Ryan Day’s Staff Pressured to Take Crucial Will Howard Call as OSU’s Woes Only Have One Fix

Ryan Day and his coaching staff need to huddle before hosting their first-round playoff. There’s no room for mistakes that we saw in No. 6 Ohio State’s fall in the hands of Michigan in The Game. That was a stinging blow for the HC, who faced his fourth consecutive defeat against their arch-rival. While this put him in a hot seat, several opinions rested on the fact that their QB Will Howard isn’t fully utilizing his throwing talent.

In the last game against Michigan, Will Howard had a lackluster performance. He threw for 175 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions on 19-of-33 passing. His first interception gave Michigan the ball at Ohio State’s two-yard line, and his second one occurred inside the red zone to disrupt a possible scoring drive. After this, Howard gave an emotional apology once the game ended.

“I still love this team. I still love this university. I’m just… I’m sorry, man. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to be a Buckeye, and I’m sorry I couldn’t get this one,” Howard said while getting choked up. The worst part was that it was his only game with multiple interceptions this season. “It hurts, man. I can’t say it enough: I’m sorry to Buckeye nation,” Howard said. But despite that, Howard is optimistic. “We still have things in front of us. And we can still run the table and win a national championship. At the end of the day, that’s what we have to focus on,” he added. According to a CFB analyst, Howard himself is a key piece if Ohio State wants to advance toward that goal.

CBS Sports analyst Rick Neuheisel dropped a word of caution on Ohio State ahead of their first playoff round against No. 9 Tennessee. In an excerpt posted by CBS Sports College Football on X on December 11, he stated that Ryan Day and the Buckeyes should get over that heartbreaking Michigan loss and believe in their players and staff. He said, “But the coaching staff has to believe in Will Howard too to unlock the most potent position group in college football which is that receiver core. If they can get those guys going, they can beat Tennessee at home.”

The Buckeyes have one of the best WRs in Jeremiah Smith, who broke Cris Carter’s 1984 record with the most receiving yards as a freshman (664) against Penn State. But if they continue to rely on their run game, Neuheisel foresees a grim scenario. He added, “If they don’t, Tennessee can take the Michigan game plan and do the same thing cause they can run and play defense.”

Leading up to the Michigan game, it was repeatedly said that the Buckeyes had to rush the ball effectively to come out on top. From the play calls of the OC Chip Kelly, it seemed they were trying too hard to establish the run. When the rushing attack became evidently flat, the Buckeyes continued to run the ball into Michigan’s strongest territory, which is the defensive line.

In the game, Michigan rushed for 172 yards, an average of 4.1 yards per carry. Ohio State, on the other hand, ran 77 total yards on 3 yards per carry. “We talked about this many times: we have to run the ball, especially in this game. It was a little windy out, and in order to win the game, you have to be able to run it; we weren’t able to do that. [We] tried a couple of different schemes, couldn’t quite get into a rhythm.”

A good rushing attack starts with the offensive line. The Buckeyes’ five linesmen were the fifth different combination of starters this season, and against a strong Michigan, they could not hold up. “Some of the staff that happened in the offensive line and shuffling things around ended up really coming to a head today. Some of those guys, I’ll have to look at the film and figure it out, but we just couldn’t seem to get through to the second level on some runs and [it] led to some frustrations,” Day said. The Buckeyes didn’t attempt to throw to the outside as much as they should have. So, the focus shifts to OC Chip Kelly, who has become a topic of hot discussion among fans and analysts. 

Ryan Day’s Ohio State needs to change their play style

CBS Sports analysts aren’t the only ones concerned about Ryan Day’s offense strategy. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt also pointed out this flaw in Ohio State’s play-calling saying, “Ohio State has got to play on the perimeter. This cannot be a running team. It cannot be running team. In order to win the national championship, it has to be a passing team.” Fans also expressed their frustration with Chip Kelly saying that he’s the one responsible for “that series for the field goal attempts.” Yet this is not the first time that the play calling has been under fire.

When Ohio State lost to Oregon 32-31 on October 12, NFL veteran DB Darius Butler was furious at Will Howard, Ryan Day, and Chip Kelly for the debacle. “Can’t put Jeremiah Smith as the single X in that late game, last drive situation. Too easy to double! Put him in a bunch and hit whoever has 1 on 1 coverage out of him and Egbuka! Will Howard, Ryan Day and Chip Kelly all played CRUCIAL roles in those late game clock and play-calling f*** ups,” Butler tweeted. “Like Saban said yesterday. You gotta win on Offense in the Collegiate level.”

However, despite the mistakes in the last loss, Ohio State is still entering the first playoff round as a 7.5-point favorite over Josh Heupel and Tennessee. There are words of optimism that they might have learned from the past before they face the Volunteers at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on December 21. The Buckeyes secured the No. 8 seed in the 12-team playoff format. So they’ll be one of the four higher seeded teams hosting the first playoff round. 

If Ryan Day wins this game, Ohio State will advance to the Rose Bowl for a rematch against No. 1 Oregon, their only other regular season loss aside from Michigan.