With Ohio State's transfer portal additions, is Ryan Day tweaking the Buckeyes' offensive identity?
Immediately after beating Notre Dame, Ohio State’s Ryan Day used his on-field postgame press conference to pick a fight with 87-year-old Lou Holtz.
“I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now,” a fiery Day said on NBC.
“What he said about our team, I cannot believe. This is a tough team right here. We’re proud to be from Ohio. It’s always been Ohio against the world, and it’ll continue to be Ohio against the world. But I’ll tell you what: I love those kids. We’ve got a tough team.”
While Day was chided for his comments, the former Notre Dame head coach was simply an avatar for Ohio State’s head coach to bristle at critics who believed two seasons of disappointment were due to a lack of physicality.
But if the Buckeyes’ early offseason moves are any indication, perhaps Day actually agreed with Holtz after all.
Ohio State wasn’t tough enough, especially offensively, and so the Buckeyes look to be reverting back to an identity that worked so well under Urban Meyer — a punishing, downhill rushing attack that heavily involves the threat of the QB run game.
IS RYAN DAY TWEAKING HIS OFFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY?
Ryan Day is a proven schematic wizard and quarterback developer. He is responsible for putting up beaucoup stats and for turning Justin Fields and CJ Stroud into 1st Round picks. He’s lost just eight games (to 56 wins) in his career as a head coach!
And yet, the losses were the only games Ohio State fans really cared about, especially three consecutive defeats to Michigan.
The Buckeyes got beat in the trenches by the Wolverines the last three seasons, and they just watched the Team Up North win the national championship by bullying another opponent.
Day is feeling unprecedented pressure for a coach of his statue and success, but when you follow a legendary head coach, fail to win the Big Ten Championship three years running and then see your program’s chief rival ascend to heights unseen, them’s the breaks.
For all of Ohio State’s fireworks and 1st round picks at quarterback and receiver the last few seasons, Day’s lights show has gone dark too often in the moments that mattered most. In just the last two years: On the final few drives against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and again against Michigan this November.
So Day clearly had a decision to make this offseason. Ride with Kyle McCord or Devin Brown at quarterback and hope for development and better results, or pivot back to what worked so well under Urban Meyer from 2012-18.
He chose Option B.
The Buckeyes wouldn’t promise McCord the starting job, and Day went out and recruited Kansas State quarterback Will Howard.
On the surface, Howard (24 touchdowns, 10 picks, 61% completion and 7.1 yards per attempt) has very similar (or worse) passing stats to McCord (24 touchdowns, six picks, 66% completion and 9.1 yards per attempt), but K-State’s quarterback had much weaker weapons to work with (hello no Marvin Harrison Jr. or Emeka Egbuka) and he’s a much bigger threat with his legs.
Because of 5-star freshman Avery Johnson’s supreme athletic ability, Kansas State actually didn’t ask Howard to run all that much in 2023 (81 carries, 350 yards and nine touchdowns), but the 6-4, 235-pound hammer is certainly capable.
And when you see the Buckeyes dipping into the portal to grab Will Howard, Alabama offensive lineman Seth Mclaughlin (good blocker, just don’t ask him to snap, please), and Ole Miss star tailback Quinshon Judkins, it screams one thing: Let’s get back to doing what allowed us to kick Michigan’s ass all those seasons.
Ohio State is improved defensively in Year 2 under Jim Knowles, and the Buckeyes should field one of the best units in the country again in 2024 with so many veterans (DB Denzel Burke, DL Tyleik Williams, DE Jack Sawyer, DL Ty Hamilton, DB Lathan Ransom) announcing their plans to return to school.
But Ohio State’s run game has to be better (just 4.1 yards per carry, eighth in the Big Ten) if they hope to claim the conference crown and compete for a title. And that’s where the portal additions come in.
Judkins averaged over 1,100 yards and 15 touchdowns in the SEC. He’s someone who breaks tackles better than any tailback in the country. If former 5-star tailback TreYevyon Henderson opts to return to school, the Buckeyes could have the best 1-2 punch in America. Mclaughlin has started 25 games in the SEC.
But the X-factor is Howard’s legs.
In the last three seasons, no Buckeyes QB has “carried” the ball more than 47 times. McCord logged 32 rushes this season — 19 of which were technically sacks.
Under Meyer, Ohio State’s quarterbacks (mainly JT Barrett and Braxton Miller) averaged 183 rushes per season over an seven-year span.
During the same time, the Buckeyes never lost to Michigan.
It’s not the simple, obviously.
Howard won’t carry the ball over 150 times, especially if the Judkins-Henderson duo pans out. And Ohio State is undergoing more changes (see: real staff turnover) than simply emphasizing tweaking its identity to run the ball more.
But the added threat of the QB-run game is real, and so is Howard’s ability to utilize the read-option offense (19 career rushing touchdowns, nearly 1,000 rushing yards). And Day clearly seems a need to convert more short-yardage plays and and score touchdowns in the red zone (just 47th nationally in 2023) — and Howard can help in both regards.
Despite all the bellyaching earlier this year about how “tough” Ohio State was, Day determined the Buckeyes clearly weren’t tough enough.