kind of approach. He has turned into a Jim Tressel game manager, which gives everyone/anyone we play hope. We have an NFL QB, NFL linemen and a multitude of NFL wide receivers. Coach Fearless ... we need you back on the sideline. Go hang 50 on GA, pray for Michigan to bore TCU into submission, then send MI back into the realm of "who was that team that the Bucks beat by 70 in the Natty back in '23?".
If you have ever been around an actual football team at all, in game you realize it's easier to play fearless when you have a lead or your defense is keeping you in the game. For what ever reason the Defensive staff went Brain Dead vs Michigan and ran the same old defense every play, even as stupid as Hairball is he figured out if they are blitzing all but 2-3 and if the WR's or TE's can break free it will likely be a TD. Day saw this was going to be a dog fight so a mistake going for it on your own side of the 50 could be a death warrant, Day was just playing the odds tying to get a score and make it a closer game.
Patient privacy doesn't extend to college football injury lists
I love Ramzy, but this is incorrect. The University is a Covered Entity under HIPAA, and the same protections that apply to information held in your medical record apply to that of the students--whether they're an athlete or not. I know that it's become commonplace for people to invoke HIPAA when it doesn't apply, but this is the rare case where it actually does come into play. Having said that, I don't think patient privacy concerns are the primary reason Day is so tight-lipped about injuries.
I would like to offer an alternative perspective to what seems to be the predominant sentiments on this site. I don’t expect anyone to agree with me on all points, but I would ask that people try not to get stuck on any one particular point they disagree with and then ignore everything else---something that I admit that I myself often do.
For context, I was/am gutted by the loss against TTUN. I had another nightmare about it last night. I often say and believe that I would rather have a four-loss team that beats TTUN than a one-loss team that doesn’t. I think dislike TTUN more than I like OSU. I first became a big fan of our team in 1993, when we entered the Game undefeated and got shut out, 0-28. The Cooper years scarred me in a way that still has consequences today. And to make it worse, my job requires me to live in Washtenaw County, MI, home of the TTUN, so every day is a minefield of maize Ms on blue backgrounds. There’s no escaping it, and I feel like I’m living in enemy territory.
All that to say that I hate losing to TTUN. It crushed me last year and this year. I think we were outcoached this year, and it sucks.
That said, I strongly disagree with multiple sentiments that I keep seeing over and over again.
1. Our team is “soft”. Our team is not soft. It wasn’t softness that led to the big plays in the Game. It was poor scheming and poor coverage in the secondary. We fans should not be in the business of buying into narratives from TTUN (ex-)coaches.
2. Day isn’t great and all his success comes from what he inherited from Meyer. If Meyer was so much a better coach Day, why didn’t he make it to the playoffs in 2017 or 2018, or perhaps most glaringly, in 2015? Why did we lose 0-31 to Clemson the last time we went to the playoffs under Meyer? Why was Day able to produce a superior team in 2019 to the one we had in 2018? No one can convince me that what Day has done in the last four years is any considerable drop off compared to what Meyer did in his last four years or what Tressel—my favorite coach—did in any four consecutive years. (I’m also not convinced that we would’ve beaten TTUN in 2018 without Day’s help as an assistant, but of course I could be wrong. I’d also add that the 2013 and 2016 games could’ve easily gone the other way, for whatever that’s worth.)
It’s incredibly hard to win football games week in and week out. Just ask Saban, Meyer, Dabo… anyone. I don’t care if half of the teams are “cupcake” teams. There is no world in which an NCAA football team today wins every game, every season, year after year after year.
If nothing else, please don’t repeat the blathering of Harbaugh about Day starting on third and thinking he hit a triple. First, again, let’s not buy into TTUN’s bullshit, second Day has produced a top 5 team for four straight years, and third, those are big words coming from a guy born into a football coaching family to a guy whose dad committed suicide. And for people who want Day to “clap back”, Proverbs 12:16: “Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult”.
3. Day is a nice guy but not a great coach and is Cooper 2.0. Being a nice guy and a great coach aren’t mutually exclusive. I think Meyer is a great coach, but his style came at a major cost, not least to himself and his family. It’s no coincidence that he had to leave coaching in his prime twice. He and his family couldn’t take the stress.
And our players don’t just need to learn how to be killing machines, they need to learn how to be men, and that includes learning to be kind and live in a way that one can maintain for the long run. I believe that Day loves his players and is training them for life while still doing the thing he’s primarily paid to do---win football games at an elite pace.
If TTUN doesn’t duck us in 2020, Day is 2-2 against them. And his losses come against better teams than the vast majority of the teams that Cooper lost to. Again, the losses gutted me, and I think Day was outcoached this year, so I’m not happy about it. But we need some perspective—myself included. I think we’re blessed to have Ryan Day.
I’ll close by saying that, for my sanity, I need to take a big step back from college football. I’ve made it an idol and it’s too tied to my sense of happiness. Our repeated success over the past 20 years has made losses harder, and all the hype of 24hr sports-talk and social media has inflamed the worst aspects of the sport. When I can’t have a good day for weeks after we lose a game, I need to change something. I need to I need to invest more time in my family and controlling things I can control. I suspect that many or most of the 11W community is better able than I to treat football as a fun diversion and not treat it as the end-all-be-all. But it’s not particularly easy for me. If you’re like me, let me suggest, humbly, that while OSU football is great, the worth of you and your life stretches far beyond OSU football and whether they win or lose. I need to remind myself of that a lot, so if there’s someone else out there like me, I hope this helps.
Excellent comment. Suggested reading on lessening the effect the games have in your life: "The Five Levels of Attachment" by Don Miguel Ruiz. Sure helped me.
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness - Lao Tzu
Great post. It's so easy to get swept up in false narratives as a fan. "Perspective" is in short supply around these parts for sure. I still take losses hard but not nearly as hard as I used to. Have to remember that the world keeps spining win or lose. What do we really gain when OSU wins? Bragging rights? Your life still remains the same at the core, win or lose. I love watching the Buckeyes, and love it even more when they win, but you have to keep things in perspective about what football really is, a game.
I think you can avoid some of the hurt by avoiding ESPN and the talking head circus talking badly about your team after a loss. Also by avoiding getting into pissing matches with fans of other teams, whether we win or lose.
The beauty of football for me is it brings us together. My brother and cousin drove in from out of town to my house just to watch the Mich game with me, when otherwise I would not have seen them. It was a disappointing loss for sure but when the game was over we turned it off and still had a great day. We will be doing the same on New Year's Eve. How many schools wish they were in the playoffs and planning a NYE watch party right now? We are blessed to root for a program that gives us these big games. We all want them to do well but the whole "everyone and everything OSU sucks and should be fired and disgraced" when they lose a game is way over the top and out of line.
Ramzy nailed it: "They appear to be refusing the opportunity to exploit or lean on their talent advantages anymore".
I hate to say it but TTUN and Jimmy put the game in the hands of JJ McCarthy and said: "Go do what you do best".
When is the last time we saw Day put the ball in the hands of CJ Stroud and said: "We're passing, vertically down the field, on every down. Short, long, intermediate, crossing routes, halfbacks in the flat. Go do what you do best."
McCarthy is no worldbeater but I give the kid credit. He connected on long passes to those grossly uncovered receivers. Plus he can scamper forward and gain yards. He’s far from a polished passer but he should get better.
Buckeye football isn’t every thing on Saturday. It’s the only thing on Saturday
I typically feel refreshed and vindicated after reading Ramzy's words. Today is not one of those days. I try my best to not pass blame onto coaches and/or the players. Sometimes the better team wins, no matter how hard we try to make ourselves believe otherwise.
Ramzy has gutted Coach Day two weeks in a row in his column. I gave last week a pass based off raw emotion. I too wanted Day to be gone. Cooler heads tend to prevail, and a couple days after I had moved on. Ramzy did not, rather he ripped off the scab and took another swipe that ripped open a new wound. It's like Coach Day showed up to the prom with Ramzy's girlfriend from 1996, kissed her in front of him, and then showed him pics of their kids.
It's like someone found a frozen bag of Cooper-era bile, warmed it up, poured it into a bowl, served it to every Buckeye fan over the age of 30, and didn't even have the courtesy to hand us a spoon. Yeah, it tastes that bad, and beating up on the current Coach, players, etc. etc. in hope of making that bowl of bile more palatable is not going to work. At least not for me. Some of y'all need to get over it....like seriously move on with your lives.
A lot of times the better team wins. A lot of times there are internal issues within teams that cause issues on the field. Losing star after star to the NFL (early) combined with losing current stars to injury is a helluva lot to overcome. I have no idea what happened with the current crop of Buckeyes, but it didn't take someone with a Doctorate in Football Studies to see there were issues at just about every single position. Let us not forget, significant change occurred with the leadership on defense AND the offensive line. When change occurs, there will always be struggles. Why was everyone so shocked when TTUN won in Columbus? I have no idea.
Words matter. Perspective matters. Expectations need to be tempered and a good dose of reality needs to be swallowed. Ohio State will lose football games. EVERY school will lose football games. We don't fire the coach for losing 2 games in two years. We fire coaches for losing control of their players, embarrassing the University, or committing heinous acts. Coach Day has done nothing of the sort. All the dude has done is try to piece together a winning gameplan while at the same time plugging holes to keep the boat from sinking. A boat that is seemingly always trying to sink because it is always getting holes put in it, and we as fans don't help by pouring water into it by saying, writing, and growling things like "Day sucks" or "We demand better from our team" or "$9.5 million gets us this" or "Knowles defense doesn't work in the BIG" or "Day is from New Hampshire.." What in the actual @#$@??
Well, we certainly don't have a Zeke or a JK Dobbins or a QB who can run like Fields, JT or Brax could (CJ has a HELL of an arm for sure and is a great kid). So, the running game is probably not going to get us there unless someone in the stable is healthy and has the mindset to bust it up. Our biggest weakness however is our secondary, hopefully that will get patched up some. You have to go with the strengths you have, which is our passing game, we have an NFL caliber QB and WR (Harrison Jr.) and Egbuka and Fleming are top notch CFB WR's also. I think the bucks just need to get into a shootout and hope they can score more points than UGA, as Ramzy pointed out, this is something they could do with all the talent they have in their aerial squad.
The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win. -- Woody Hayes
It's not rocket science, Ramzy. It's a coach who's been afraid to coach. It was obvious that JSN had not been on a pitch count the second time he was put in. But if Day had said that JSN gotten hurt again more people than a bad dog from Maine would have been suggesting that the OSU coaching staff had not provided proper attention to a player. (Would we know that JSN was done even now had he not announced it himself?) In terms of our offense Day has become so stuck on what he likes and therefore so predictable that coaches who watch film know how to defend us. Even NW was able to mostly shut us down. It's not that we don't have the players to do better, it's that Day has not been developing plans to maximize his players. If he doesn't do better for GA we are likely to get badly embarrassed. We can win that game. But Day needs to start showing that he was not born on third base.
It seems the great head football coaches at any level have there own unique system and philosophy. A way of doing things as a foundation they never abandon under any circumstances. Players and coaches come and go, but the results rarely ever change much overall because the belief system and structure of the whole operation remains sound.
Ryan Day had great success early on using the system Urban Meyer built and subsequently left in place when he left. After a couple years the program was no longer Urban Meyer's and became all Ryan Day. Day never had a chance to figure out what he was about because he had never run another program before he got this job. I believe he's still trying to figure out on the fly what his core values, philosophy, and system really are. This is a tough place to be figuring those sort of things out.
I believe it's time to start from scratch for Ryan Day or he's not going to survive here. Old guys with any links to the previous Meyer regime like Pantoni, Marotti, Larry Johnson, Corey Dennis, Tim Walton, and so on need to be replaced with new blood. Ryan Day needs to go get his own people not who Meyer liked and hired.
- Bobby Boucher is the best Foosball QB since Joe Mantegna -
What has happened to Ramzy? This isn’t quality writing, this is a bunch of tired tropes found on Twitter.
Is anyone going to actually start backing this team before the Peach Bowl, or are we going to keep complaining about every freaking thing?
“I have yet to be in a game where luck was involved. Well-prepared players make plays. I have yet to be in a game where the most prepared team didn't win.” - Urban Meyer
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Been waiting on this situational since the moment USC lost! Ramzy never disappoints
"We'd wipe the floor with them" - Evan Spencer
RAMZY NASRALLAH is the best writer 11 warriors has! He is the voice that holds Ohio State accountable for fans that bleed Scarlet and Grey.
!!!
Can he call plays ?
Well written article. It reflects the suspicions fans have about the secrecy around the football team. No transparency about football injuries? What are they hiding? A hamstring injury knocks out a 20-year-old for a year? Caffey just disappears? Dallan plays great and then sits? Henderson & Miyan are good/out/in/unknown? You got blown out by the Blue! At home!
