The Ohio State football team fell well short of its goal of winning back-to-back national championships. Instead of showing that they are one of the best teams in the country, their season ended with a whimper against the Hurricanes of Miami.
A lot went wrong in the final two games of the season. Failures in all three phases of the game reared their ugly head at different points of the season. If the Ohio State Buckeyes are going to have a shot at contending for a national title, they have to make three big adjustments.
1. Get a new offensive play-caller to take away those duties from Ryan Day
With Brian Hartline heading to USF, Ryan Day decided to take over the play-calling duties for the Buckeyes against Miami. That was a horrendous disaster, as Ohio State put up some of the worst offensive statistics of the season. They had the lowest yards per carry average in a game since 2011.
Day finally ceded play-calling duties last season to Chip Kelly, and it resulted in a national title. It's clear that Day doesn't have the chops to do it anymore. His decision not to speed up the offense resulted in Ohio State having just three offensive possessions in the second half. Someone else needs to come in.
2. Ohio State's special teams must greatly improve
The worst unit for the Buckeyes all year long was the special teams. Jayden Fielding was an absolute disaster all season long. Somehow, he didn't lose his job after two horrible kicks against Michigan last season. Bringing in a competent kicker is an absolute must.
Punting wasn't very good this season, either. Joe McGuire was bad all season long, rarely pinning opponents deep in their own territory. He averaged just 42.6 yards per punt this season, an incredibly low number. Getting better specialists needs to be near the top of Ryan Day's list.
3. The Buckeyes must fix the offensive line problems
Ohio State's offensive line was a disaster in each of the last two games. The right side of the line was a problem all year long, and it was exacerbated when they played better teams at the end of the season. Tyler Bowen didn't do a great job in his first season as the offensive line coach.
Bowen and Day went out to spend a ton of money on Ethan Onianwa, only for him to be a third-string player. Missing on players like that in the Transfer Portal is something that simply can't happen. The trenches need to be a high priority if they are going to have any shot of winning a title next season.