HC Ryan Day (B1G Coach of Year, B1G Champion, National Champion)

[Mike80]

I feel like dudes being comically wide open but the other team just screwing it up has been a thing for most of this season. I mean look at the Texas game, they left at least 10 points on the board because of 2 drops

Yeah. I feels like there's a scheme issue somewhere. Or maybe a scheme issue that is exposed by not having pressure on the QB - like if you drop into a zone, eventually the receiver will find the hole, so the key is to get the QB off of his timing and stance. Something like that.

If that's the case, adjust to what reality is showing you.

 

[buckeyemania11]

Yeah. I feels like there's a scheme issue somewhere. Or maybe a scheme issue that is exposed by not having pressure on the QB - like if you drop into a zone, eventually the receiver will find the hole, so the key is to get the QB off of his timing and stance. Something like that.

If that's the case, adjust to what reality is showing you.

I could be off base but it seems like guys are confused a lot. Especially when we try to go to zone, too many occurrences where some guys are still trying to play man when the scheme looks like it's meant to be a full on zone

The lack of adjustment is criminal on all ends though. You aren't blitzing a ton because you are "afraid of getting beat deep" yet you end up getting beat anyway when the QB has all day and someone eventually comes open. You gotta at least try.....

 

[Bushrod Johnson]

I could be off base but it seems like guys are confused a lot. Especially when we try to go to zone, too many occurrences where some guys are still trying to play man when the scheme looks like it's meant to be a full on zone

The lack of adjustment is criminal on all ends though. You aren't blitzing a ton because you are "afraid of getting beat deep" yet you end up getting beat anyway when the QB has all day and someone eventually comes open. You gotta at least try.....

Art Smith has been a head scratcher and will be till he leaves unless he changes

 

[buckeyemania11]

Art Smith has been a head scratcher and will be till he leaves unless he changes

Day at this point is the type of coach who's success really hinders on top end coordinator hires. Art Smith was exactly the type of guy he couldn't hire.

I'll keep saying it. Day's new obsession is "doing things like the NFL". Smith's garbage definitely does not play well in college.....

 

[billmac91]

Super proud of Fahey yesterday….kid played really well (only really bad play was the overthrow to McCuinn that would’ve been a TD). Tough conditions in rain and awful playcalling in red zone. That combined with some major let downs by guys who need to step up for a true freshman QB and it resulted in a 30-18 score where the box score tells a different story.

I have to say…..I’ve just accepted Ryan Day’s ridiculously bad game management. Our goalline series right at the two minute warning was comically handled.

First of all, once the TD was taken off the board, there was ZERO reason to snap the ball BEFORE the 2 minute warning. It was 1st down and you’re going to want to prevent USC to have any time to move the ball if the get ball back….thats obvious right? So anyways, Day has Fahey snap ball at 2:04 and instead of the obvious QB sneak by Fahey that had already worked multiple times, we instead go shotgun and hand it to Bo who loses a half yard…..and the clock is stopped by 2 minute warning. Had that play happened POST 2 minute warning, USC either burns a TO or we should melt 40 seconds off game clock (you’d assume, right?).

Then, on next play, instead of doing a simple QB sneak, they had a different run play on, and Nate Roberts jumps causing false start. Then we go incomplete, incomplete, kick FG and USC has around a 1:45 on game time which they use to march field and kick a FG.

If Day does proper thing, USC at a minimum doesn’t get ball back with more than a 1:05ish OR they burn a timeout that they ended up needing on the drive to score. And with the weather the way it was, I think the risk/reward to match field with 1 minute versus 2 is much different. Only coming away with a FG was already demoralizing…..but allowing USC to have roughly 1:50 on clock bc our coach is awful at clock management was an extra kick in the nuts.

It’s just incompetence and he’s never going to learn it…..I’ve said it before, you either have elite game management skills or you don’t….its not something you learn over time. It’s weird guys at the highest level of the sport don’t “get it” but that’s where we’re at with Day. His clock management to gain an advantage over the opponent is atrocious. His game management (like when to go for a 2pt conversion) is also atrocious.

Combine it with a bad hire at OC and this is what you get.

