Ohio State Football: Grading Ryan Day’s performance
The Ohio State Football team defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday afternoon 28-17. How did Ryan Day perform in his biggest game as a head coach?
Head coach Ryan Day and his Ohio State football team were tested for the first time this season yesterday afternoon in the Shoe. Fans and media outlets alike seemed to be concerned after the game that Ryan Day was too conservative. Others felt like he managed the game well.
Going into the season, Ryan Day announced he would be calling his own plays. After all, that’s what made him such a great coach.
Many feared that calling the plays and managing the game would be too much for Day to handle (look at Freddie Kitchens with the Cleveland Browns as an example). To this point he has been superb at handling both.
Going into Saturday’s game, Penn State ranked fourth in the nation in rushing defense only allowing 75.9 yards per game. It was clear from the onset of this game Day thought he could exploit Penn State’s rush defense.
He felt that the Nittany Lions have not seen a rushing attack like the Buckeyes have so far this season. Day turned out to be 100 percent correct in this assessment. Ohio State rushed for 232 yards yesterday and by doing so they held the time of possession title, having the ball for nearly 10 more minutes than Penn State.
All in all, Coach Day did a great job of mixing aggressiveness with calling conservative plays when warranted. He went for it on fourth down three times, converting twice.
He also punted around mid-field in a 21-17 game toward the end of the third quarter. Day had this to say after the game as reported by Cleveland.com:
"“It was a little hectic. We’re kind of turning the ball over. Our defense was playing strong. I talked to the guys, listen, we’re still going to try to be aggressive, but we need to get some first downs and eat up some clock here. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re typically, in a moment like that, if it was a back-and-forth game and we had a little bit more rhythm in the game, we’d be throwing the ball more down the field and being more aggressive."
In a moment when the offense was not getting it done and turning the ball over, Day trusted his defense to make a big stop and get the ball back to his offense. You can call it conservative, I call it smart.
Relying on the best defense in the country to get a stop tells me that coach Day understands how to coach in a close big-time game.
The defense responded with a three and out. Ohio State got the ball back and promptly scored a touchdown off a five play drive, capped off by a beautiful Justin Fields’ throw to Chris Olave for a 28 yard touchdown.
Ryan Day didn’t coach the team to fumble three times, including once going in for a score. This would have been a 21 point game if not for that. Credit to Penn State for making some plays though.
It has been easy to give Ryan Day a ton of credit for how the season has played out thus far. Blowing teams out by more than 24 points in every game will warrant that.
However, this 11 point win was Ryan Day’s best game as a head coach. Not panicking when things got tight, Day persevered with poise and composure.
Next. Chase Young still deserves Heisman consideration. dark
It’s easy to be aggressive and get your team in trouble versus a talented team like Penn State, it’s another thing to coach smart and put your best unit in position to win the game.
Overall Grade: A