Can Brian Hartline be focused enough for Ohio State CFP run? Mailbox

Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.

On Ohio State football

To Mr. White: Ohio State lost the Indiana game and Julian Sayin was not the Heisman Trophy winner because of flawed play-calling. Coach Hartline was a great Buckeye player, coach and play-caller, until he got the South Florida job.

No one can serve two masters, and it showed against IU. The biggest mistake was not inserting Lincoln Keinholz as QB on fourth down, which they’ve done most of the year, and letting Sayin being stopped short.

Coach Day has asserted his faith in Hartline, but this is a debacle just waiting to happen.

Dave Waples, Kennesaw, Georgia

To Dave: Hartline admitted the week of the Indiana game was difficult. But look for him to be more focused with time to prepare and with his life-changing decisions out of the way. Also, don’t be surprised to see Ryan Day take over more of the play-calling.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline takes the field for warmups prior to the Big Ten championship game against Indiana on Dec. 6.

To Brian: I’m stunned OSU QB Julian Sayin didn’t win the Heisman. His completion percentage is well above the others and record-breaking for the NCAA/FBS. Previously, OSU’s Will Howard held that record [at Ohio State], a surprise to me. But Sayin’s excellent stats were accomplished in his first year as a starter. [Voters not rewarding that is] what troubles me. OK, he lost head-to-head with IU’s Mendoza by 3 points, but even those stats were close with his opponent. Nor was he a running QB. (Coming off the Michigan high with little rest can too easily be overlooked.) One game does not a season make. Apparently, it does with the voting.

Larry Cheek, Dublin

To Larry: After the Indiana game, Sayin had no chance to win the award. They were close going in, and Mendoza turned in his second Heisman moment with game-clinching throws, as he did in a win over Penn State. Sayin gets another chance next year. It is, as you note, remarkable that he’s already on pace to break Will Howard’s single-season record at OSU (73%) and Oregon quarterback Bo Nix’s mark (77.4%).

On the Blue Jackets

To the editor: The Blue Jackets are once again having a mediocre season. Is there any reason to believe that this team will ever be a competitor and not, as Bill Simmons has opined, the most irrelevant franchise in sports?

Jim Sites

To Jim: So far, it looks like more mediocrity, or below mediocrity. And, oddly, Columbus fans seem just fine with that.