Ohio State rolled past Kent State 59-3 on Saturday, but the easy win didn’t erase similar problems that showed up in the Texas loss a week earlier. The Buckeyes just went 1-of-8 on third down and struggled to finish drives in the red zone, facing the same issues that cost them in the fourth-quarter collapse against the Longhorns.
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With such numbers and a lack of improvement in the offense, some critics have raised concerns regarding Ryan Day’s offensive coaching staff and whether the group around Day is equipped enough to develop the talent on this roster. Gene Ross of Land-Grant Holy Land argued that Ohio State’s offensive staff is not operating at a level that reflects the program’s national championship ambitions. He pointed to the mismatch between the roster’s talent and the experience of the coaching staff responsible for developing it.
“Offensive coordinators have come and gone, but all of Day’s offenses for the past few seasons have struggled when the field shrinks,” Ross wrote in his article on Land-Grant Holy Land. “That scenario is a microcosm of a larger issue at play for Ohio State: Day’s offensive coaching staff is not nearly up to par with what a program at this level should demand.”
Ross pointed to offensive line coach Tyler Bowen, who hadn’t coached the offensive line position since 2017 before taking the job at Ohio State. He also brought up co-offensive coordinator Keenan Bailey, who worked his way up from being an intern to his current role without prior experience as a coordinator elsewhere.
The critic also singled out the tight end room, arguing that Nate Roberts has been repeatedly miscast in a fullback role that he isn’t suited for. At the same time, Jelani Thurman, who transferred to North Carolina during the offseason, has become the Tar Heels’ best offensive weapon. In Ross’s opinion, that’s how the coaching staff is holding back talented and capable players from reaching their full potential on the field.
Ohio State also struggled to keep drives going against Kent State, converting just 2 of 4 third-down attempts with its starting offense. The running game had its own problems, with Ohio State averaging just 0.5 yards before contact per rushing attempt through three games. That ranked 129th nationally, according to TruMedia, indicating that the running backs had very little room to run before defenders reached them.
Ross argues the problem predates the current coordinator: red-zone struggles have persisted across multiple seasons, including last year’s losses to Indiana and Miami. The Buckeyes head coach, on the other hand, wasn’t pointing fingers for the lapse in execution. He wanted the focus to stay on fixing the problems rather than finding someone to blame.
“And what we’ve got to do is make sure we’re focused on what matters and not getting caught up in anything else,” Day said during the presser, according to Matthew Couden on September 15. “And had a great meeting with the captains. They’re on board with that. They recognize what it is, and that’s what you do. You solve problems.”
“You don’t BCD — blame, complain, defend. That’s what losers do. We cannot do that. We have to solve the problem, get the problems fixed, and then move forward. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Even FOX analyst Joel Klatt pointed out similar issues on September 23. In his appearance on the Colin Cowherd Show, Klatt said that the Buckeyes currently do not have direct physicality needed to running up the middle during power-running downs. As a result, they are forced to rely on perimeter runs or horizontal sweeps.
Moreover, since the defense doesn’t have to consider the QB run threat, the linebackers can jump straight to the back’s primary lane. When the field shrinks, these issues show themselves even more. These problems will be harder to ignore with the Big Ten schedule ahead, especially with Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Oregon, and Michigan on the horizon.
Ryan Day calls for better execution as Ohio State’s offensive problems continue
Day has also expressed his frustration with the sloppy offense after the Kent State win, pointing to short-yardage and execution issues that have nagged his staff for weeks.
“You’re looking for a response out of a group of guys coming off of last week, which I thought we did,” Day said, according to Greg Wilson of BuckeyesSports.com. “Regardless of the opponent, you want clean execution on offense, and you want a bunch of running and hitting on defense. At the end of the half, we stuttered or stumbled around those two drives in the red zone and in the short-yardage.”
Though Day has clearly expressed his dissatisfaction with the lopsided win against Kent State in Week 3, he expects the program to stop carrying its execution struggles and red zone issues into the tough schedule ahead.
The next two games against Illinois and Iowa will be the real test, revealing whether the Buckeyes can clean up those issues before the middle stretch gets tougher.