Literally every program is this secretive. No coach just gives out injury information minus NFL ones because they're forced to. Day has been this secretive his entire tenure at OSU. But suddenly because he has 3 losses in 2 years instead of 2 in 2 years it's a problem. Harbaugh is famously secretive and vague in his press conferences & media meetings too. This is all nonsense. If Cade Stover makes a catch on 4th & 2 to potentially put OSU up 17-3. And Cam Brown makes a tackle to force Michigan into yet another 3 & out, none of this shit gets said
Don’t let objectivity get in the way of a clever narrative. You’ll spoil all of the fun.
Harbaugh is vague about everything because he speaks like it gives him hives in front of the camera. The most awkward interviewee in history
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
I don’t want to be the guy but I’m gonna be anyways. I think JSN had it planned before the season just based on his draft status. Sucks to say or believe, but I do!
Because I couldn't go for three
With JSN, I think he knew there was a considerable time for rehab in the injury and he factored in the length/duration of his enrolled classes and the timing worked out where he could rehab on his own time, un-enroll in classes and it worked out that way.
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
Yep, just like bosa had it planned.
“When a team commits to becoming the jack of all trades, it ends up the master of none.”
This. Damn, I wish Coach Day would read and heed.
No shit. It's not our level of violence
bobbyd
If I may; Ramzy is to writing as Paul Keels is to broadcasting
I’m sorry, I can’t hear hippies. - Ron Swanson
Ramzy is the best sportswriter AMERICA has. And that is not hyperbole.
Boombuck
One thing is for sure - Ramzy is still mad as hell at this coaching staff for blowing the Michigan game (as he should be).
one thing he says that I’ve always said myself, Ohio State has a fan base with very high football IQ. We know what we see and what should be.
Complaining about the running game may have seemed nitpicky when you’re 11-0, but we knew - we knew - something wasn’t right and it was more than just injuries.
I was at the 1996 game, and this game was just like it.
Buckeye fans may see what they see, but will fail to accept it if it’s not good.
You sure got that right ScarletArrow. The flames shoot out of the page. I am a strong Buckeye, right or wrong, win or lose. But many of his points are hard to deny.
Still, no problem. Just things to fix; problems to solve. I will support and help any way I can and be loyal to the end even if these things are ignored. But NOONE can deny the validity of so many of his points. No problem making a mistake or heading down a wrong path. BIG problem not owning it and correcting it. WE
CANWILL beat Georgia. Never IF we get into the Championship game. We WILL be there. I got your six. But you have to take the point!! Can't get to Atlanta so I will yell at the TV. Can get to Inglewood, and I will be hoarse. GO-O-O Buckeyes.If your opponent knocks you on your ass, honor the game and RESPECT him. But Gentlemen, no bastard ever won a football game by getting knocked on his ass. You won it by knocking the other poor dumb bastard on his ass and making HIM respect You!!
96 game clone for sure. I hate the taste still in my mouth from both. Now, what team shows up on New years Eve is the question. The 2022 MSU game version works for me.
PCSjr
This was very well said and perhaps a bit overdue. We need to remove vulnerability and get better on days that end in a Y.
Couldn't agree more. My biggest remaining questions are 1) When will the press ever ask Ryan Day to his face about this, with regards to being coy? and 2) When will the press ever ask Ryan Day to his face about this, with regards to the 6-0 team not showing up since the bye week?
KY Buckeye
Um, they won't.
Go Buckeyes!!!
Talk, talk, talk..... we have to execute better
Talk, talk, talk.... we have to work on things
Talk, talk, talk.....we need to do a better job
What am I missing ?
That’s all the stuff Urban Meyer said as his teams started going South the last few years. Saved by beating up on Don Browns defense……
Artthedart
toughness
Congrats you guys just figured out what coach speak is. Big day for y'all
Why so coy?
Do you think getting more blunt, detailed answers, in and of itself, will solve anything? Just because they're vague in their answers doesn't mean they're clueless as to what's going on.
Couple other items since the bye: 1. RB health was an issue 2) sometime after bye, Matt Jones was hurt and has had issues since. Big problem running right
Geubux1
I'll also add, that it isn't just about what OSU did or didn't do after the bye. It is also about the opponent. As the season rolls along, you put tape out there for the whole world to see. Eventually, someone figures out a way to slow you down. And if you cannot adjust and find new wrinkles, every remaining team on your schedule is going to copy cat the team that found success. Remember, Iowa had a Bye Week before the OSU game as well.
They found a kink in OSU's armor: These WR's aren't the same as last year minus 18. If you man them up and get in their face, they will struggle. Once teams started punching Fleming in the mouth, he hasn't even barked back. In addition, one of the main weaknesses of man coverage, is negated by facing a QB who would rather eat a bowl of slugs, than run for a 6 yard gain.
My point is that I don't necessarily buy that OSU regressed. I think other teams caught on to what their strengths and weaknesses were, and then Ryan Day has failed to make changes.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Notre Dame showed the world how to defend Ohio State. Play a two-deep safety look and force the Buckeyes to dink and dunk down the field. Then, at that point, Ohio State has to try to figure out how to get into the end zone once they enter the red zone. Ohio State hasn't changed anything to solve that puzzle.
Georgia isn't really a two safety deep defense but something tells me that, on December 31...they could be.
This is a good point about ND. Somewhat left out of the discussion is that after the ND game, OSU played Arkansas State, Toledo, Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Michigan State prior to the Bye Week. Was the offense actually good then? Makes you think.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Well, they certainly executed well. Sure, the competition was weak, but the Buckeyes did what you are supposed to do to weak teams -- they stomped them early and often. But yes, after the bye week, everything sputtered including the spirit shown by the team.
Georgia literally could do Cover 3 shell or quarters, or a soft zone preventing any big plays, and forcing us to score in the RZ, which we still can't do that well. They know they have a dominant DL that can stuff our running game. We will get held to 100 rushing yards or less. How do I know this? Iowa did. They'll be content to let us accumulate 400+ total yards of offense, dink and dunk, so long as that only nets us 30 points or less. It most likely will work. Egbuka and Harrison could tally 200 yards, and it still may not matter, because it didn't matter against M. That's the blueprint to beating us. Notre Dame, M and Northwestern held us to 21, 23, 21 points respectively. Please don't give me the weather excuse for Northwestern. We still should overwhelm them upfront--and we didn't, because we cannot run the ball. Our offense isn't that difficult to stop, because several programs have done it easily in the last 25 games and beyond. Georgia knows it. Kirby Smart was blowing coach speak smoke when he said we are a physical team. We are NOT a physical team or a dominant rushing offense, don't let the stats fool you. People think that just because we overwhelmed garbage programs like Rutgers, Indiana, Toledo, etc means that we are a good rushing offense. We don't block well on the perimeter. OL can't handle bull rushes or hold onto their blocks. It's no wonder we are awful with stretch plays and bubble screens. Yet Ryan continues to stubbornly call those plays. This post will get downvotes, but reality and truth will always have its day. This team has way more flaws than the casual fan is willing to admit. Also, don't get me started on our secondary which Maryland, Penn State, and M exploited. Georgia has the athletes to do the same--and they will. Who is gonna cover Brock Bowers or Darnell Washington? Who will cover the RB wheel routes with Daijun Edwards and Kenny McIntosh? Who will cover the double move with Ladd McConkey? If Larry Johnson starts over rotating guys like Jerron Cage, Ty Hamilton and Taron Vincent in there, you know big runs will happen, because it happened with M last year and this year.
BOATS and HOES.
Young Boss - agree with all plus...Why don't we run wheel route with Henderson instead of trying to get him through the line? Whatever happened to the crossing routes that we DISSECTED Wishagain with a few years ago? Why did we settle on an O line coach who could only muster the 3rd best rushing offense in the PAC12? Why do we keep sending love love to Coach Johnson who indeed does a bang up job recruiting defensive ends but not so much on interior lately. (expect heat on that one!)
The Things I've learned Since I thought I knew it all
You said a whole lotta stupid nonsense, did Frye Call plays ? No , but his unit was one of the best pass blocking and run blocking units despite being full of 3 stars , thats like asking Saban why he brought in a career failure of a drunk to be his OC In Sark ? Oh yeah the guy who led Saban’s greatest offense ever …. Like most coaches are poached from programs that are middling and succeed when given TIME at a better program ….. and Larry Johnson has recruited DT fine … he has grabbed a top 5 IDL player every year , it isnt his fault that injuries happen
YoungBoss and OldMLB,
Quick guys, you need to hurry to Walmart. There’s a sale on Stupid Take antidote.
Buy the large bottle.
I like cookies.
I’m sure you’ve got some great points. But your take is too long to hold anyone’s interest. Be well.
Class of ‘71
No just old timers…
Damn YoungBoss....the truth hurts.
I've never seen it spelled out like that before but it's so true. ScUM flat out Said "they are who we thought they were "
"Put ya' weight on it"
This is a bad matchup for Ohio State with Bowers and Washington. Who will get Jalen Carter that guy is a monster. I don't see how OSU can correct these flaws in less than 30 days, Young Boss. Day struggles to score in the red Zone with his play calls against good teams.
BuckeyeYankee
I agree with everything you said, YBB, except your reference of Toledo being a 'garbage' program.......nada, the Rockets were MAC Champions and that should count for something and they had the best QB we seen all year, in sophomere Dequan Finn.
Correction: Injure the best mid-field receiver in college football (not saying it was deliberate, though), and then force the Buckeyes to dink and dunk down the field.
Still, Day should have come up with a variety of reliefs during that time to loosen up the running game, which would in turn open up the passing game. Hopefully, he's working on this, or finding a reliable substitute for JSN and a mid-field passing game.
GA is going to pass rush him to get CJ off schedule like the mean nasty line they are...their secondary isn't bad...one fricking game does not make it so...Kirby just said that the CB and safety play against LSU will not be tolerated...i.e. you don't perform you're out. If our line is as big as we think it is better run until we can't....these guys have killed spread offenses all damn year so we better have a damn plan and the kitchen sink should be a part of it.
Bbc11
Their secondary is literally the only part of the defense that OSU can attack with regularity. Stroud needs to get rid of the ball quickly and not research the field like he has all night. If the first or second read aren’t there, throw it away or run FORWARD and slide. He likes to run 25 yards backwards and that will be disastrous
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
true but the problem is Day only calls plays that take time for the receivers to get 20+ yards down field
Yes that’s a problem. Only about 5% of the plays are gonna be home runs. There’s no way to throw 60 yard TD passes on every series of possession but Day insists on it and it’s a failed plan. Who knows if he actually adjusts in this game. Can we see a two RB set of we know Sreoud isn’t going to run? Some misdirections perhaps. Then maybe bring in McCord for a change of pace inside the 20. He’s probably not the most fleet of foot but I bet he’ll run and UGA won’t be expecting it.
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
Wouldn't expect McCord to do anything but hand off or run, he hasn't thrown 10 passes all year
David
Did Day fail to make changes or is the team just not good enough? All year TE blocking has been a problem. That makes it pretty difficult to run the ball when your QB isn't a threat to run. And in the pass game the drop off from Embuka & MHJ is drastic. Teams in the second half of the year figured out quickly that if they double MJH and play tight man or zone on the rest of the WRs, the pass game is not that great. Like compare this team to 2019. 2019 teams had to put an extra body in the box to stop Dobbins & Fields. But doing so meant any combination of Wilson, Olave, KJ, Mack, & Victor were left 1-1 without safety help. And those WRs could all destroy man or soft zone coverage. So teams were just in a lose lose situation. When teams can play tight zone/man on your WRs & stop your run game with only 6 or 7 in the box, it makes basically any adjustment impossible to do.
I think other teams caught on to what their strengths and weaknesses were, and then Ryan Day has failed to make changes.
Then the question becomes, why are our coaches unable to make changes in response? I used think we were pretty good making adjustments under Urban/Tressel. We do not seem to adjust now. We keep running the same things that don't work. Receiver screens, RPO with no run threat, off tackle runs and Cover O at all costs to name a few. Are the other coaches better than ours at identifying tendencies and then making adjustments. What about the "advisors" we have that are supposedly doing just this sort of thing? Could it be that they are doing and Day just isn't listening? I seem to remember a comment that Hartline tried to tell Day something during the TTUN game and Day brushed him off. Maybe this coy thing is just for us and in reality its a "my way or the highway thing" about Day.
Also, Joel Klatt for weeks on end kept saying "Ryan Day is relying TOO much on Harrison Jr. He needs to diversify his offense". Apparently Coach Day took that to heart and proceeded to hamstring the offense
Urban Meyer >Jim Harbaugh for ever and ever, Amen. 0
I like Klatt, but I don't know how he came to this conclusion. I never felt that Day relied too much on Harrison. Actually quite the opposite. I felt like Day needed to rely on him MORE. The 4th quarter of the PSU game was the only time OSU has basically said "We have 18 and you don't. Try and stop us". And by the remarks of CJ Stroud, it sounded like that wasn't even Day making that decision, and more of CJ and Marv deciding to go rogue on an inept play-caller.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
It's almost like we've been playing without the top three players in the running back room since the bye week. Which we have. When you lose the running game in an offense that was designed to be balanced, it really fs things up. And we're still down the best WR in the country, which makes it harder to shift into last year's passing attack that featured three top 10 picks. Sure, the rest of the players are high quality, but still, I don't get the mystery it's all sitting right there in front of our eyes on the DNP lists.
