Ryan Day says he would move hash marks tighter if he could change a rule

Talks of rule changes are common in college football. Some big ones are coming this season, but there’s one interesting thing Ohio State coach Ryan Day would change if he had the power.

“Hash marks,” Day told FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt.

Currently, college football hash marks are 40 feet apart and 60 feet away from the nearest sideline. That’s a stark contrast to the NFL. The hash marks at the next level are 18′ 6′ apart — much closer than the NFL — and 70′ 9″ away from the nearest sideline.

That’s a big difference — one Day thinks should be changed. He argued college football should adopt the NFL model for hash marks and follow the lead of the NBA and college basketball. The example he used was the three-point line, which college moved back from 20′ 9″ to 22′ 1 3/4″ in 2019. As a result, the college basketball three-point line is now less than two feet shorter than the NBA.

If college can move away from the sideline and more toward mid-field, Day argued it’d make a major impact on the game.

“I think those hash marks were built for football a long time ago,” Day said. “I think the NBA has made their adjustments, college has made their adjustments. They moved the three-point line. They’ve made adjustments. We haven’t. And I think now today, with the type of athletes that we have, they’re faster, they’re bigger, they’re more powerful.

“Putting the ball on a hash mark is just putting everybody in the smaller area of the field. … I think putting the ball in the middle of the field, more like an NFL, opens up the entire game.”

This isn’t the first time Day shared his thoughts on where the hash marks are. He did so in 2021, as well, again saying it would help open up the game.

Although the hash marks aren’t moving anytime soon, college football is preparing for some big rule changes this year. Among them is a running clock after a first down except in the last two minutes of a half, which could help speed up games.

Coaches also won’t be able to take consecutive timeouts and there will no longer be untimed downs at the end of the first and third quarters. The latter rule means penalties at the end of the first and third quarters would carry over and, as a result, be enforced in the next quarter.