Fahey was good enough to win that game last night…..the Isiah West gaffe was really bad. Bo Jackson dropped a TD pass. McCuinn could’ve come down with the pass he hurt leg on. Chris Henry drop was a killer. A lot of guys let Luke down last night….I was impressed with his arm strength and ability to move in pocket….definitely some things to work on but also a lot of really good things to build off of.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

I could be off base but it seems like guys are confused a lot. Especially when we try to go to zone, too many occurrences where some guys are still trying to play man when the scheme looks like it's meant to be a full on zone

The lack of adjustment is criminal on all ends though. You aren't blitzing a ton because you are "afraid of getting beat deep" yet you end up getting beat anyway when the QB has all day and someone eventually comes open. You gotta at least try.....

The lack of any pass rush has been extremely frustrating. If Ohio State's recent run has been based on anything, it's NFL quality receivers and pass rushing.

 

[Gunlife]

Super proud of Fahey tonight….kid played great (only really bad play was the overthrow to McCuinn that would’ve been a TD). Tough conditions in rain and awful playcalling in red zone.

I have to say…..I’ve just accepted Ryan Day’s ridiculously bad game management. Our goalline series right at the two minute warning was comically handled.

First of all, once the TD was taken off the board, there was ZERO reason to snap the ball BEFORE the 2 minute warning. It was 1st down and you’re going to want to prevent USC to have any time to move the ball if the get ball back….thats obvious right? So anyways, Day has Fahey snap ball at 2:04 and instead of the obvious QB sneak by Fahey that had already worked multiple times, we instead go shotgun and hand it to Bo who loses a half yard…..and the clock is stopped by 2 minute warning.

Then, on next play, instead of doing a simple QB sneak, they had a different run play on, and Nate Roberts jumps causing false start. Then we go incomplete, incomplete, kick FG and USC has around a 1:45 on game time which they use to mark filled and kick a FG.

If Day does proper thing, USC at a minimum doesn’t get ball back with more than a 1:05ish OR they burn a timeout that they ended up needing on the drive to score.

It’s just incompetence and he’s never going to learn it…..I’ve said it before, you either have elite game management skills or you don’t….its not something you learn over time. It’s weird guys at the highest level of the sport don’t “get it” but that’s where we’re at with Day. His clock management to gain an advantage over the opponent is atrocious. His game management (like when to go for a 2pt conversion) is also atrocious.

Combine it with a bad hire at OC and this is what you get.

Fahey was good enough to win that game last night…..the Isiah West gaffe was really bad. Bo Jackson dropped a TD pass. McCuinn could’ve come down with the pass he hurt leg on. Chris Henry drop was a killer. A lot of guys let Luke down last night….I was impressed with his arm strength and ability to move in pocket….definitely some things to work on but also a lot of really good things to build off of.

I agree with most of what you said... except Faheys worst plays were not giving his guys a chance to make a play on the 2point conversion and then again on 4th down. You have to put the ball in play man, if you throw a pick wtf cares... Hopefully he learns from this and never does it again.

 

[buckeyemania11]

The lack of any pass rush has been extremely frustrating. If Ohio State's recent run has been based on anything, it's NFL quality receivers and pass rushing.

Don't you just love that our current brilliant offensive game plan in too many situations is taking our best offensive unit off of the field (WRs) for our worst (TEs)?

 

[ochre]

at least a little bit of Jackson's drop was the 90 mile an hour fastball Fahey ripped to a guy that didn't have anyone with 10 yards of him on a wet day. That's something he can kind of learn from I hope.

 

[RhodeIslandBuck]

The call to go for 2 instead of kicking the XP was criminally idiotic.

 

[buckeyemania11]

The call to go for 2 instead of kicking the XP was criminally idiotic.

"Analytics" really are the worst thing that ever happened for some coaches. Makes it easier for them to talk themselves into making idiotic decisions.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I have to say…..I’ve just accepted Ryan Day’s ridiculously bad game management.

This is where I am at with him at this point in his tenure.

He's taken the machine handed down through the coaching generations and won a NC with it. He's made it more of an NFL factory that it's ever been but regardless of his win %- he is not the first coach I would want in charge to go win one big game. People can argue the definitions and how to quantify it but to me he is not a top "X&O" type coach. He and his teams seem very nervous and wound up in big games a la Cooper.

Until he finally broke through I didn't think he ever would break through and was of the opinion, while risky, you make the coaching change because you see the ceiling.

Now I look around and just think he is what he is. Like all coaches imperfect. Yes, you could find someone else and likely win 70+% of games at OSU but that guy would have flaws too.

If I was his boss or the owner of the OSU Football pro sports team, I would try to come up with a way to judge him on two axis:
1) vs his peers. He doesn't have to be better than Saban or Meyer, he has to beat the Kirby Smart/Cignetti/ type of coach threshold.