Accurate.
Does anyone really believe the accuracy/reliability of the injury report anymore (minus severe injuries)?
Stopped reading it two years ago.
I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan!
You think this offense is designed to be balanced? I think that is the issue. Day has tried to force them to be balanced when the culture he has created was to be a passing first team.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
I wonder what happens if he just embraces that for the Peach Bowl (with the necessary caveat that he doesn't press too hard to go deep too often against a defense designed to take that away).
Who knows... I hope there is a massive change in mindset.
We already saw what happens when a well coached defense forces Stroud and Day to be patient and take what they give to him. We get toss sweeps to a LB hybrid on key third down plays.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
Yeah, when I saw that play, I thought I was hallucinating, because I thought the guy taking the pitch must be Calvin Murray or Jimmy Gayle or something based on the last era when that play was an effective offensive weapon.
Hey now, HB Toss Sweep was a guaranteed TD in Madden 96. Are you telling me no longer?
Your signature will be publicly displayed at the end of your comments.
hey thanks for bringing up Cal Murray and Jimmy Gayle! I have fond memories esp of Cal Murray. A beautiful runner…fast enough to get the edge and go!
B Buehler
Can Stroud sit in a pocket, be patient, scan the field and not bail quickly. If so this strategy works. Watching him in tight games he does the opposite and locks onto receivers while missing clear and obvious opportunities.
Such an underrated comment. Fields had a staring problem too, but nowhere near as bad when Stroud is under pressure. He’s great in a clean pocket which he had for most of the Michigan game, but dear lord.
Send it.
Days offense is the farthest thing from balanced in the country…
We ran the ball more than we passed this year, even with hardly any QB runs. That can be skewed by playing with a lead but we ran the ball the same % of the time (53%) as Georgia did.
"Ryan Day doesn't want to run the ball" is a myth. We have had good to great running teams every year he has called plays, including this year. People act like he is Mike Leach and this is Miss St offense, when that's not the case.
They have to pass to set up the run, which is the issue. This isn't 2019 anymore when they could run at will.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
Your just making stats up Day passed at least 60% of the time.
OSU 2022, 31.3 passes per game and 36.2 runs per game. https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/ohio-state/2022.html
Still not convinced Day doesn’t hate running as Most of those runs came in garbage time but fuck I guess I’m factually wrong.
Nah. He's right. Day called more runs that passes this year. That was probably a mistake given how fucking injured our RB has been but it's still a fact.
Urban Meyer >Jim Harbaugh for ever and ever, Amen. 0
In the 3 games against teams with a pulse I.e. Notre Dame, PSU,& TTUN - 116 passes, 92 rushes.
Did he call the runs because they were working though? Can't think of a time when we imposed our will by running on a team worth a damn.
Day did for 1 possession against Notre Dame and it was a thing of beauty.
Steel on your earlier point of OSU passing much more in the TTUN, PSU, and ND, is skewed a lot by the TTUN game where OSU passed 48 and ran 29 times. I think having RB 1 out, RB 2 hobbled, and relying on RB 4, 6, and 7 with starting RG out along with the deficit does at least provide a rationale for that games statistics being so heavily skewed towards the pass.
I would argue that the best WR in the country has been playing this whole year.
Spot on. People act like we can trot out the scout team players to replace all american level players and not miss a beat. That's usually not how it works. The RB injuries have been a big factor as to why the run game has taken a small step back this year. Even when Chop and Tre played they haven't been healthy more often than not.
The difference between pre-bye and post-bye is mostly harder competition, and RB injuries. ND was before the magical bye week, and we struggled there.
Also don't think enough is made about JSN's loss in terms of our passing game taking a step back this year. We went from 3 top end NFL WRs to 1 top end NFL WR and a couple good but not great WRs. It makes a huge difference.
The overall offense is still one of the best in the country by any metric you use. We are not going to go out there and score 50 every game, nobody does that in big time college football. Expecting a blowout win and great performance every single week is not realistic. Go look at national champs schedules each year and you will see a game or two in there that was close/not their best performance - quite often even a loss.
Does the team have problems? Of course, but so does every other team in the country, basically every season.
Appreciate the perspective. Well said! Sometimes it sounds like we are 1-11 when I read the comments!
B Buehler
Losing JSN was a massive kick in the nuts for the offense. The entire scheme had been drawn up around having him in the slot and suddenly he wasn't there before the first quarter expired week 1. Harrison Jr is the best WR I've seen play college ball since the late 90's when Moss was at Marshall but MHJ would be even MORE effective with JSN on the field at the same time. Defenses have been able to try to take away Marv and pray that EE doesn't suddenly turn into JSN and chew them up.
Urban Meyer >Jim Harbaugh for ever and ever, Amen. 0
I guess you can call it lose him. He quit to secure his draft spot without injury. Preplanned, hamstring fine the whole time. Down vote me until I’m frayed out but JSN quit in the off season. Can I blame him, No but can’t convince me otherwise…especially after his mom speaking out saying he’s gonna play, not another Nick Bosa. I love JSN but he is a sign of the softness this locker room has. Watch what happens in the trenches lol.
Because I couldn't go for three
Literally in back to back statements:
well which one is it?
My statement was the people think we CAN run out the scout team and not miss a beat. Don't know where you got the "can't" from.
My opinion is there is a big drop off from a healthy Williams and Henderson to Hayden and Chip.
It is also my opinion that there is a big drop off from JSN/Olave/Wilson to Egbuka and Fleming.
These dips in talent matter a lot to the offense.
Oops sorry, that makes much more sense. To be honest though we could put in our scout team and still be more talented than the majority of the league.
Seriously what the fuck is this article. Like you said the RBs were constantly hurt. So that automatically makes the run game more difficult because the RBs aren't practicing. The oline was constantly hurt too. In the final 6 games Ohio State played three top 20 defenses and had a game with 30mph+ sustained winds & upwards of 60mph guests. And you factor in that the average defensive ranking went from an average of 45th to an average of 40th (average of 35 in non-hurricane winds), it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the offense was much worse. This article is so dumb
No bourbon this week eh?
I think that is only on game weeks.
"Because the rules won't let you go for three." - Woody Hayes
THE Ohio State University
That's what I used to tell myself too...
I think we’ll need plenty of bourbon on December 31.
Damn. Took the Jack Daniel’s glass right outa my hand.
For a change of pace, try Bacardi Ocho, a fine sipping rum, aged eight years. Neat, of course.
Be well, all y’all.
OSU ‘71 and ‘74.
There's something off about the team and environment, starting with the alleged leaders and coaches.
An uneasiness, self-doubting, and fragile culture seems to be prevalent.
I know team leaders don't necessarily have to be captains, and it's possible to lead when not on the field, but I wonder about the significance of there being 3 of six captains (and one prior year captain) almost never being on the field due to injury. If so, why was no one else stepping up (sufficiently). And was something going on with the coaching staff we didn't hear about, possibly something as simple as the defensive coaches all working together for the first tome?
Agreed!
Captains don't always need to be the most vocal, but they should be solid and consistent under pressure. Do we have that guy on the team (or coach)?
Eichenburg....but wrong side...
Bbc11
"An uneasiness, self-doubting, and fragile culture seems to be prevalent."
Where have we seen/heard this before? C'mon man. No need to be coy to Roy.*
*Sorry. I couldn't stop myself.
As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.
But did Gus hop on the bus?
Too much time spent at the North Heidelberg rather than the classroom. SSD 68-72
He stepped out the back, Jack.
Then he made a new plan, Stan.
As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.
Dropped off the key, Lee
Agree. Something just seems off. Great article that verbalized what many of us have been feeling.
SalemBuckeye
Somethings wrong for sure. I've been wondering for awhile how Iowa's (or michigan's)defense is so much better than ours with much less stared players coming out of high school. I'm thinking these high 4-5 star players come thinking they don't have to risk or play with booboos because the NFL awaits while lesser stars know they have to work their tails off just to be legit. Michigan knew at the half if theycame out and punched our team in the nose they would fold.
This x 1,000.
I swear I had the biggest John Cooper deja vu during the *ichigan game (as OSU was failing to score in the red zone and they were in the process of losing the lead instead of building on it.)
The announcer said the uneasiness could be felt throughout the stadium and he was right -- Hell, I could feel it sitting at home. It was like this coaching staff and team did not have an answer when they got punched in the mouth. Then a player head butts someone on a critical series (right after getting a penalty, anyway) and the air went completely out of the stadium.
It was all downhill after that and my Cooper PTSD was in full sway.
There is most assuredly a culture problem in this program. Exactly what it is and what the source of it is, I don't know. I'm not in that locker room, but I'm aware enough to recognize when things are off -- and they are off in a bigtime way.
Frankly, I'll be shocked beyond reason if OSU beats Georgia. I'll even be surprised if it's a close game in the second half, because it seems like this coaching staff isn't good at making adjustments to counter what opponents do.
Now having said all of that, I am hoping and praying that Coach Day and this team prove me very, very wrong. And if they do, I will happily come back in here and eat a steaming pile of crow.
I actually have felt this more on the offensive side of the ball than defensive.
To me personally - the defense has been playing like their pants is on fire.. Even with all the broken coverages, they still seem to play with passion and heart.
The offense on the other hand seems like they are robots doing what they do whether right or wrong. No emotion, no discipline, no care, and it just seems weird to me like a lot of other fans have stated. I do believe this is a culture problem and coming from Ryan Day - but I also believe that CJ just is NOT a leader and that resides on Day. CJ to me - plays like Ryan Day coaches.
Bronson Lillemon
Day needs to figure out how to score when the other defense drops 7-8, man under (or match up zone) with 2 safeties deep over the top. The deep ball won't be easy and there is tight coverage. His scheme does not attack that succesfully.
Strike1
and without the running game, we are always slowed down in the red zone because of scheme.
And any DC worth a cent knows this.
Man-under with 2 deep safeties is essentially impossible to run when there is even a remote threat of the opposing QB running. It is why that style of defense has transitioned from an every down type scheme to only a 3rd and long style scheme. Craig Krenzel talked about it in 2012 during their 10 year reunion, when he was joking about having more rushing yards that Clarett in that game. 5-7 yards in available every single time for the QB. You just have to keep doing it, until the defense gets tired of it, and changes their scheme.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
To your point, 7-8 man drops require an adequate running designed to succeed. I have always been told you run at a zone defense not side to side. Our best running plays against Michigan were running at them with some counters. The next thing is Day has to be patient with the running game if he wants to use it to set up the pass. If he wants the pass to set up the run, then he must run at them with quick hitters. Regardless, I seen some awful blocking in the last weeks of the season in which players like Stover were out hustled to the point of attack on the outside like they were confused...
Outside of the ND, Wisconsin, and 1 block during the Penn State game, Stover has been atrocious. He's gotten love because "omg OSU is throwing it to the TE", but he has been considerably worse than Ruckert, Farrell, Vannett, etc.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Wholeheartedly agree. Farmer Gronk has been the worst blocking TE we have had (I'm laughing as I type this because I never thought I'd see the day I'd be complaining about one of our TEs not blocking enough). I honestly wouldn't mind if we didn't throw to him and just use him more as a decoy - unless our backup TEs can't block either.
"I don't apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there." - Woody Hayes
Well our backup is a converted WR, so I'd say probably not... Unless you are allowed to headbutt someone out of the way.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Not sure our back up TE’s can block but they know how to head butt.
MICHIGAN STILL SUCKS
We have evidence of knowing what to do, but we don't have the same dogs in the fight anymore:
Exhibit A: Northwestern was probably the first team to really challenge Day's tendencies in the B1G Championship game. Thankfully we had Trey Sermon and were able to punish them for trying to take away our pass.
Exhibit B: Almost every defense has started to try to make us dink and dunk our way down the field anymore... How has Day adjusted? Trying to tire out defenses using stretch zones and bubble screens to make them defend the whole field... Problem is that we don't stick with it or put enough time in making it creative enough that defenses are NOT convinced we will stick with it. Like everyone and their grandmothers know that Day loves to live off of big plays that take time to develop. It just doesn't help that we can keep defenses honest anymore without an effective run game.
"I don't apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there." - Woody Hayes
"without an effective running game"
We were 12th in the country in yards per attempt, depsite having a QB that doesn't run, and a bevy of RB injuries.
True, but when we have to run we can't, especially against teams with very good defenses. And if we were 12th in the nation, why didn't we run more?
