Ryan Day has expanded duties as the new lead play-caller for the Ohio State Buckeyes. On Monday, Day promoted himself and demoted Brian Hartline to essentially a WR coach. Hartline has one foot out the door already after taking the USF Bulls' head coaching job.
CBS Sports' Brad Crawford sounded skeptical of the move, coming right before the Buckeyes take on a Miami Hurricanes defense that just neutralized Marcel Reed and the TAMU Aggies offense in College Station during the CFP's first round.
During the win over TAMU, Miami's defense ceded 326 total yards but was able to limit the scoring to just three points, primarily because of a poor kicking and overall special teams performance from the Aggies.
"Now, Day can get back to the basics that made him one of the game's best previously in his tenure with the Buckeyes. And that's pressuring opposing defenses through the air while trying to control tempo," Crawford said.
"Given Ohio State's next opponent following Miami's dominant performance at Texas A&M, Day's got his work cut out for him."
Ryan Day may benefit from delaying Brian Hartline demotion
Day may fail upwards here, benefitting from finally doing something he should've done long ago in demoting Hartline. Realistically, that should've happened before the Big Ten Championship Game a few weeks ago.
By not doing that, Day put the offense behind the eight-ball against the Indiana Hoosiers in the 13-10 loss in Indianapolis. Predictably, Ohio State struggled with the minor details, as well as the not-so-minor details, like red zone offense, and the Buckeyes ended up with a harder second-round draw than the No. 1 Hoosiers or No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs.
Ohio State now has its first loss on its record and the pressure of remaining undefeated off its back. They may allow redshirt freshman Julian Sayin and the defense to play looser against the Canes.
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. The Buckeyes took one on the chin in the B1G title game, but it may ultimately be for the greater good of this 2025/2026 CFP run.