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2023 tOSU Offense

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ScriptOhio said:
www.landgrantholyland.com

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Ohio State’s 23-3 win over Indiana

Ryan Day cannot function as both the Buckeyes’ GM and primary play-caller.
www.landgrantholyland.com www.landgrantholyland.com

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Ohio State’s 23-3 win over Indiana​

Ryan Day cannot function as both the Buckeyes’ GM and primary play-caller.

The Ugly​

Play-Calling

Holy hell, was the play-calling in this game bad. I don't even quite know where to start. We touched on the plays in the run game a few times earlier on here, but Ryan Day was seemingly addicted to calling runs into the boundary no matter how many times it failed. The play-calling on the ground was especially predictable, continuing to run headfirst into the blitz on third-and-short as a big reason Ohio State did so poorly converting. Especially behind a line that clearly needs more work in the run blocking area, Day was setting his team up to fail time and time again.

In addition, Day trying to outsmart himself by going away from his best players far too often. Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka finished this game combining for five catches for 34 yards. There is no reason to not put the ball in the hands of your best players more. Every time the Buckeyes needed to pick up yards in key areas, Day elected to draw up a play directed towards a tight end or running back. It is good that you trust all of your guys to come up in big spots, but you have two of the best wide receivers in the country — use them!

So many of Ohio State’s issues on offense can be directly attributed to play-calling. I don’t think McCord played exceptionally good or bad, but we really didn't get to see all that he can do out there because Day seemed too scared to call a forward pass more than five yards upfield and instead remained conservative from start to finish. With all of the talent the Buckeyes have at the skill positions, it is indefensible to not let these guys loose. Instead, the offense looked tight and played scared against an inferior opponent for no good reason. To finish a game without a passing touchdown in this offense is inexcusable.

It is looking more and more apparent that Ohio State will not be able to maximize its talent until Day gives up the play-calling. He is a tremendous quarterback coach, recruiter and program-builder, but it is putting too much on your plate to also have the call sheet in your hands on game days. He is trying to do too much and always wants to look like the smartest guy in the room, and it is going to once again cost his team at the end of the year — if not sooner.
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Shrieking hysteria from Land Grant Holy Land. Why am I not surprised?

• "Especially behind a line that clearly needs more work in the run blocking area...."

• "Day trying to outsmart himself by going away from his best players far too often...."

• "Remained conservative from start to finish...."

Which is actually the entire point of Ryan Day's play calling. This was essentially a preseason game, a tune-up, an opportunity to work on things during live action, to see what unproven players could do against a real opponent. If your goal is to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten Championship, and make a playoff run at the end of the season, then when you're playing the patsies in early September you work on the things that you need to improve, like say run blocking in short yardage situations.

• "It is looking more and more apparent that Ohio State will not be able to maximize its talent until Day gives up the play-calling...."

Is there any long-term benefit to "maximizing your talent" against an opponent that is clearly outmatched? What's the point of rolling up 600 yards and 60 points against Indiana in Game 1 only to be outmuscled by Michigan in Game 12? To impress the yahoos who write for LGHL? Ohio State's first real test is against Notre Dame in three weeks. I will reserve judgment on Ryan Day and his play calling until the conclusion of that game.
 
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pnuts34 said:
I'm disappointed only that Day seemed to revert back to his tight, stingy, predictable play calling. It was obvious once he loosened the leash on McCord in the 2nd half that McCord looked better. Hopefully the next 2 games he let's him get comfortable
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I think some of the reason why the play calling seems predictable is that Day's offense is pretty much the same offense it has been since he took over. There is a lot of tape on what they are going to do and Indiana's DC was on the Buckeye's staff last season.

I also think there is very little misdirection built into Day's system especially in the run. That just makes everything more predictable, if you are using more predictable plays for your system the play calling is just going to look predictable.

The offense needs to evolve and they need to bring new plays to the table. McCord isn't ready made to play at this level like Stroud, Fields, or Haskins. He will develop as he gets game reps but I think it's doing a disservice to him and the offense by just using the same playbook that they have been using for years.
 
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BuckeyeSoldier said:
Sure sounds a lot like the same chicken littles calling for Stroud to be benched. I am starting to think football may not be best for some of your hearts good grief.
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I think this is important to keep in mind. Game 1, on the road, against a team that's not a total push over. Balanced against a QB in the system for 3 years, playing not to make mistakes, with cringe QB runs being called by Day.

Reserve judgement and see if gels.

Line doesn't help matters.

I expect a big improvement.

If it was treated like a preseason game I wish they would have played #33 a little more, but it's fragile you can't yank McCord I was surprised they did after the pick that's when I would have rallied. Personally, I would have switched them sooner before the pick and had a plan for rotating so neither looked over their shoulder etc maybe there was and then they got punched in the mouth I don't know :shrug:
 
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LordJeffBuck said:
Shrieking hysteria from Land Grant Holy Land. Why am I not surprised?

• "Especially behind a line that clearly needs more work in the run blocking area...."

• "Day trying to outsmart himself by going away from his best players far too often...."

• "Remained conservative from start to finish...."