What we’re we ranked on 3 & 3 or less??? Who cares that we stacked the Stat sheet against Arkansas St???
'nuff said
no we're not--that distinction belongs to the guy wearing #18 in the Scarlet & Gray
Faster, tougher, and more violent...
Not sure if there is a note of suspicion about JSNs injury. I can say I have been there and a hamstring is everything and all that has been reported. In my own case, it occurred during a baseball game. The pain felt like a hot poker was rammed deep into my crotch. It took the better part of a week before I could walk without looking like an old west gunslinger. The day after, I did manage to climb the steps of LSU's death valley and watch the Bucks tie the Tigers (which was a joy).
It was at that point I decided to resume my daily 3-mile runs. However, my hammie said, "not so fast there Bucko". I slowed and ended up walking back the 50 yards or so I managed to run. Ahhh, I'll just give this a bit more time. Right?
After a conservative 2-3 months (and with an abundance of stretching), I resumed my daily run. About two blocks later, BAM!!! I was right back to square one. This time I hobbled back two blocks.
In the end, it took about six months of personal therapy and careful exercise. My heart goes out to JSN. Hamstring injuries suck.
Jim "DooDah" Day
"If I were giving a young man advice as to how he might succeed in life, I would say to him, pick out a good father and mother, and begin life in Ohio.” --Wilbur Wright, 1910
The suspicion comes from the national media reporting things in a different vein that the local beat. Todd McShay, et al, create the confusion through what could be considered irresponsible click bait reporting.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
Todd McShay is an ass. I was waiting for this to happen. McShay didn't say boo when Ja'Marr Chase skipped an entire season with no injury.
The "suspicion" comes from Day's and staff's lack of transparency. What has the local beat reported exactly? He's week to week, week to week, week to week.....totally unnecessary. Day created this drama, not the national media.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
Well, both can be true. I agree on Day's lack of transparency also being a cause of the issue.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
This x 1000. Day continuing to speak about it early on, with "expected to play", "day by day", and BS about taking him out of the Iowa game because of the "pitch count" didn't help matters.
Anyone with eyes could see something was off, and Day going dead silent after the bye was very telling. JSN was done.
There are three different types of people in the world.....those who can count, and those who cannot.
A possible explanation is that TTUN is a better team (more complete at least) and that is the reason the Buckeyes lost. Buckeyes remind me of the chip Kelly Oregon ducks. Everyone drooling over their offense and tempo until they played a tough team like the Buckeyes or any top tier SEC team. Flash and no substance.
Having said that the games need to be played and yes any game can be won with flashy talent like the Bucks have. There is a chance and it has a decent probability of happening
"A possible explanation is that TTUN is a better team (more complete at least) and that is the reason the Buckeyes lost. Buckeyes remind me of the chip Kelly Oregon ducks. Everyone drooling over their offense and tempo until they played a tough team like the Buckeyes or any top tier SEC team. Flash and no substance."
Well-said, as much as it pains me to admit. If your offense loses its mojo in the face of adversity, it isn't much of an offense.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
Come to think of it, it really took JSN having a performance for the ages in last year's Rose Bowl to overcome that adversity, and he hasn't been here this year.
Well who did Ryan Day learn from? Very astute analogy.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
TTUN is definitely more disciplined. They also have an identity as a team. They are going to run the ball no matter what. A lot of teams are now geared to stop the passing offenses that are now seen in college football. That puts its defense at a disadvantage. The biggest difference: Ohio State can play with the big boys of college football while TTUN will continue to get curb stomped because the SEC teams will stuff a one dimensional running team.
We will see if they can hang with the 'big boys'. Besides one victory over Clemson, I see no evidence of Ryan Day having the ability to beat teams with equal or more talent.
"Champions don’t do extraordinary things, they do the ordinary things better than anybody else" - Chuck Noll
Isn't Coach Kelly a mentor of Coach Day ? Get the Kelly's mixed up.
At least it's been said, it is our business rather people like it or not.
Sani
Make clutch plays against good teams and all this goes away. I'll root for OSU until the day I die regardless of rank or record. It's in my blood. It has been odd to watch opportunities get missed by tremendously talented players when the stress level is high. Plays are there to be made but our guys have been missing too many of them. That is the only difference I see over the last two seasons. Conversely, our toughest opponent(s) seem to shine under that pressure (also different from years past). We need to get back to playing with DISCIPLINED violence. Execute at a high level when the light is brightest. We are more than capable of winning 2 more games this season if they do this.
"Everyone has a plan, 'til they get punched in the mouth."
This roster if it was in Georgia, Alabama, hell Clemson or even TTUN with there staff would we be good or better ?
One more from the peanut gallery: Tight End play has stunk since the bye week, yes that included Farmer Gronk. In most of the post-bye week games we have had trouble running the ball in short yardage. It seems like whenever the TEs come down the line to block on the edge, one of them misses. Gee Scott, Mitch Rossi, Cade Stover all have been whipped on the edges. Every time the RBs run wide and get tackled, look for that one missing block. Similar with the Bubble screens on the edge.
The Ohio State University - "Haters love us!"
Baskins and Robbins? Nah, Haskins and Dobbins - KannonMic
I don't quite remember when Stover appeared with the brace on his right elbow but it seemed that his play has been affected since that time. Someone better versed might have seen something different.
The brace is a range of motion brace, meaning it will not allow the elbow to become fully extended. So yes that could negatively impact his blocking. However, most of the complaints have been with how slow he's been to fire off the ball. Seems confused at times. His roll on inside zone plays, is to seal the backside. He's been burnt several times on those. On the infamous 3rd down toss to Chip, the play would've gone for 20 yards if Cade made the block.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
The brace would probably affect his ability to get in a three point stance also, I would think.
Great piece Ramzy. You summed up my feelings.
The way reporting of injuries has been handled, they would be better off being truthful instead of vague. I compare this to scum's reporting of the Corum injury - you pretty much knew where he stood as soon as the injury happened - and I think fans - and players - appreciate it. To me there is nothing worse than an injury announcement making the player look bad or have to constantly defend himself (Henderson).
The identity of the team has gotten so unclear - I'm not sure anyone - including the coaches - knows what they are trying to be. Seems like we just call random plays on offense and we stopped making meaningful adjustments. I've seen this more on the offensive side of the ball and thought the defense was doing ok but then the lack of adjustment by the D in the scum game was headscratching.
Michigan literally said nothing about Corum's injury. The fuck are you talking about. Harbaugh was literally as vague as Day has always been. Gus Johnson even joked on the Rich Eisen show that Harbaugh in the production meetings always says "the players who are healthy will play. And the ones who are hurt won't" when talking about injuries. He gives zero information out
We were getting injury reports daily leading up to the game on Corum? May have been speculation but it was VERY accurate. That's the F I'm talking about.
No the hell we weren't. The entire week literally no one knew what his status was gonna be. All we knew was he had a knee injury, which everyone could see just from the video. Michigan was even so unsure that he ran twice vs us but was then pulled because he just couldn't cut
There is no doubt in my mind at this point, that OSU is thoroughly being outcoached on both sides of the ball. TTUN is doing more with less. A lot of it is their DC in my opinion, who might be Harbaugh's best hire ever. There is little doubt in my mind that sign-stealing is part of the equation (second half dominance following "adjustments"), but even if that's the case, they're outsmarting us. OSU should have caught on to that and planned accordingly.
Some of it is on the players too (secondary in particular), but Day and Knowles need to do some soul-searching in the offseason. Georgia offers an immediate distraction and chance at righting the ship to some degree, but it may end up just further exposing the weaknesses. We'll see. I'll be pulling hard for the Bucks no matter what, even if I'm also hoping for changes to be made.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
All due respect, 15, but where is it "less" with TTUN? Perhaps the playoff will settle this once and for all, but for now, I have tossed out the notion of our talent advantage vs. Michigan. Outside of the QB and WR rooms, (LBs and DEs are even) I submit that advantage no longer exists. Hell, Ruggles is as good as we've had since Nugent -- and their guy is the f-ing Groza winner. Their O and D lines have battled ours to a draw or at times, beaten them up considerably. Their DBs vs. ours....do we want to go there?
IF....it is coaching, then we are seeing a generationally or maybe historically bad example of it, but for now, I refuse to write it off that quickly or so easily. All that aside.....a lot can be "made good" on NYE.
I agree that there isn't a significant talent disparity overall, but if you're just going off of recruiting rankings for starters, I'd imagine you'd have to give OSU the advantage (I'm too lazy to do the work required to defend this). But to your point, that obviously doesn't tell the whole story. Many a 3 star has proven to be more gifted in relation to his peers than initially judged by "professional" starhanderouters as Stxbucks calls them. And some 5 stars are busts. It's reality. And development also matters.
But if the talent is roughly equated and OSU is getting beat handily on the field, how is coaching not at least a significant contributor? Like, if the players are about the same caliber and one team is way better, what gives? Gotta be coaching and prep, right? What else do you chalk it up to?
My personal opinion is that Day is still learning and has not built a resilient, reliable offense. It's feast or famine- either explosive and impressive (relying heavily on NFL throws to NFL receivers) or completely stagnant and immensely frustrating. TTUN is quite the opposite- they execute simple things to dang near perfection and are remarkably efficient. They chip away until the dam breaks. It's not as fun but it works. Day needs to hire an outsider OC in my opinion and hand over the keys to the offense with the understanding that he'll still be heavily involved in the pass game and QB development.
On defense, Knowles is super experienced but there's no denying that he didn't have his best day against TTUN, which kinda sucks cause that's one of the main reasons he was brought on. I hope he obsesses more over the rivalry than he has previously (watching the last two losses maybe 10 or so times each for good measure) and continues to watch over the LB's while also being heavily involved with the secondary (the obvious weakness).
Someone else mentioned this, but I think our coaching staff hasn't been the best at making in-game adjustments. And that's killer. You gotta know when to abandon the plan and either go to plan B or improvise. Take what the opposition gives you and don't force things that are simply not effective.
Part of the struggles against TTUN this go around were also player execution failures. And that's not all on Knowles and I acknowledge that. I hope in the offeason some new, young, talented players rise to the top and we see more dogs/fighters in the secondary in particular. Something I've noticed about Georgia and some other SEC teams (and old OSU teams) that I think we are missing is corners and safeties that instill a healthy amount of fear into opposing offenses. Speed is necessary but we could also use strong, physical dudes who tackle HARD and make life for opposing receivers really unpleasant. You need that physicality combined with intelligence/assignment-soundness to get it done and the secondary just isn't there yet.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
Well said, Stl. I see your point. At the end of the day.....or at the end of our discussions, NYE will tell us all we need to know.
Go Bucks!
Day has been preaching toughness for a year now. It's time for the play calling to be tough and straightforward, not cute and coy.
"We gotta go win this next game and make the State of Ohio proud!"-UFM
Transparency at OSU is, and has been, nonexistent for years. Just look at the current example of Kristina Johnson's resignation.
OSU's main motto seems to be:
"Trust us, we know what is best for you"
JeffBook TBDBITL 1968-1972
What hasn’t been answered, and is an indicator that something is up in the lock room, is what’s going on with the the RB room? Why did Day elect to play the #4 RB, who came to Ohio State as a LB, in the Michigan game after the #3 RB looked good the two weeks prior? Why rotate weekly the #1 & #2 RBs, who we learned at the end of the regular season were playing with major injuries. Now there are rumors that the #3 RB is considering transferring to Tennessee. Something is up.
Shatinkycat1
SCat and not one f’n reporter asked why he chose to run a LB in the most important game of the year instead of the the guy that had 27 carries for 146 yards in the 2nd half the previous week? WTF?
MICHIGAN STILL SUCKS
Probably because the LB looked really freaking good, and was in no way, shape, or form, the reason we lost that game. I was actually impressed with the decision. Thought Chip played fantastic.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
The decision still needs to be asked by the media because it was an odd move. Hayden looked great starting in the Maryland game and did really well as a backup. Even though Chip had college experience as a RB, he had been practicing with the defense all season, while Hayden practiced with the RBs/offense.
Shatinkycat1
Every time Day was asked about Dallan leading up to the game he used words like "ball security" -- every single time. I think it's pretty easy to read between the lines to know what happened at practice leading up to The Game. I know it wasn't Day being completely forthright, but I think he told us what we needed to know in that case.
Yet he never once fumbled in a game, including fumbling and recovering to maintain possession. I hear what you’re saying, but asking the question and highlighting the fact that it was never a game day issue is warranted.
Shatinkycat1
This is actually related to the bigger issue, for me. Day was playing scared. There were opportunities to go big, including on that critical drive with the penalties. When you start 1st and 35, or whatever ridiculous situation it was, and your team fights back and gives you a 4th and 10 at midfield, you roll with that momentum. I know you don't usually go for it on 4th and 10, but when the team has just found enough rhythm to give you 25 yards in 3 plays, having just completed back-to-back 13 & 14 yard gains, you play the hot hand. At the time, even the commentators were stating how every metric says you go for it there. Instead we punted it for a net gain of like 20 yards.
