Some friendly advice for Ohio State football fans

It started well before the end of the first quarter of Saturday’s opening game. If you dared look at social media, there wasn’t just some gnashing of teeth over the Buckeyes’ slow start against Akron. There was outright gloom, despair, and agony, and many were ready to label the season a complete failure. So, here’s some friendly advice for my fellow Ohio State football fans: Relax, there’s a long way to go and a lot of things are going to change.

Time Enough to Improve

The early season schedule is very much in the Buckeyes’ favor. They take on Western Michigan this week and then have a week off before playing Marshall on September 21st. The following week they have Michigan State. That’s four weeks of practice and two games to work out kinks and make adjustments before meeting the Spartans- their first meaningful opponent.

In his weekly oppress conference, Ryan Day said they are nowhere near where they want to be and there is plenty of room for improvement. He and his staff have a lot of time to make those improvements.

A Work in Progress

Despite having a mega-talented roster, it is unreasonable to expect to see a finished product in game one of the season. There are a lot of players who are new to the program and have never played together. Familiarity is important and takes time to develop.

The Buckeyes are a work in progress, so what I want to see over the next four weeks is steady improvement. Overall, I’m not happy with the offensive line performance, but my expectation for this week is improvement. I’m not looking for perfection, but I want to see steps forward.

If we get through the Marshall game and are still seeing the same issues with this team, then it is time for a bit of concern. But until then, there is plenty of time to work on any problems. So, let’s just all relax and take a breath.