Which is actually the entire point of Ryan Day's play calling. This was essentially a preseason game, a tune-up, an opportunity to work on things during live action, to see what unproven players could do against a real opponent. If your goal is to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten Championship, and make a playoff run at the end of the season, then when you're playing the patsies in early September you work on the things that you need to improve, like say run blocking in short yardage situations.

• "It is looking more and more apparent that Ohio State will not be able to maximize its talent until Day gives up the play-calling...."

Is there any long-term benefit to "maximizing your talent" against an opponent that is clearly outmatched? What's the point of rolling up 600 yards and 60 points against Indiana in Game 1 only to be outmuscled by Michigan in Game 12? To impress the yahoos who write for LGHL? Ohio State's first real test is against Notre Dame in three weeks. I will reserve judgment on Ryan Day and his play calling until the conclusion of that game.
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To the contrary, we’ve seen this conservative approach before and it did nothing to help us vs ttun the last two years.

We were told by Day the objective was to be UGA aggressive all game every game. However game 1 it was the complete opposite. I get it, I really do but we got a road game vs ND, Wisconsin and TTUN this year that we can’t afford to walk in tentatively.

We’ll see though. If we do that vs ND and lose then it’s really time to be quite concerned. However, game 1? No.
 
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His only 1st half drive was:
run, run, qb read w/ no option

Then got a few minutes in the 4Q. Where at all was he given a chance to showcase anything?

DurhamBuckeye1986 said:
I know people have been saying go to Brown, and I know he didn't really get much of an opportunity to play today, but he looked very off when throwing the ball, and that was against a well tired Indiana defense while he was plenty fresh. That's just not the result I would expect to see.
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billmac91 said:
Chip is our best RB, and it’s not very close.

Was really bummed with McCord. To me, he locked in on one half of field and rarely made it through the second progression. He missed so many wide open throws if he just gets to that 3rd read. It brings up play calling questions to me if the QB can only get through 2 reads, the play designs need to accommodate that….we’ve seen it before with Baker Mayfield and Lincoln Reilly.

For me, personally, I never wavered on CJ Stroud based on limited experience bc I saw the potential.

I don’t know…when I watch McCord, even on what many would consider a great throw, I see a QB throwing to the wrong read, forcing a throw….and he got lucky a few times on dropped INT’s…

I’m not loving the vibe to be honest….I think Devin Brown ends year as starter, IMO.
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Yeah, I'm thinking that (in addition to OL inexperience, not having the entire playbook available, and 1st game jitters):

1) maybe he hasn't had enough real time game speed experience that the game hasn't "slowed down" for him yet.
2) maybe he hasn't mastered/gained the ability to quickly read the defense and instinctively know what coverage each receiver should be in.

That should come with time and hopefully before the ND game.

During fall camp he's only had 50% (or less) of the reps with the first team due to the competition with Brown for QB1. In addition, the past 2 years (with the exception of the Akron game his Freshman year) he's had minimal real game reps and what he had was usually garbage time. Which begs the question: When you have a Heisman candidate QB should you leave him in the game (way after the winner has been decided) to inflate his numbers or should you put in QB2 to get him real game experience so he'll be more "game ready" later in the season (or in future years)?
 
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AuTX Buckeye said:

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I mean those are all fair points I think.

Maybe it was clunky because we split our reps all spring and fall when we apparently had no intention to play Devin?

Then we complain about being clunky but ran 3 times in a row when Devin did come in. Not to mention consistently put ourselves in 3rd down situations because we weren’t going down the field enough.

Seems very much self inflected and the largest issue I have with yesterday by far (not selected a QB and rolling with it),
 
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SEREbuckeye said:
His only 1st half drive was:
run, run, qb read w/ no option

Then got a few minutes in the 4Q. Where at all was he given a chance to showcase anything?
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With one throw being behind the LOS and the other to player with the last name Adolph.

Wasn’t given any shot whatsoever. I really hope Kyle plays well this Saturday because otherwise he’s going to get booed in Ohio Stadium (which no player should get).
 
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Captain Buckeye said:
Seems very much self inflected and the largest issue I have with yesterday by far (not selected a QB and rolling with it),
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But he did. It's obvious he doesn't trust Brown to take care of the ball, which is why he came in once, they ran it 3 times, and then he gave him garbage time throws. I imagine they split reps against YSU and he'll get backup reps the rest of the season. Should he have just come out and said Brown wasn't going to split reps and get as much playing time? Yeah, but honestly I don't give a shit.
 
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billmac91 said:
Chip is our best RB, and it’s not very close.

Was really bummed with McCord. To me, he locked in on one half of field and rarely made it through the second progression. He missed so many wide open throws if he just gets to that 3rd read. It brings up play calling questions to me if the QB can only get through 2 reads, the play designs need to accommodate that….we’ve seen it before with Baker Mayfield and Lincoln Reilly.

For me, personally, I never wavered on CJ Stroud based on limited experience bc I saw the potential.

I don’t know…when I watch McCord, even on what many would consider a great throw, I see a QB throwing to the wrong read, forcing a throw….and he got lucky a few times on dropped INT’s…

I’m not loving the vibe to be honest….I think Devin Brown ends year as starter, IMO.
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I think he was bouncing in between locking on reads in the red zone and going through reads too damn fast. There were numerous times where he seemed to come off his first read within a few seconds instead of allowing them to win and would just throw a 5 yard check down.
 
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