Same with the RB situation - Day was afraid to play the hot hand because of the risk of fumbling. You can't be completely reckless, and no coach worth their salt goes for it just because the crowd wants it, but there is the opposite problem as well. When he pulled the offense on that 4th, he signaled to them that he doesn't trust them, and they played deflated for a time. Frankly, I think it deflated our defense as well - they had just shut down Michigan on two straight possessions. Going for it signals to both sides you trust them.
One chance is all you need. Jesse Owens
It was 4th and 5, not 10. It was makeable. You are right, Day was scared.
Yeah, so scare he called a fake punt.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
I've said it multiple times since The Game and I'll say it again: NOT playing Dallan Hayden borders on coaching malpractice. I really thought leading up to The Game that the light bulb turned on for Hayden AND Day. So frustrating. And even though Chip was having success, he gave up on it. I think Day has adult ADHD.
As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.
Here is my 2 cents:
1. I never bought the “nagging hamstring injury” for JSN. If you look at the play in question it should have been a targeting call against ND. There was a helmet-to-helmet collision on that play that screams “concussive injury” to me. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you wish but I think that JSN’s issue has been brain or neuro-related and not hamstring-related. If I am correct we will see this further manifest itself at the NFL level.
2. Success in the game of football is all about adjustments. All teams have a game plan coming into the game, but the best teams will take what is given to them in real-time if their game plan is not otherwise getting it done. TOSU coaching staff seems to be too rigid in this regard. Game plan not working ? No worries, we’ll just run the same failing plays, just at a faster pace. I lost count of how many times throughout Ryan Day’s tenure (both as OC and HC) where we ran a jet sweep, failed to get any positive yardage, and then ran the same play to the other side of the field. We run play after play of straight-up run blocking for minus yardage, yet refuse to run any type of play that involves pulling a guard or misdirection blocking. Defense giving you a soft middle ? No worries, just continue to run sideline routes and throw into 2-3 deep coverage. And, don’t get me started on a QB who sees an escape lane up the middle of the oncoming rush only to roll to his non-throwing side so that he has to then attempt to pass back across his body. Difficulty factor of 11 on a scale of 1-10.
Until this coaching staff can show me that they can put our talent in a position to win against a quality opponent I am not too confident that success will be had.
If you want to truly destroy a man, give him everything he ever wished for . . . .
How about lining up with receivers split wide sideline to sideline and trying to throw the ball all over the field in 50+ mph winds?
Not hamstring related?
So, JSN has just been limping around for months to throw everyone off???
I understand your point about JSN walking around with a limp. He could have a hamstring injury that is secondary to a neuro issue. It’s just a sneaky suspicion that I have. The closest comparison that I might offer is this: we all just recently learned that Andrew Luck’s shoulder injury wasn’t the sole cause of his retirement. There was also the added impact of mental health issues which arose as a result of the anxiety that AL had about being “the man.”
We only know what they tell us, and sometimes what they tell us doesn’t totally add up. That is the sense that I get with JSN’s injury. To me it doesn’t totally add up.
If you want to truly destroy a man, give him everything he ever wished for . . . .
The only way the hammy injury doesn't add up is if you're just looking for something else to blame. Even light strains can take a couple months to heal fully. JSN tried 2 times to come back and play. Both times ended with him struggling to run at all and barely even being able to walk while on the sidelines without a major limp. He had a hammy injury and that's all
Keenan Allen has been dealing with the same thing for most of the NFL season. hes fully back now but he also tried to play too early, only played one half, and then missed a couple more weeks before returning again.
All we have to decide is to cheer on the Buckeyes with the time that is given us
Man I'm glad you're not my doctor.
Nurse: "Doctor, Vegaskid is complaining of serious chest pains."
You: "I have a hunch. Get me the anal expander!"
The jet sweep is particularly obvious because there's motion that goes across the formation, rather than just using short motions to identify man or zone. Run the motion on every play like Wisconsin used to and (a) the jet sweep becomes a threat every play, and (b) gives the motion receiver a free release.
Agree that Day is overrated. He has 1 or 2 more years. No more John Cooper 1-11-1.
Class of ‘71
Here's a take for you all, that I don't think has been addressed:. THE FEAR OF LOSING SHOULD NOW BE OVER.
Sometimes, there is some built in pressure to stay perfect on record. And sometimes? There are squads that are too afraid of it, and it creates mistakes, on both players and coaches. And it's understandable.
Now? The Buckeyes have experienced loss this season. And during a crucial game, no less. But, by the good graces of The Football Gods? Ohio State has a chance once more this season.
And with that? The fear of losing should be over with by now. A second chance, and a new lease on life this remaining season. I think the critics (including myself) should be seeing it in this way: Our Buckeyes, for better or worse, are playing with "house money" right now. And if our program takes the stance that they have nothing to lose, and can "go for broke"? They can beat the house.
I STILL THINK GEORGIA IS BEATABLE BY THIS TEAM.
That’s why I’m glad Ohio State got Georgia in the semifinals and not Michigan. In addition to Ohio State’s offensive strengths playing well to Georgia’s defensive weaknesses, I also think there is a lot less pressure to win the game. If Ohio State loses to the team perceived at the best team this year, Georgia, then it was expected by everyone outside of Columbus. Win and it’s a major confidence boost. If Ohio State lost to Michigan twice in the same year and in the semifinals, then it’s a very dark offseason.
Shatinkycat1
I think the pressure of possibly losing to Mich for the second straight year as big faves, this time at home, was pretty high up on the list of reasons that we lost to the game. 2nd half the coaches/crowd/buckeye nation all got tight and the players followed suit. Do agree that there should be significantly less pressure here when nobody in the national media is goingto be picking them to win the game. Their only shot is to be play fast/loose/aggressive football. I also think that this is a game that can be won, if we play our best game.
Where I was seeing a train wreck in Days system leading upto TTUN, I actually see OSU as the favorite playing in Domes on fast turfs from here on out. I am excited AF. In my opinion all Day has to do is tell his guys for the next month that we are going to do nothing but run it down their throats for a touch down on the first drive. That will build the mentality and edge needed to win. We have seen all year that passing to set up the run is fools gold, time to switch gears.
This feels like a repeat of 2015 rather than 2014 with the bye week as the point of self-inflicted decline. Ramzy is spot on and articulates hard facts unvarnished.
Our people are everywhere, Esto Dignus.
The team played fantastic in 2015 after losing. They were tight all year and then you could feel the pressure release.
we got no secondary dogs. none. frustrating.
We got no primary dogs either.
Before that mess in the shoe, we only had to win three more games.
We took a week off.
Now we only have to win two.
So I reckon it's time to defecate or evacuate.
Lord Hammercy
Exactly what I've been thinking - all of it (love that grandma reference) ... I have not understood so far why Day is so vague and enigmatic in his injury reports and why there has been a solid RB1 each and every week in the turnstile-like RB room (I mean c'mon ... Henderson, Williams, Pryor, Hayden, Trayanum ... and even Caffey ... all of them amazing). I haven't understood why there's been a seeming lack of intestinal fortitude on the team as well. The "grit", as the old-timers call it, is not team-wide. To me it seems like the team plays (or is coached as Ramzy might say) like they don't want to accidentally wreck the Lamborghini not recognizing that they're so much more than a souped-up speedster. It's like a Lambo is crossed with an A-10, crossed with a Hummer, crossed with an F-22 ... and a tank ... and an octopus ...
You don't know what you have until it's gone .... for example, toilet paper.
" To me it seems like the team plays (or is coached as Ramzy might say) like they don't want to accidentally wreck the Lamborghini not recognizing that they're so much more than a souped-up speedster. It's like a Lambo is crossed with an A-10, crossed with a Hummer, crossed with an F-22 ... and a tank ... and an octopus ."
This is both funny and sadly true at the same time.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
Oh lawd..
Pigskins & Porkrinds
Great article as always!
The pre/post bye week contrast is fascinating and something we’ve all seen and felt for weeks. Day even said it after the last game before the break (paraphrasing): “it’s too bad we’ve got the bye right now, as things are really humming”. While there was evidence of continued DB issues (see Toledo game), the offense was more than enough to mask the “few big plays” disclaimer we got from Knowles. My suspicion is that some good, old-fashioned corporate overthinking made its way into the Woody during the break and someone introduced the idea of “New Coke”. In what was one of the biggest, and most unnecessary strategic blunders in history, Coke (the market leader), decided it was a good idea to mess with a formula that had kept them in front of their competition for literally 99 years. It took them 79 days to right the ship and re-introduce Classic Coke. We’re 60 days removed from the start of the bye week - here’s hoping Day & Co. are hard at work planning the relaunch of our own classic brand of offense with the ingredients he worked so hard to curate.
As for the defensive backfield, well, I fear we’re being forced to drink Tab soda for the balance of this season. Best to pinch the nose and just chug it.
Hang 100...
Good point on the bye week. Baffling. I personally had the opportunity to attend the pre-bye MSU game in East Lansing on October 8th with my wife as a weekend getaway, my first ever OSU football Road game, and it was glorious. We walked the whole campus that morning and took it all in. OSU played so well. More importantly, I’ve always wanted to experience the 4th-quarter away stadium “O-H-I-O” chant, and I was not disappointed. You wouldn’t believe the empty seats on their home side after halftime. Then the Bye week came, and all the air left Day’s program. Again, just baffling.
Beautifully written, Ramy (because I absolutely agree with everything you said, lol). Be careful though, you lost some credibility with THE super obnoxious fanboy here. You know THE guy who will call you a clueless effin idiot "armchair qb" if you dared question the staff or tell you to shut up and go root for another team like some grade school kid would. THE guy who blamed any Buckeye misstep for 2 years on covid as if no other university dealt with that. THE same clown who hasn't posted here since Nov 26th. I sure miss that guy.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
It's really not beautifully written. Anyone with even basic research skills could see why the offense struggled in the 1st half of the season. In the first half of the year the defenses they averaged a 61.5 SP defensive ranking. In the 2nd half of the year the average was 41. Including 3 of the top 11 defenses. And one of the games being in such conditions that it made the passing game impossible so it was purely option football. Not to mention the running back was injured all year, getting worse after the break. The oline got injured in the second half of the year. Oh, and because they faced better defenses, they also faced coaches who had seen half a year of film to adjust to what Ohio State does offensively. And because of the limitations of the team (bad TEs at blocking, drop off from WR1 & 2 to WR3 and below, and a QB who refuses to run at all), the offense struggled to adjust to the defenses they now faced. Instead of going with the intelligent answer of the teams they faced were much better, injuries hit hard, and teams adjusted to what we did. The article decides that the answer is because Day is too secretive that is the problem.
(1) " Teams we faced were much better". I'll grant you that, but shouldn't our Buckeyes have improved over the course of the season also? Where did you see the improvement? (2) "Injuries hit hard". True, but how many programs have stacked recruiting classes like ours? All teams get banged up; our depth should have been an asset rather than an excuse. (3) Teams adjusted to what we do". That's what good coaching staffs do. I'd like to see our staff show that same ability. I just haven't seen it this season, even when we were sitting 11-0. Too many excuses. Something just seems off.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
Wild concept. Ohio State could've improved while also facing much tougher competition. Ohio State vs Notre Dame, a top 20 defense by SP, struggled to do anything for 3 quarters on offense. They only averaged 5.72 yards per play. Ohio State vs Iowa, Penn State, & Michigan, all top 20 defenses by SP had 47 points & 5.8 ypp, 38 points & 7.5 ypp, 23 points & 6.38 ypp. They clearly improved offensively even though the defenses they faced got better.
Another wild concept for you apparently. Recruiting rankings =/= depth. And just because someone is highly ranked doesn't mean they can magically come in as a true freshman and play at a really high level. Guys like Henderson or Garrett Wilson or JK Dobbins who can just come in an be borderline studs immediately are rare. Dallen Hayden lighting up Maryland (who run defense was atrocious) is not the same as running against Michigan. And the fall off from Marvin & Emeka to Flemming was drastic. And everyone behind Flemming are either seniors who were just never good enough, true freshman WRs, or Jaylen Ballard who only played in garbage time mostly. Fucking Michigan saw a drastic drop off from Corum & Edwards to their backups. And they have an absolutely elite oline. Injuries absolutely matter and pretending they don't is peak stupidity.