2) relative performance to what he inherited (and this would be the tough one). Just keeping up with the absolute wins isn't enough.

For instance earl started out with a lot of wins. He was still the active wins leader in the B1G during his tenure when he got fired and he was fired for the 3 head scratchers every year, for falling out of National level program and into regional which gets me to the unit economics of how that happened if you will. The individual talent under Earle was some of the best ever at OSU up to that point in time but as a group, in the aggregate, they got very bad. Especially in the trenches. So that is the best way I can explain what I would call some kind of RSI relative strength indicator.

Long winded but that's where I am at in this morning after a pretty predictable storm if I am being honest. Day is still the best guy for the program vs his peers but he isn't untouchable and his flaws are pretty obvious. My worry is that his strength up to this point, talent, has been heavily concentrated in the WR and QB room. This is the first time we have started to see the rest of the team (on a unit by unit basis-not individuals) start to be very ordinary.

-NIL budgets are not going to allow for the Hartline depth of 1st round WR's.
-It looks like that absurd outlier of room talent has possibly been masking a steady deterioration of group talent across the rest of the roster.
-Day is not the right guy to win with equal or less talent.
-NIL and the NFL-lite reality of new CFB playoff format may make coaching and QB play the ultimate difference makers. If so Day's QB chops are obviously a huge plus. His big game issues are an obviously a huge negative.

So my proceed with caution statement is- make sure that deterioration is real and not a blip but IF IT IS then Day is more like Earle and Coop than Tress and Urban. You better get out in front of it no matter the shiny win % and no matter the temporary pain.

 

[shetuck]

Yeah. I feels like there's a scheme issue somewhere. Or maybe a scheme issue that is exposed by not having pressure on the QB - like if you drop into a zone, eventually the receiver will find the hole, so the key is to get the QB off of his timing and stance. Something like that.

If that's the case, adjust to what reality is showing you.

11 penalties (9 on offense, 3? in the red zone) is not scheme. Four (?) huge dropped passes is not scheme. Trying to punch the ball out instead of tackling is not scheme.

It's players either not being ready, mentally, or not able to settle in. The coaches put the players in a position to win but they didn't execute*.

Just an alternate theory from "it's on the coaches". The team not being ready, mentally, is on the coaches. The players not executing and making tactical mistakes is not on the coaches.

* I'm not even convinced that the play call on the 1 yard line on the series at the end of the 2nd quarter was the coaches. I think that could have been Jackson deciding to bounce it outside. And that is maybe the story of the game... a lot of players trying to make things happen, going off script, and not being able to execute.

 

[Jaxbuck]

11 penalties (9 on offense, 3? in the red zone) is not scheme. Four (?) huge dropped passes is not scheme. Trying to punch the ball out instead of tackling is not scheme.

It's players either not being ready, mentally, or not able to settle in. The coaches put the players in a position to win but they didn't execute*.

I'm not even convinced that the play call on the 1 yard line on the series at the end of the 2nd quarter was the coaches. I think that could have been Jackson deciding to bounce it outside. And that is maybe the story of the game... a lot of players trying to make things happen, going off script, and not being able to execute.

Just an alternate theory from "it's on the coaches". The team not being ready, mentally, is on the coaches. The players not executing and making tactical mistakes is not on the coaches.

It ultimately the coaches responsibility but I agree they aren't ever the ones actually executing so you can always go round and round with this argument.

One item I would throw out there- the travel "haze" I bet on the exact set up OSU just walked into A LOT. It's real and very difficult on college aged kids and teams given the short weeks and acclimation periods. ACC and B1G have coast to coast travel and time zone changes that you simply cannot ignore.

 

[shetuck]

It ultimately the coaches responsibility but I agree they aren't ever the ones actually executing so you can always go round and round with this argument.

One item I would throw out there- the travel "haze" I bet on the exact set up OSU just walked into A LOT. It's real and very difficult on college aged kids and teams given the short weeks and acclimation periods. ACC and B1G have coast to coast travel and time zone changes that you simply cannot ignore.

As a person who travels a LOT for work, I agree that travel haze is a thing.

But there are also things that you do to hold your routine that can offset the brain fog. Day has talked about that. Somehow last night you didn't see it. Didn't see it vs Texas. But there have been home games as well this season (Maryland, Illinois) where the team looked jetlagged.