The Ohio State football team finished 2023 with a whimper after losing to both TTUN and Missouri in back-to-back games. In that last game against the Tigers, the Buckeyes scored a measly three points. It was the worst possible way to end the year 2023.
Yet, there have been a lot of disappointments at the end of years for this Ohio State football program lately. In 2022, the Buckeyes lost to Michigan again before falling to Georgia in the CFP semi-finals. In 2021, the Buckeyes failed to beat Michigan yet again and missed the CFP altogether.
Clearly, the Buckeyes have to do something new in 2024 if they want to avoid repeating these same results. There are three things that I have identified that must be changed for this to happen. Ohio State will have a whole offseason to implement these changes too.
1. The Ohio State football team must get a new offense line coach
I told you once the Buckeyes lost to TTUN that they needed to get rid of Justin Frye as the offensive line coach. The offensive line was the single biggest reason for both losses at the end of the year. It was particularly terrible against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl.
For some reason, Ryan Day decided to move Carson Hinzman out of the starting lineup at center (maybe because of his podcast?) and inserted Matt Jones in his place, and then moved Enokk Vimahi to right guard. Vimahi looked wildly outmatched and got beat on almost every play.
Yet, Frye had issues with the offensive line all year. Josh Simmons was an absolute travesty at left tackle and is the worst tackle the Buckeyes have had in years. Josh Fryar wasn't very good either. Donovan Jackson was the only offensive lineman who didn't consistently stink.
It's clear that Frye can't develop talent on the offensive line. He also can't recruit good offensive linemen. Sooooo what's left? If you can't recruit and you can't actually coach up the players you have, what are you doing on the staff? He needs to go.
The second thing the Buckeyes need to do is change their mentality.
2. The Ohio State football team needs to get mentally tougher
After losing for a third consecutive season to their rivals, it's clear that the Buckeyes have to change their mentaility. The edge that the Ohio State football program had under Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer has been lost under Day and his staff. That's the biggest issue in the rivalry.
Urban would make sure that his team lived and breathed the rivalry. He made sure that his players hated TTUN so much that by the time the game rolled around they wanted to rip their heads off. He also made sure that they worked on game plans for The Game year-round.
It's abundantly clear that things are not the same under Ryan Day. He needs to take a page out of his predecessor's book and make his team mentally tough again. He needs to make them live and breathe The Game every single day. The team takes after him and he seems soft.
Another thing that would get his team's attention is trimming the fat on the coaching staff. We've already talked about getting rid of Frye. Parker Fleming has absolutely no reason to be on staff. The special teams have gotten actively worse under his direction and he needs to hit the road.
Until the Buckeyes are able to handle adversity better and actually mentally grind against Michigan, they won't beat them. This will be Day's last chance to fix that mentality before he's looking for a new job himself. He needs to dig deep and fix the culture immediately.
The final thing that needs to change is how the players respond to criticism around them.
3. The Ohio State football players have to work harder than ever before
Every single year, the Ohio State football program has a top-five recruiting class. The same thing happened this year. Every year, they out-recruit Michigan. Yet, they have lost The Game three straight times. So why is that? If Ohio State's players are so much better, why do they keep losing?
Work ethic. I've been hard on the coaches in the program, and rightfully so. They deserve the bulk of the criticism for how things have gone in recent years. They are the ones who choose which players to bring in and they are the ones who are in charge of getting the most out of them.
At some point, the players have to take ownership of their play. They have to want to win more than any other player in any other program. That starts with work in the offseason and continues during the year. Everyone has to be held accountable to get better.
Ohio State certainly had some dogs on this team, don't get me wrong. Marvin Harrison Jr., Tommy Eichenberg, TreVeyon Henderson, J.T. Tuimoloau, and Denzel Burke were just a few players who were legendary workout guys. They were always doing extra work to be the absolute best players that they could be.
The Buckeyes need to have more guys like that on the roster. They all need to want to be the best. NIL money shouldn't be the sole focus, Being the best possible player and winning games should be. If you win games, scouts will notice you and you'll get paid either way.
It's time some of the guys on the roster took accountability for their play. This team needs its leaders to step up and demand excellence from others in the locker room. These three things need to happen in 2024 in order to get the program back on track.