You probably haven't seen it because you lack the ability to understand it when it happens. They clearly adjusted vs Notre Dame & Penn State when the offense was struggling. Vs Notre Dame they moved to run heavy 12 personnel and dominated the 4th quarter. Vs Penn State they started attacking the empty zones left by their blitzes and off coverages. which is why the offense started to take off in the second half. Vs Maryland they clearly adjusted by putting in Hayden and attacking the right side of their defense where they were struggling to stop the run. And defensively only three teams had good days (Penn State, Maryland, & Michigan). All of them off big plays. Penn State had 7 plays over 20 yards, Maryland had 6, & Michigan had 6. All but 3 of those plays were due to the lack of talent in the secondary, which Knowles tried to hide by blitzing a lot to force QBs to pass quickly or showing disguised coverages to confuse the QB enough for JT or Harrison to get home on a sack. There's not adjusting for lack of talent. Which Ohio State lacked at DB, TE, & WR due to either injuries, transfers, or just general lack of talent
Agreed. It's well written but a mixture of cute (who doesn't love grandma stories even if they aren't really germane to the main accusation this article makes), salty, and too-clever-by-half. Is anyone still waiting for Jim Tressel to come to a podium and explain how a #1 undefeated team with a Heisman winning QB got eviscerated so badly by Florida that they didn't even look like they belonged in the same league? Good Lord, when did fans suddenly think they were a jury for this program any more than in their ability to stop being paying customers?
Nah. It was all because of an injury to our WR1 on the first play of the game that caused us to play slow and not defend very well.
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness - Lao Tzu
Throw the ball to #18. When running, set up the play so it looks like you are throwing to #18. Stop worrying about hurt feelings and the transfer portal. Play the best (and healthiest) running back. The best player plays at every position. If someone transfers, so be it. Bring in a transfer to replace them. It's the new world.
And maybe see if Kerry Coombs has any interest in coaching the secondary again (but ONLY the secondary). With so much talent back there, how can it be such a mess?
True story: I served ribs to John Cooper.
Nobody posting here is paid $10m to figure it out. Equating questions we have with actual strategy reviews by the coaches seems foolish to me. Posting here is a fun hobby for me. I certainly don't assume if I had the chance to communicate directly with Coach Day I would say anything other than Go Bucks and if I did ask a legitimate question out of curiosity, I wouldn't expect an in depth and fully truthful answer. The Buckeyes are playing hard and trying to win. Even the greatest college coach ever couldn't make it to the semifinals this season. Enjoy the success while we have it and keep working hard to get better. Go Buckeyes.
Michael
Great sentiment. To add one thing to your post - I actually do know what I’d say to Coach Day given the opportunity. As a OSU alum, Buckeye fan, and season tickets holder, who also happens to live in Annapolis, MD. I can say with 100% certainty, that win or lose, Navy football players, coaches and mangers, and entire student body, all sing the the Navy alma mater - to its full completion - at the end of every game. Won or loss. And with tears streaming down their faces when they lose to Army. This symbolic gesture is how internal fortitude is forged. Not some half-assed “O-HI-…” and make a run for the locker room. This is a tradition Coach Tressel started - modeled after the service academies. I know I stayed to the bitter end to sing Carmen Ohio. I’d ask Coach Day if he buys in. Based on what I saw, I’m not sure. He might need to do some thinking about starting his own damn tradition. Forge some steel! Go Bucks!
“Holy Buckeye!”
I bet you didn't see the full video of the post game where coach Day was gathering the players up, reminding them that we go sing with the band win or lose. What you saw was one moment, deceptively edited, and a coach that understands that his life just got exponentially more difficult with that loss. You're reading something into it that just isn't there because you have been told to.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Correction: The program is currently 0/5 in its three-goal platform, with the 2021 and 2022 B1G championship, 2021 and 2022 Michigan game, and the 2021 National Championship game all lost.
All will be well and good if they become 1/6.
Go Buckeyes!!!
Hiw about 2/5 go for broke...
Bbc11
Is it better to be pretty good/decent/great at a bunch of stuff, or just flat out #1 elite at 1 or 2 things?
The Excellence of Execution, the Best there is, the Best there was, the Best there ever will be!
Those are 3 very different things. It is better to be great at all things, rather than elite at 1 or 2.
But it is better to be elite at 1 or 2 things, than pretty good or decent at everything. OSU is pretty good at a bunch of stuff. When you are "pretty good" at something, you cannot rely on that in the key moments. When the going gets tough, you need that identity you can pull out to get you through. Ryan Day doesn't have that this year.
Last year, the passing attack was Elite. But it isn't even close to the same with the losses of Olave, Wilson, and JSN. They still have talent out there for sure, but it doesn't "suit" what Ryan Day likes to do.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
How about Ohio States last 9 games against top 10 opponents they are 3-6…..that was a stat I heard the other day….
Artthedart
This stat is the only stat that matters.
BOATS and HOES.
I was thinking earlier, how these last two years remind me of 1976-1978, we went from being a juggernaut, to not being able to beat anyone who was a decent opponent.
Yeah if you no longer count Penn State this year, Notre Dame, Utah in the Rose Bowl, 2021 Sparty who was 11-2 as decent teams. Y'all are fucking clowns. Suddenly because Ohio State lost two games vs Michigan, the teams are actually horrible and can't beat anyone good
Do any schools have winning records against top 10 teams? Probably not. They are top 10 teams for a reason.
That's just wrong if it's based off time of ranking considering OSU is 6-4 (2-1 2019 & 2020, 1-1 in 2021, & 1-1 in 2022) in their last 10 games. And if it's rankings at the end of the season that means nothing because if Ohio State wins a team drops, and they drop hard if Ohio State blows them out. So the only way to beat a top 10 team by end of the year is for them to end with only 1 or 2 losses, and that second loss basically has to be the bowl game to OSU. And considering Ohio State has made the CFP 4 of the last 7 seasons and hasn't won the CFP they automatically start with 4 losses to top 10 teams.
Also that number is just wrong even looking at the last 10 games for teams that finished top 10:
2022 Michigan - Loss (0-1)
2021 Michigan - Loss (0-2)
2021 Sparty - Win (1-2)
2020 Bama - Loss (1-3)
2020 Clemson - Win (2-3)
2020 NW - Win (3-3)
2019 Clemson - Loss (3-4)
2019 Penn State - Win (4-4)
2017 Wisconsin - Win (5-4)
2017 Penn State - win (6-4)
So they're 6-4 in they're last 10 vs top 10 teams. In order to get 6 losses you gotta go back to 2016 Clemson
Well stated Ramzy. I too was promoting that Ryan Day was holding back against teams they would handily beat as we watched vanilla week after week. I was confident that coach was playing a brilliant game of chess, lulling opponents in to thinking vanilla then would bring out all the flavors when we played Michigan. The weather was perfect to implement creativity and talent. I still think Day has the ability and indeed, injuries have plagued the team. I disagree that we a privileged to injury/medical information unless the athlete agrees to release to the public. No one is entitled to that information for any number of reasons, including federal law.
I still think we have the most talented QB in college football and that running him would only lead to injury, as we have seen with nearly every other running QB. We have also been plagued by REALLY BAD officiating where both our receivers and D line are being held at will without consequences.
I am on the side of conspiracy: the BIG 10 needs Michigan to be relevant given the giant contract they just signed. My hope is that Gene Smith will make a call to the league office that is supplying the referees for the Georgia game to express the expectation that Buckeye nation wants to see an equitably called game. I don’t like to lose, but understand it will occur. Losing because the refs refuse to call a penalty on our opponent for 50% of playing time while calling penalties on us is unacceptable.
These boots were made for walking..
Ohio State goes wild against average football teams, but get ravaged by the programs that play mean, smashmouth offense and defense. At this stage of the season, we can't pivot to something other than what we already are.
klusewski
I am not sure I agree with most posters on some of these, but I do think that OSU needs to push what it is good at. It seems like Day really pushed the physical run game when the fans were demanding it sometimes at the expense of the passing game. I get it, but it would be interesting to see if they went in seeking to light somebody up than how would it work. Still need to run but balance it out.
I will say that the Rose bowl, despite being fine to watch from an offensive perspective did have Utah with a RB playing CB and JSN made him look really bad over and over again. That usually does not happen.
Playing good teams is harder but I want to see them throw caution to the wind against Georgia. Use your best players all that you can.
2 things. We lost to Michigan 2 years in a row by 2 different d coordinators. Also, if stroud didn’t run against Michigan he sure isn’t going to run against Georgia.
Doug
Yes, what's interesting though is the way we lost in both instances. The D played poorly in both games but in different ways. One defense got physically dominated and the other one gave up explosive plays galore.
A common denominator though was sputtering on offense, especially in the second half. You do your D no favors if you're not moving the ball and scoring. And Day has to answer for that, not the D coordinators.
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
-Jack Handey
Look, this is how we should have played and how we should play against Georgia and the NC game:
You win with people.
And so forth...
9 Units Strong!
love the article, Ramzy, but just what the hell does it have to do with the title "Choosing Violence" ? it's hump day, I'm tired and cranky, so hope someone can splain it to me...thank you in advance
Faster, tougher, and more violent...
It was called “title” until yesterday. That part is usually the last thing I do before publishing. I didn’t know what to call it, so I just cherry-picked from the column.
It’s a fitting title. Look no further than these boards after or loss or even when we’re not winning with enough style points. Violence is the perfect word.
Very well written article. To me, intangibles like leadership can be important in "moments", but 98% of football games are still won by talent, scheme and execution. The latter two have been lacking.
As others have said, teams have figured out the blueprint to stopping us - let us get our yards between the 20s ans bog us down in the red zone. It doesnt help that execution by the players has been lacking as well in these moments.
Day is going to need to crack the code to change things up, as it appears to this layman, that he hasnt adjusted much to what other teams are doing. The good news is that nothing thats happened before today matters anymore - its a 2 game season now and a fresh start. So he still has an oportunity to fix it. Hoping he's able to.
News Flash!
The code is obvious to everyone. CJ needs to actually run the fucking ball. Multiple times vs Michigan he'd hand the ball off and the DE on his side didn't even attempt to keep the edge. Had CJ kept the ball it would've been walk in TDs.
The reality is this offense presents more as a checklist than a plan of attack. We are going to try this and that and if it does not work try a different variation. It does not seem to be organized or have a plan associated with it. This for me is evident the way we stand and stare at the side line waiting for a call. They have that whole card of plays and yet we see the same plays. Now some of this is player execution, but regardless, it seems lie there is a disconnect. Of course, when this is all over we will hear about it eventually and I am speculating that it is a QB issue.
This^^^^ right here! CJ stands and stares at the sideline to change the play numerous times, it seems. I understand he's requesting a change after seeing the defensive formation. In the meantime, we get a Delay of Game call, and the defense gets five extra yards and more rest. Hurry the fuk up!! This offense in NOT a "hurry-up" offense by any stretch. Pick up the pace, fellas, if you're looking to tire the defense. I HATE the multiple play call changes.
As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.
Stroud is like the baseball pitcher that shakes off all the signs until he gets one for a fastball. You may have a 100+ mph heater but if it’s all you throw all year guys are going to light you up.
I tend to agree. But where is Day to pull Stroud aside and tell him to go through his progressions? If X or Y aren’t open, look to the check down. If you don’t have time for that, run forward and not twenty five yards behind the LOS. Slide. It’s your best friend
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Choosing Violence?"
Ramzy is spot on about the O becoming queer after the break. I have been saying for weeks the erratic play was manufactured. Day purposely running plays that marginally worked or ran them so often their D coordinator could watch film of 1 offensive series and figure out all the plays Day was running and how to stop it. Refusing to make any substantial changes or show new wrinkles off of existing plays much less any new plays. Vanilla, predictable, unimaginative. Day stubbornly held the offense back. Refusing to let it loose. It was once said that the only one who could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points was Dean Smith. Ryan Day is the same with OSU's offense. It is as good as he will let it be.
BUCKSRUS
Yeats was right:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
CJ cannot hear Day;
Things fall apart; the centre is called for a hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Ann Arbor to be born?
Thanks Vball10set for saying this. Shouldn’t the article have been titled “Choosing Coyness”? That word sums up this whole season under Coach Day…reluctant to give details, especially about something regarded as sensitive.
We can strategize forever, but in the big picture, maybe this team just isn’t as good as we want it to be. Maybe our $9.5M coach is struggling to be a Head Coach. All the good teams have us figured out. We’ve got a group of good kids, but no leadership or spirit on the sideline. We may need a miracle to beat UGA.
Does Day have it in him to go for broke? It took Woody going for broke by throwing to TE Fred Pagac to shock the Trojans and finally beat USC for once. We may need a similar miracle on 12.31.
PacificCoastBuckeye
Word of the day- constituency
Great article! Long overdue.
Joe Swartz
As far as the RB rotation goes, do we know who actually decides who plays? Does Alford as the RB coach decides who plays or does Day have input?
I've been wondering since halftime of the Maryland game if whoever makes the playing decision was either told (Day to Alford) or convinced (Day by Alford) to take out Henderson and play Hayden?
The rotating injury carousel of RB's this season has been maddening. Is the RB playing time decider saying that an RB can play even with a nagging injury until it becomes obvious they can't perform well and then the next guy goes in? Once Chop and Tre started trading injury weeks it seemed to take a lot for another back to get any carries.
