The Ohio State football program will take on the Miami Hurricanes on New Year's Eve in the Cotton Bowl. It will be the first College Football Playoff game that the Buckeyes have played since winning the national championship a year ago. Miami has already defeated Texas A&M.
Before this game is played, Ryan Day has made the decision to take play-calling duties from Brian Hartline. Day decided to do that in order to lighten Hartline's load, as he is pulling double duty after deciding to take the head coaching job at USF. Day decided he didn't like how he was handling it.
After a poor offensive play-calling performance against Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game, it makes sense that Day wanted to make a change. He is now going to call plays for the first time since 2023. This is actually a good thing for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ryan Day calling plays is good for the Ohio State football team
Prior to ceding play-calling duties in 2024 to Chip Kelly, Day was the play-caller while he was also the head coach. With the red zone offense still struggling, Day will bring in a fresh perspective. Some of the offensive formations that Hartline was getting his team into weren't conducive to scoring points.
Day will spread the field more as the offense gets closer to the goal line, which should allow more space to work. He will likely try to isolate Jeremiah Smith on some throws, as well. With him being the best receiver in college football, it makes sense to try to get him the ball as much as possible.
Day understands that he has to be aggressive for the offense to run at full capacity. That's what he learned from last year's run to a national title. It would be shocking if the Buckeyes turtled up into a shell against the Hurricanes. Expect a lot of downfield passing and aggressive tendencies.
As fans saw last year, that's how the Buckeyes are able to play their best.