Ryan Day had seen enough sloppy play from his special teams unit, and he decided to roll the dice. During Ohio State’s 45-16 victory over Maryland on Saturday, the Buckeyes’ head coach made a call that could have easily backfired. On a fourth down, he sent true freshman Jordan Thomas to rush the Maryland punter. One mistimed leap from the young corner could have handed the Terrapins a fresh set of downs, but Day was determined to set an aggressive tone.
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The frustration had been building for weeks. Even in a 31-14 win over Iowa, the mistakes were hard to ignore. Connor Hawkins bounced a 40-yard field goal attempt off the upright, Joe McGuire managed a meager 33-yard punt, and receiver Phillip Bell let a ball bounce all the way down to the two-yard line. Add in Hawkins missing a crucial 45-yarder in the fourth quarter against Texas, and Day knew his unit needed a complete attitude shift.
“In terms of special teams, I thought the return was set up really well,” Day said during a presser, according to WBNS 10TV. “We had a good plan on how we wanted to do that, and I thought it was executed pretty well. It got us going early on, and we put a lot of work into it this week. So that was good.”
“When we went after the punt, it was fourth-and, I think, 8, but for sure it was more than 5, because I knew we were going to be aggressive on it. With Jordan doing it for the first time as a freshman, I was concerned they would be running into the punter.”
Robby Discher, hired from Illinois to coordinate Ohio State’s special teams, heads the unit, but Day said that he remained involved in every meeting. With the Buckeyes ranked 100th in special teams’ efficiency, per Cleveland.com, Day increased the pressure in practice after the unit’s previous approach failed to deliver results.
The decision came with a clear risk. If Ohio State made contact with the punter, a running-into-the-kicker penalty would cost the Buckeyes five yards, while roughing the kicker would give Maryland 15 yards and a first down. After giving up valuable field position on special teams against Iowa, Day was willing to take a chance on the other side of the equation against Maryland.
Day knew the risk was real. Sending a young guy to charge the punter on fourth down can easily backfire. If Thomas just bumped the punter, it would cost five yards; a hard hit meant fifteen yards and an automatic first down for Maryland. But after watching special teams give away free yards against Iowa, Day preferred taking an aggressive shot over playing it safe.
“So it was a 5-yard penalty, not a 15-yarder,” Day said. “If it was a 15-yarder, I probably would have had an aneurysm. But if it was fourth-and-4, we would not have gone after it. It felt like it was time to go after it. We missed it by about this much. If we can take a little bit better, direct to the ball, then we got a chance.”
Day was pleased with the effort on the punt rush and felt the unit had a solid overall performance compared to last week. The one exception came on the final play, when Ohio State gave up 15 yards after things got messy along the sideline. The penalty appears to have been a late hit by Beau Atkinson on Maryland’s final punt return, marking his second personal foul of the day.
“But overall, I thought we got the kickoff past the 30, and we’ll be able to get that on film because we really haven’t had many at-bats on the kickoff return,” Day said. “So we’re able to get Legend going a little bit there. So that was good. We’ll get on the film and see individually how it went, but I thought we took a step in the right direction in terms of our mentality and our approach, and our focus was better.”
Day did not call the special teams “fixed”; he mentioned it was a step forward and wants the film to back him up, as the next test will carry more weight than Maryland did.
Indiana will test whether the special teams fix holds
Ohio State visits defending national champion Indiana on Saturday. The Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes 13-10 in last year’s Big Ten title game.
Penalties are the other concern, as Ohio State was flagged eight times for 65 yards, with seven of them in the first half. “When we have eight penalties like that, that’s not the sign of a good team,” Day said.
Day expects a good portion of the players who held out against Maryland to return and also expects Phillip Danmiels to be back. The special teams gains come against a 2-4 team, so Bloomington is where Ohio State figures out whether their return units hold against tough teams.