This was a great article...PERFECT!
Just WIN…it all takes care of itself!
Carty1GoBucks
half time score Georgia 21 OSU 3 ...2nd Half it gets worse ...Day will not magically make this very talented team into a nasty mean kick ass violent team in one month .....
17-10 Georgia halftime
Doug
All the problems OSU has will not be solved in a month.Prove me wrong Coach.
Ohio State Football isnt a matter of life or death,its much more serious than that.
really great article Ramsey !.... been wondering what's going on/ with this team.... seems so many think it's a Day Problem as this is his (first) HC job. Yes 44-5 is damn good, but his stubbornness hints at an inferiority complex and HC experience in the big games. I know we dont like Hairball, but he's got tons of experience as a NFL player, (14 years) NFL coach (super bowl) big time college player... etc..... (vs Day played QB at sub- FBS UNH ) ..... even took Stanford to a BCS ....... and he was smart and confident enough to beg his brother to lend him an NFL wiz kid as DC, who went back to the Ravens, then he brings in another one this season. Yes he couldnt beat Urban ( who was fantastic w/ years of HC exp). ....... And i dont think HairBall calls the O plays (does he ? ) Smart confident CEO's dont have any problems bringing in talented people to work for them,,,, knowing they could take their Job.... but less confident Execs are less transparent & protective. I sure hope Day listens to someone.... and lets someone else call the plays.... being the CEO of the OSU football program is tough enough.
flabucknut
Since the preceding comments say it all, I can only comment on
"don't smooth over the toothpick holes in their homemade buckeyes on purpose so that everyone knows they are authentic without having to ask."
I smooth over the toothpick holes. The uneven chocolate coating makes it obvious that they are authentic.
VA_Buck
There are keyboard warriors on here who played football in Jr. High and act like they know football. The reason Day (shame on you who compare him to John Cooper) does not disclose injuries is so that opponents can’t practice towards any one player and is a coaching strategy. If you did not practice this as a coach then you would not be a D1 coaching candidate. The writer of this article actually complains about our Buckeyes using walk-ons as valid weapons for the cause. Have you heard of the Georgia qb?
Dan
BS any good coach will practice as though an injured player is playing.
Ohio State Football isnt a matter of life or death,its much more serious than that.
You must have a comprehension problem as you just made my point
Dan
You must have a structuring a sentence problem as you just made mine
Ohio State Football isnt a matter of life or death,its much more serious than that.
For those of you who are concerned that the coyness of a coach (who has only lost to playoff teams and Oregon) as the raison d’etre for the downfall of this team, wait until you hear about how far behind OSU is in the NIL race which will play the most significant role in future losses and have fuck all to do with anything Ryan Day does or anyone else holding a whistle for that matter.
Brilliant article. Ryan Day is coy. Team is getting progressively worse. Players haven’t played well. No accountability. Lack of discipline. Matt Jones hurt and is ineffective yet he’s not replaced. Stover can’t block or catch in the clutch since the bye week and he’s not replaced. Our 4 & 5 star corners had zero interceptions all season. Our three 5 star Edge Rushers had zero sacks vs TTUN. Coaching on both sides of the ball has been suspect. Special teams play is below average. What angers me is that we have all this talent and get pushed around by Northwestern and Maryland, get boat-raced by TTUN and cannot play a 4 quarter game. Bottom line: TTUN does more with less, we do less with more.
Dollar Bill
Clap clap clap !!!!
Ohio State Football isnt a matter of life or death,its much more serious than that.
I love Ramzy’s writing. He’s creative and truthful simultaneously. That’s a rare gift.
I feel like we’re at the beginning of “John Cooper, 2nd Edition.” The best Ohio State coaches were men whose were roots were in Ohio: Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer.
Much like John Cooper, Ryan Day is an outsider. Day seems like a nice man, maybe a good coach. But Ohio State needs a great coach who understands physical football. I’m not sure that Day can get there.
Class of ‘71
Man this is well written. Wonderful read. Thank you!
Ramzy can write ! Terrific article. Well done
puddy
This is well written, and was a pleasure to read. Thank you for your insight, and time.
"There's always going to be an element of pressure when you walk on the stage." -Eddie George
I need a drink.
Why does the media feel like they have the right to know about injuries? It’s nobody’s business but the player, the parents and the team. It’s not the NFL.
Is this a Game Day thread or an article? Holy shit!!!! All the negativity. Two words sums that up - spoiled and entitled
Irrational too.
Princess Buckeye
Superb article. What we’ve been missing for a long time regarding unanswered questions. Bravo! Bravo!
Buckeye football isn’t every thing on Saturday. It’s the only thing on Saturday
Ramzy is a great writer but it’s impossible to make him happy.
Tressel couldn’t win on the big stage after 2002.
Urban’s off field stuff.
Day is now 1-2 vs Michigan.
Its always something - you’re right, it’s not perfect.
Attaining perfection is overwhelmingly unlikely, if not impossible, but not having that as your goal sets you up for failure. It's a journey, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Besides, it gives us mere mortals something to bitch about, lol.
If you have two people that agree on everything, that only means one of them is not thinking at all.
Pandering to angry Buckeye fans is a great way to make a living. Not that I'm complaining. It's awesome having a great writer in our corner -- but, man, it's easy to drum up likes when you're speaking to the upset feelings of sports fans.
A lot of commenters, including me, have been comparing this Buckeye team to Rocky in Rocky III and I think it’s accurate. The Rocky in Rocky III was fat and happy. He was rich and famous and living his best life. He was being protected from Clubber Lang by his manager, Mick. Rocky III was soft and scared and weak, and he got the crap beat out of him by Clubber Lang and Mick died. AND THEN APPOLO CREED CAME ALONG and took him to LA and out of his cushy showroom training and got his EYE OF THE TIGER back. That HUNGER. THAT is what this team is missing. Not all of them, but enough of them. This is corny. I know it. But if it weren’t for quoting movies I wouldn’t be much of a conversationalist at parties. Bottom line is that this Buckeye squad has EVERYTHING IT NEEDS to bring home that championship. EVERYTHING. They just gotta BELIEVE. And I believe they will DO IT.
Round on the ends and "HI" in the middle. O-HI-O.
So, now you want the Team to cater to IRRATIONAL fans? What a load of BS.
This Coach and this Team does not owe personal medical information to ANY fan. Period. Was it only a year ago, when the info on Miller came out, that everyone on here was pontificating how they would never, ever again demand personal information on players because they had no damn idea what these young men were going through? Lots of crocodile tears shed, but it appears that was just a CROCK. Now you're demanding personal information on players and calling out specific young men with nasty comments on the Board and pieces like this. Sad that someone who could write so eloquently about Kam Babb a few weeks ago would stoop to THIS drivel. I expected better from Eleven Warriors.
I love my Buckeyes. Always have, whether they won all their games, or lost a lot of them. In my fifty years as a Buckeye I have never felt ashamed of the team, no matter what happened. But right now I AM ashamed of Buckeye Nation. Or at least a portion of it. The IRRATIONAL fans. The IMPATIENT fans. The fans that demand to know things that are none of their damn business. I'll be watching the Buckeyes on the 31st, and hopefully again on January 9th. But I won't be ashamed of them if they lose and I won't kick them if they're down.
Buckeye for life.
Princess Buckeye
Amazing comment. Well done. Buckeye fan for life. These are just kids out there doing their best (unless you are 25 year old Stetson Bennet) so I refuse to take shots at their will to win or effort in games. I love cheering for them on gamedays but I realized years ago I was much too attached to the outcome of the games and that meant the emotions were coming from somewhere else. Cheer these players on to victory and if defeat is the result, cheer them on for their effort. Go Bucks!
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness - Lao Tzu
What the hell did I just read?
BuckAttitude
Never have I heard one coach with coachspeak. They are all upfront and honest about every aspect of their program. Being transparent with the weekly injury report would put osu on an alabama like championship run no doubt about that. Good that all the grandma's know as much as the coaches do, especially the grandma writers.
I suspect the osu defense had much to do with the video game rose bowl, and that includes the 5, 6, and 7 best db or rb playing db for utah. The offense may have looked similar against um if they played with their 2nd team db's as well. The bye week voodoo may be better explained by playing 3 of the 4 teams with a pulse after the said bye. Even tho we all know that it's really not a bye week, it's an off week. It's also just as likely if the schedule was flipped front to back osu would have improved immensely after that 1st week loss to um, especially against that other mi. team. Hell, mh jr. may have had his best game in the second half of the season. That's how seasons are judged you know, after the bye.
I think you hit on the real problem, with a defense that is still evolving after 13 weeks of football. And you were being very kind. Osu had to hold um to less than a td in the second half, one team's defense did the job holding the oppositon to 3 pts. the other didn't. I do agree constituents may find the worst possible version of the truth to be illuminating. This article prooves that.
Killing osu for a player's injury, it is football isn't it? They played well without him for the entire season. He tried to come back several times, should that too be criticized? That's acting like the wolves on here howling about the A&M boosters. Maybe the NIL directive should ask jsn for their money back too? They didn't get their money's worth after all. What was that, about $120,000 a catch? Care to chip in?
Not one mention of a Defense that gave up 275yds rushing to scUMin that master piece of an article, Ramzies is wanting injury reports and answers why? Well here you go bone head, Myian Williams had a 270lb guy rollover on his foot, that can cause soft tissue injuries, Henderson has a broken bone in his foot, not soft tissue, JSN had an almost targeting hit how do you condition for those? You want someone to give you a daily injury report? Have Coach Day write it on toilet paper and put it under your windshield wiper. You know the 6hrs it took to write this comic strip, you will never get that time back, wow how old is Ramzies ? 14?
How many burner accounts do you have Coach Day?
Shatinkycat1
Sadly, some time after JSN went down, I posted that we'd seen his last game in a Buckeye jersey and got hammered for it. I have no idea what went on but it felt to me, at some point in the weeks following, that there was more to the story than a hamstring injury. He took a massive blow to the head which nobody talked about. Then radio silence took over, but the repetitive we're taking it day-to-day continued coming out of OSU. To me, at some point, this went from a medical discussion with doctors to an NFL future conversation with agents. It has always, and should, be JSN's decision, but this just seems to have been badly mishandled on a few levels.
As for what happened to the offense after the bye week - Ryan Day seems to have become an Earle Bruce type predictable play caller - scared shitless to lose a game so play it safe. Earle Ryan relentlessly call the Dave Right, Dave Left on 1st and 2nd downs leaving a constant stream of 3rd down and plus 8 yard situations. Running back injuries have a hand in it, but predictable play calling was the main killer of its effectiveness. It BAFFLES me how successful throwing down (the 10/15 yarders) was, and yet, they were quickly replaced by Dave Right/Left and that fucking constant dialing up of the 100% ineffective bubble screen plays.
This obsession that we have to pound the shit out of the running game and doing it so predictably, had a serious cause/effect vacuum result leading to the constant narrative we couldn't run the ball, causing Day to get more predictable trying to force it to happen, only to enforce the false narrative that we couldn't run the ball!
The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced
Day get paid nearly 10 million a year to call “unpredictable” plays. You could hire literally any one who calls run plays to the A gap. There is no creativity at all and the defense stuffs it when we need it. First half it was working against Michigan but they made adjustments because they have a NFL level coordinator over there.
Maybe if Day had a NFL level offensive coordinator to match up he’d have a better shot at this. But he insists on calling plays and that bogs down the offense. Let’s look and see where his lack of focus on the overall team cost them in the Michigan game. Gee Scott with personal foul penalty, fourth down fake punt that never transpired because the long snapper didn’t understand the play, numerous false starts on the offensive line when trying to go tempo, guys dropping passes. Of course these aren’t all on Day but if the players aren’t focuses, it is the coach’s job to reach them and get them prepared.
Defensively with the stupid ass pass interference penalties (which seemingly were called only one way but that’s for another topic), pass rush not getting to McCarthy in time, wide open receivers, missed tackles. Guys have to execute but ultimately who will be blamed? The coaching staff. Despite Day telling everyone they have great weeks of practice, who actually believes this anymore? And the article is spot on about injury reports. Coach speak is absolutely acceptable when all is well but not when they look uninspired and bored the second half of the season.
When telling the truth becomes a revolutionary concept, it’s wise to join the revolution
Agree with everybody on this site calling for Day to hire a progressive and aggressive play caller. Day can continue to devise plays, schemes, etc., but when it comes to seeing/feeling what is happening on the field and adjusting. It is frustrating to watch CJ successfully pick apart a defense with downfield shots (5/10/15 yard variety) because his receivers are wide open, only to have each one of those followed up by a constant flow of Daves and bubble screens. I cannot stand this mentality that we have to force a running game first... fuck that. Those downfield shots should be used the majority of the time until the defense adjusts to try and shut it down. THAT should have been Day's mentality but somehow he slipped into forcing a running game while abandoning the progressive and unpredictable.
