Ohio State is making a rather unusual choice heading into the 2026 season. Ryan Day is putting both of his coordinators in the middle of the noise rather than watching it from upstairs. It is an interesting setup, one Michigan fans might recognize.

New OC Arthur Smith and DC Matt Patricia will both call plays from the field when Ohio State opens the season against Ball State on Saturday, per BuckeyesFansOnly. The usual argument for keeping a coordinator upstairs is a better view, more information, and fewer bodies getting in the way. From the booth, coaches can see the full formation develop and relay what they spot to the sideline.

The sidelines offer something different. You get the QB face-to-face; you can talk directly to players between drives; you can see who looks rattled, who is tired, and who is locked in. There is less distance between the play-caller and the people executing the plan. Ryan Day clearly likes that tradeoff.

Arthur Smith, in particular, is no stranger to working in the field. Before arriving at Ohio State, he spent four seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator with Tennessee and Pittsburgh. His offenses reached the playoffs in all four seasons, while he also helped produce two division titles.

Matt Patricia has been there, too. During his 2023 run calling Philadelphia’s defense, he operated from the sideline while Sean Desai moved upstairs. So this is not some wild experiment cooked up at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, although it mirrors what Jim Harbaugh did with his 2022 team. 

During Michigan’s 2022 Big Ten championship season, the Wolverines had their primary offensive and defensive play-callers working from the sideline. Sherrone Moore called the offense from the field while Jesse Minter directed the defense from there as well. The team went 12-0 and finished the job with a 43-22 victory over Purdue in the Big Ten Championship Game, improving their record to 13-0.

The Buckeyes have taken a pretty different path with their coordinator hires lately. After the 2024 championship, Ryan Day handed the defense to Matt Patricia the following season when Jim Knowles departed. Then, with Brian Hartline out of the picture, Ohio State went back to the NFL well and hired Arthur Smith. Two straight years, two NFL names. And now the eighth-year head coach is giving both men the same treatment on Saturdays.

There is a certain irony in Ohio State adopting a strategy associated with one of its biggest rivals. But football is full of that sort of thing. If something works, rivalry lines tend to disappear. Michigan’s 2022 team did not win the Big Ten because two coordinators stood on the sideline. Talent, execution, and coaching did the heavy lifting. Still, the setup helped keep those coaches close to their players when games became tense.

Now Ohio State gets to find out whether that same idea can work in Columbus. Whether that translates to another championship, no one can predict. But if the Buckeyes are borrowing anything from Michigan, they are borrowing a setup that has already worked on the biggest stage in the Big Ten.