Ohio State sits atop the AP preseason poll, and with Julian Sayin leading a stacked offense, the national championship talk is already loud. Ryan Day, however, isn’t interested in preseason praise. The Buckeyes may have the talent to win it all, but their head coach has made one thing clear to his team.

“I think we have a chance to be a smart team, but we’re going to have to be a disciplined team. And the first step to being a championship team is to not beat yourself. We’ve talked about this before, and so we have to make sure we’re doing that,” said Ryan Day while having a conversation with the media.

While Day’s tone was joking, it highlighted the genuine concerns surrounding the team right now. After Ohio State’s second training-camp scrimmage, the Buckeyes’ head coach admitted that several issues were bothering him, particularly the high number of penalties committed by his team.

“I will say this: in the scrimmage, there were too many penalties. Too many penalties, and that’s discipline. And so, we cannot beat ourselves early in the season,” said Day.

The Buckeyes’ head coach emphasized that the team cannot afford to let itself be defeated as the season progresses. The biggest question the team is facing right now is who will make up its five starting offensive linemen. While he has yet to name them, Day has hinted at which linemen the Buckeyes have been practicing with.

“You’re seeing [Hinzman], [Montgomery] and [Siereveld] inside, and then [Moore] and [Daniels] on the outside, and they’re working together right now and getting a lot of reps with the ones,” Day said.

Carson Hinzman at center, Luke Montgomery at left guard, Austin Siereveld at right guard, Ian Moore at left tackle, and Phillip Daniels at right tackle have received plenty of opportunities to start during practice. The head coach further emphasized that other players who have received reps with the starters are Joshua Padilla, Gabe VanSickle, Jake Cook, Carter Lowe, and Deontae Armstrong.

While the offensive side is quite loaded, much of its success will depend on how Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin perform. Speaking about the QB-WR duo, Ryan Day expressed confidence, saying that the communication between them is working really well.

“The center’s got to communicate everything up front. The quarterback’s got to communicate everything to the back end, and they have to work together. So, that part’s good. I mean, when you break the huddle, everybody’s on the same page. There’s just a certain rhythm and tempo that works,” said Day.

It is clear that the team is ready for the season, but Ryan Day is not happy with where they are right now and wants his players, especially Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith, to improve. That said, Smith revealed that the team is already working to address what went wrong over last year.

Jeremiah Smith reveals what OSU is doing to fix the offense

Last year, despite posting a perfect 12-0 record in the regular season, the Buckeyes collapsed against Miami and Indiana. Those late-game failures appear to have deeply affected head coach Ryan Day, with Jeremiah Smith indicating that closing out games in the fourth quarter has now emerged as Day’s foremost point of emphasis.

“We discuss it [the tough schedule] a lot,” Smith said during his appearance on the Triple Option podcast on August 26. “We know we have to win the game in the fourth quarter. That’s the biggest emphasis for us. Something Coach Day came up with, and that’s something that’s our team motto right now. So, just trying to find any way, anything to make us win a game in the fourth quarter.”

Learning from their mistakes and working to correct them is what the Buckeyes do best, and they ought to be better this season. However, their biggest concern is the tough schedule they will face, and even Ryan Day knows it.

The Buckeyes are facing six ranked opponents this season, and most of those games are on the road, making their schedule even more challenging. That is likely why Ryan Day appeared perplexed by the penalties he witnessed during practice sessions.