Ryan Day holding Ohio State football back in one key area

The Ohio State football team is 2-0 to start the season, as everyone expected them to be. They were heavily favored in both the games they’ve played so far and likely will be the rest of the season as well. Yet, there are still things they can improve on.

We know about the improvements the defense needs to make. They’ve definitely improved overall and continue to make strides. There is one area in which Ryan Day is holding the Buckeyes back from really dominating, and that is the run game.

The reason why Day is holding them back is due to play-calling. Day simply has not called enough run plays to start out the season. Ohio State has two fantastic running backs in TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams, and yet they had just 18 carries between the two of them on Saturday.

Henderson was ripping off runs for 8.7 yards a pop against Arkansas State. Yet, the Buckeyes would not call run plays. Part of that is the fact that the passing game allowed them to score very quickly on a few drives. But this was an issue against Notre Dame too.

The Ohio State football team only scored 7 points in the first half against the Fighting Irish in part because they were too predictable. They kept throwing the ball even though they had the talent advantage up front. Day didn’t correct that until the fourth quarter and that’s when they started pulling away.

Ohio State is going to need to run the ball more against good teams. Michigan State is the next good team they face in the middle of October. I’d like to see the Buckeyes increase the number of carries the running backs get heading into that matchup in East Lansing.

More runs help the passing game too. Hopefully, Day realizes that and lets the backs go off against Toledo this weekend.