The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced
Coach Day came in as a fearless play caller. The "my defense is based on me scoring a touchdown every f'ing time I have the ball" kind of approach. He has turned into a Jim Tressel game manager, which gives everyone/anyone we play hope. We have an NFL QB, NFL linemen and a multitude of NFL wide receivers. Coach Fearless ... we need you back on the sideline. Go hang 50 on GA, pray for Michigan to bore TCU into submission, then send MI back into the realm of "who was that team that the Bucks beat by 70 in the Natty back in '23?".
Yahooby 82
If you have ever been around an actual football team at all, in game you realize it's easier to play fearless when you have a lead or your defense is keeping you in the game. For what ever reason the Defensive staff went Brain Dead vs Michigan and ran the same old defense every play, even as stupid as Hairball is he figured out if they are blitzing all but 2-3 and if the WR's or TE's can break free it will likely be a TD. Day saw this was going to be a dog fight so a mistake going for it on your own side of the 50 could be a death warrant, Day was just playing the odds tying to get a score and make it a closer game.
I love Ramzy, but this is incorrect. The University is a Covered Entity under HIPAA, and the same protections that apply to information held in your medical record apply to that of the students--whether they're an athlete or not. I know that it's become commonplace for people to invoke HIPAA when it doesn't apply, but this is the rare case where it actually does come into play. Having said that, I don't think patient privacy concerns are the primary reason Day is so tight-lipped about injuries.
I would like to offer an alternative perspective to what seems to be the predominant sentiments on this site. I don’t expect anyone to agree with me on all points, but I would ask that people try not to get stuck on any one particular point they disagree with and then ignore everything else---something that I admit that I myself often do.
For context, I was/am gutted by the loss against TTUN. I had another nightmare about it last night. I often say and believe that I would rather have a four-loss team that beats TTUN than a one-loss team that doesn’t. I think dislike TTUN more than I like OSU. I first became a big fan of our team in 1993, when we entered the Game undefeated and got shut out, 0-28. The Cooper years scarred me in a way that still has consequences today. And to make it worse, my job requires me to live in Washtenaw County, MI, home of the TTUN, so every day is a minefield of maize Ms on blue backgrounds. There’s no escaping it, and I feel like I’m living in enemy territory.
All that to say that I hate losing to TTUN. It crushed me last year and this year. I think we were outcoached this year, and it sucks.
That said, I strongly disagree with multiple sentiments that I keep seeing over and over again.
1. Our team is “soft”. Our team is not soft. It wasn’t softness that led to the big plays in the Game. It was poor scheming and poor coverage in the secondary. We fans should not be in the business of buying into narratives from TTUN (ex-)coaches.
2. Day isn’t great and all his success comes from what he inherited from Meyer. If Meyer was so much a better coach Day, why didn’t he make it to the playoffs in 2017 or 2018, or perhaps most glaringly, in 2015? Why did we lose 0-31 to Clemson the last time we went to the playoffs under Meyer? Why was Day able to produce a superior team in 2019 to the one we had in 2018? No one can convince me that what Day has done in the last four years is any considerable drop off compared to what Meyer did in his last four years or what Tressel—my favorite coach—did in any four consecutive years. (I’m also not convinced that we would’ve beaten TTUN in 2018 without Day’s help as an assistant, but of course I could be wrong. I’d also add that the 2013 and 2016 games could’ve easily gone the other way, for whatever that’s worth.)
It’s incredibly hard to win football games week in and week out. Just ask Saban, Meyer, Dabo… anyone. I don’t care if half of the teams are “cupcake” teams. There is no world in which an NCAA football team today wins every game, every season, year after year after year.
If nothing else, please don’t repeat the blathering of Harbaugh about Day starting on third and thinking he hit a triple. First, again, let’s not buy into TTUN’s bullshit, second Day has produced a top 5 team for four straight years, and third, those are big words coming from a guy born into a football coaching family to a guy whose dad committed suicide. And for people who want Day to “clap back”, Proverbs 12:16: “Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult”.
3. Day is a nice guy but not a great coach and is Cooper 2.0. Being a nice guy and a great coach aren’t mutually exclusive. I think Meyer is a great coach, but his style came at a major cost, not least to himself and his family. It’s no coincidence that he had to leave coaching in his prime twice. He and his family couldn’t take the stress.
And our players don’t just need to learn how to be killing machines, they need to learn how to be men, and that includes learning to be kind and live in a way that one can maintain for the long run. I believe that Day loves his players and is training them for life while still doing the thing he’s primarily paid to do---win football games at an elite pace.
If TTUN doesn’t duck us in 2020, Day is 2-2 against them. And his losses come against better teams than the vast majority of the teams that Cooper lost to. Again, the losses gutted me, and I think Day was outcoached this year, so I’m not happy about it. But we need some perspective—myself included. I think we’re blessed to have Ryan Day.
I’ll close by saying that, for my sanity, I need to take a big step back from college football. I’ve made it an idol and it’s too tied to my sense of happiness. Our repeated success over the past 20 years has made losses harder, and all the hype of 24hr sports-talk and social media has inflamed the worst aspects of the sport. When I can’t have a good day for weeks after we lose a game, I need to change something. I need to I need to invest more time in my family and controlling things I can control. I suspect that many or most of the 11W community is better able than I to treat football as a fun diversion and not treat it as the end-all-be-all. But it’s not particularly easy for me. If you’re like me, let me suggest, humbly, that while OSU football is great, the worth of you and your life stretches far beyond OSU football and whether they win or lose. I need to remind myself of that a lot, so if there’s someone else out there like me, I hope this helps.
Excellent comment. Suggested reading on lessening the effect the games have in your life: "The Five Levels of Attachment" by Don Miguel Ruiz. Sure helped me.
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness - Lao Tzu
Great post. It's so easy to get swept up in false narratives as a fan. "Perspective" is in short supply around these parts for sure. I still take losses hard but not nearly as hard as I used to. Have to remember that the world keeps spining win or lose. What do we really gain when OSU wins? Bragging rights? Your life still remains the same at the core, win or lose. I love watching the Buckeyes, and love it even more when they win, but you have to keep things in perspective about what football really is, a game.
I think you can avoid some of the hurt by avoiding ESPN and the talking head circus talking badly about your team after a loss. Also by avoiding getting into pissing matches with fans of other teams, whether we win or lose.
The beauty of football for me is it brings us together. My brother and cousin drove in from out of town to my house just to watch the Mich game with me, when otherwise I would not have seen them. It was a disappointing loss for sure but when the game was over we turned it off and still had a great day. We will be doing the same on New Year's Eve. How many schools wish they were in the playoffs and planning a NYE watch party right now? We are blessed to root for a program that gives us these big games. We all want them to do well but the whole "everyone and everything OSU sucks and should be fired and disgraced" when they lose a game is way over the top and out of line.
Agree with every word of this.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ramzy nailed it: "They appear to be refusing the opportunity to exploit or lean on their talent advantages anymore".
I hate to say it but TTUN and Jimmy put the game in the hands of JJ McCarthy and said: "Go do what you do best".
When is the last time we saw Day put the ball in the hands of CJ Stroud and said: "We're passing, vertically down the field, on every down. Short, long, intermediate, crossing routes, halfbacks in the flat. Go do what you do best."
‘Son, go throw some horrible arm punts to your grossly uncovered receivers’.
McCarthy is no worldbeater but I give the kid credit. He connected on long passes to those grossly uncovered receivers. Plus he can scamper forward and gain yards. He’s far from a polished passer but he should get better.
Buckeye football isn’t every thing on Saturday. It’s the only thing on Saturday
I typically feel refreshed and vindicated after reading Ramzy's words. Today is not one of those days. I try my best to not pass blame onto coaches and/or the players. Sometimes the better team wins, no matter how hard we try to make ourselves believe otherwise.
Ramzy has gutted Coach Day two weeks in a row in his column. I gave last week a pass based off raw emotion. I too wanted Day to be gone. Cooler heads tend to prevail, and a couple days after I had moved on. Ramzy did not, rather he ripped off the scab and took another swipe that ripped open a new wound. It's like Coach Day showed up to the prom with Ramzy's girlfriend from 1996, kissed her in front of him, and then showed him pics of their kids.
It's like someone found a frozen bag of Cooper-era bile, warmed it up, poured it into a bowl, served it to every Buckeye fan over the age of 30, and didn't even have the courtesy to hand us a spoon. Yeah, it tastes that bad, and beating up on the current Coach, players, etc. etc. in hope of making that bowl of bile more palatable is not going to work. At least not for me. Some of y'all need to get over it....like seriously move on with your lives.
A lot of times the better team wins. A lot of times there are internal issues within teams that cause issues on the field. Losing star after star to the NFL (early) combined with losing current stars to injury is a helluva lot to overcome. I have no idea what happened with the current crop of Buckeyes, but it didn't take someone with a Doctorate in Football Studies to see there were issues at just about every single position. Let us not forget, significant change occurred with the leadership on defense AND the offensive line. When change occurs, there will always be struggles. Why was everyone so shocked when TTUN won in Columbus? I have no idea.
Words matter. Perspective matters. Expectations need to be tempered and a good dose of reality needs to be swallowed. Ohio State will lose football games. EVERY school will lose football games. We don't fire the coach for losing 2 games in two years. We fire coaches for losing control of their players, embarrassing the University, or committing heinous acts. Coach Day has done nothing of the sort. All the dude has done is try to piece together a winning gameplan while at the same time plugging holes to keep the boat from sinking. A boat that is seemingly always trying to sink because it is always getting holes put in it, and we as fans don't help by pouring water into it by saying, writing, and growling things like "Day sucks" or "We demand better from our team" or "$9.5 million gets us this" or "Knowles defense doesn't work in the BIG" or "Day is from New Hampshire.." What in the actual @#$@??
Deep breaths my friends.
Go Bucks!
Much agreed BOB. Deep breaths indeed.
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness - Lao Tzu
Amen
Such insightful and true observations. Nice job as always Ramzy!
In old Ohio there's a team that's known throughout the land...
I had a feeling this one was going to raise some hackles.
The most "loud mouth, disrespect" poster on 11W.
Well, we certainly don't have a Zeke or a JK Dobbins or a QB who can run like Fields, JT or Brax could (CJ has a HELL of an arm for sure and is a great kid). So, the running game is probably not going to get us there unless someone in the stable is healthy and has the mindset to bust it up. Our biggest weakness however is our secondary, hopefully that will get patched up some. You have to go with the strengths you have, which is our passing game, we have an NFL caliber QB and WR (Harrison Jr.) and Egbuka and Fleming are top notch CFB WR's also. I think the bucks just need to get into a shootout and hope they can score more points than UGA, as Ramzy pointed out, this is something they could do with all the talent they have in their aerial squad.
The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win. -- Woody Hayes
It's not rocket science, Ramzy. It's a coach who's been afraid to coach. It was obvious that JSN had not been on a pitch count the second time he was put in. But if Day had said that JSN gotten hurt again more people than a bad dog from Maine would have been suggesting that the OSU coaching staff had not provided proper attention to a player. (Would we know that JSN was done even now had he not announced it himself?) In terms of our offense Day has become so stuck on what he likes and therefore so predictable that coaches who watch film know how to defend us. Even NW was able to mostly shut us down. It's not that we don't have the players to do better, it's that Day has not been developing plans to maximize his players. If he doesn't do better for GA we are likely to get badly embarrassed. We can win that game. But Day needs to start showing that he was not born on third base.
It seems the great head football coaches at any level have there own unique system and philosophy. A way of doing things as a foundation they never abandon under any circumstances. Players and coaches come and go, but the results rarely ever change much overall because the belief system and structure of the whole operation remains sound.
Ryan Day had great success early on using the system Urban Meyer built and subsequently left in place when he left. After a couple years the program was no longer Urban Meyer's and became all Ryan Day. Day never had a chance to figure out what he was about because he had never run another program before he got this job. I believe he's still trying to figure out on the fly what his core values, philosophy, and system really are. This is a tough place to be figuring those sort of things out.
I believe it's time to start from scratch for Ryan Day or he's not going to survive here. Old guys with any links to the previous Meyer regime like Pantoni, Marotti, Larry Johnson, Corey Dennis, Tim Walton, and so on need to be replaced with new blood. Ryan Day needs to go get his own people not who Meyer liked and hired.
- Bobby Boucher is the best Foosball QB since Joe Mantegna -
What has happened to Ramzy? This isn’t quality writing, this is a bunch of tired tropes found on Twitter.
Is anyone going to actually start backing this team before the Peach Bowl, or are we going to keep complaining about every freaking thing?
“I have yet to be in a game where luck was involved. Well-prepared players make plays. I have yet to be in a game where the most prepared team didn't win.” - Urban Meyer
1000 Nuns and 100 Popes backing and praying for us would not be enough to save us against Georgia.
- Bobby Boucher is the best Foosball QB since Joe Mantegna -