As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about identifying one specific thing sure to make a difference for the Buckeyes this fall. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”The One Thing” articles here.
Since taking over as head coach following Urban Meyer’s retirement, Ryan Day has posted a 79-12 record as head coach of Ohio State.
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While Day has been in charge, the Buckeyes routinely have fielded one of the best offenses in the country. It doesn’t hurt that Day has had quarterbacks like Justin Fields, C.J. Stroud, Will Howard, and now Julian Sayin running the offense on the field.
Along with the quarterbacks there have been an amazing collection of wide receivers who have gone on to be first round picks in the NFL Draft, as well as great running backs like TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins.
During the first half of Day’s tenure as head coach, Kevin Wilson was the team’s offensive coordinator, serving for four years under Day before becoming head coach at Tulsa. When Wilson left Ohio State some cracks started to show in the offense.
Even though wide receivers coach Brian Hartline was named the team’s offensive coordinator, it was obvious Day didn’t feel like Hartline was ready to run the offense. Instead, Day took the sticks from Hartline for the 2023 season.
Despite heading into The Game with an 11-0 record in 2023, the Ohio State offense was underwhelming throughout the season.
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Kyle McCord was solid behind center during the season, but it felt like the relationship between Day and McCord never truly clicked, leading to McCord entering the transfer portal days after the Buckeyes fell to Michigan in Ann Arbor.
What made the inconsistencies of the Ohio State offense even more puzzling was wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Following the offensive struggles at times in 2023, Day knew he had to make a change. Originally former Penn State and Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien was hired as the offensive coordinator, but O’Brien would take the head coaching position at Boston College less than a month later.
To fill the vacancy left by O’Brien, Day hired his mentor, Chip Kelly. The combination of Kelly and experienced quarterback Will Howard were a major reason why the Buckeyes were able to win a national title in 2024.
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The title run by Ohio State resulted in the Las Vegas Raiders shelling out a bunch of money to convince Kelly to return to the NFL as the team’s offensive coordinator. With Kelly leaving the program, Day decided to give Hartline another shot at offensive coordinator.
This time things seemed to click for Hartline, as Julian Sayin and the Buckeyes were surgical on offense for most of the season.
The downfall for Ohio State last season started when Hartline took the South Florida head coaching job. Even though Hartline stayed with the Buckeyes through the end of their playoff run, it became evident something changed with the working relationship between Day and Hartline.
Even before the Cotton Bowl matchup with the Hurricanes, Day announced he would be taking over play-calling duties from Hartline. The result was a 24-14 loss where Ohio State struggled to get anything going on offense.
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Now Day is hoping to take a bit of the script from the 2024 season into 2026.
Much like after the bowl game loss to Missouri at the end of the 2023 season, Day looked to the NFL for his new offensive coordinator, hiring Arthur Smith who was an offensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers with a three-season stint as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in between.
In Smith’s first season as offensive coordinator with Tennessee he directed the highest-scoring Titans teams in 16 years. Even more impressive about the season for Tennessee is they did it with Ryan Tannehill at quarterback.
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After going 7-10 in each of his three seasons with the Falcons, Smith went to Pittsburgh where he made the playoffs in both years as offensive coordinator despite having Justin Fields and Russell Wilson as his quarterbacks in 2024, followed by a geriatric Aaron Rodgers behind center last season.
Last year Ryan Day looked to the NFL for his defensive coordinator hire, bringing in Matt Patricia. While some among Buckeye Nation were skeptical of the hire at first, it didn’t take Patricia long to earn the love of Ohio State fans, as the Buckeyes had the most dominant defense in the country last season, not allowing more than 20 points in a game until the Cotton Bowl loss.
Since college football teams are now being run more like NFL franchises these days, the move made perfect sense.
Now Day is hoping lightning will strike twice with the hire of Arthur Smith. It also doesn’t hurt the Ohio State offense not only has quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith back for another season, along with Chris Henry Jr. joining the fold.
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Despite the schedule for the Buckeyes looking like one of the toughest in the country this year, they will likely enter this season as the top-ranked team in the country.
If Ohio State is going to meet their expectations this season, Day has to let Smith run the offense. It has already been proven that Day is at his best when he is taking on more of a CEO role instead of trying to take control of the offense.
While it’s not likely Day would try and take over the offense after bringing in a high-profile hire from the NFL like Smith, I’ve learned to never doubt the ego of head coaches.
