Ryan Day said Ohio State's fourth-down touchdown to Jeremiah Smith was a play call it had banked for later in The Game, but felt then was the right time to unveil it.
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Ryan Day Says Ohio State’s Fourth-Down Touchdown Play Call is One It Had Saved For Key Moment
One of the biggest turning points of The Game on Saturday was Ohio State's 35-yard touchdown strike on 4th-and-5 when it trailed 6-3 in the first half.
The slant-and-go route run by Smith put his defender on skates and Ohio State in the lead after Michigan had taken early momentum on a field-goal drive and an interception that led to another field goal. Julian Sayin put the ball in a perfect spot.
On his weekly Buckeye Roundtable appearance with 97.1 the Fan, Day dove into his decision to go for it in that spot and shared some extra insight on the play call. It was one that Ohio State was keeping in its back pocket for a critical late-game moment, but Day felt then was the time to strike. It's hard to argue with the decision after a 27-9 Buckeye win to end their curse in The Game.
Day also discussed his offensive line's performance and did some more previewing of the Big Ten Championship Game vs. Indiana during the segment.
- On the decision to go for it on 4th-and-5: "It was a play that I felt like we were gonna use later in the game in a spot like that, but we didn’t start the way we wanted to. ... I made my mind up that we were going to go for it on third down. ... We got the coverage that we expected. The corner was sitting at the sticks at five yards and Jeremiah ran a great route."
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Just sayin': I thought Hartline was supposed to be calling the plays.....
