Last season, Ohio State ran off 12-straight games. Dating back to the 2024 season, the Buckeyes had won 16 consecutive games. It was a massive success until the Big Ten Championship Game. They fell to Indiana before losing to Miami in the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff.
Day knows that the team has to finish better this season. While at Big Ten Media Day, he was asked what the team needs to do in order to finish better. His answer is what Buckeye fans want to hear regarding how they can win another national championship.
Ryan Day gives a strong answer on how Ohio State needs to improve at the end of the year
Day made it clear they have identified the issues that plagued them at the end of the year.
"Every year, you look at the things you have gone well, and then you look at the things that have come up short. When you're chasing small margins like we are, you have to identify the things that need to get fixed, and fix them...There are things in place that we have identified that we always want to improve on."
It's pretty clear that Day and his staff took a lot of time during the offseason to identify those issues. Julian Sayin's lack of scrambling was one of them, and Sayin made it a point in the spring to let people know that he had been working on getting extra yards with his legs during the offseason.
Day also mentioned that the staff needs to have a measured approach.
"The easy thing to do would be to do nothing or overreact. Where the real work happens is identifying what needs to be fixed and then making that change."
Ohio State's offensive line will be under the microscope this year
Up front is where a lot of the issues cropped up in the final two games of the year. The Ohio State Buckeyes struggled to protect Sayin long enough to find the open receivers. While scrambling more effectively will help mitigate that issue, Ohio State still needs better play from the offensive line.
That starts with finding a solid fifth starter. The Scarlet and Gray bring back four starters from last year's unit. Figuring out the right guard spot is going to be the key to having the unit be at its best. That could mean starting Josh Padilla there, or it could mean moving Austin Siereveld to guard and having Ian Moore start at left tackle.
Those positional battles will be determined in the Fall. Day didn't get into any positional battles during his short Media Day. In fact, Day only took three questions in the opening session. He had a lengthy opening statement in which he praised Tony Pettiti, which might not be good news for fans who are against a 24-team CFP.
Regardless, Day knows that there are things this team has to improve if they are going to be the final team standing in late January of 2027.
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