\t![\"Buckeye](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Melton.jpg\" "\\"Buckeye")
<\/p>\n
\n\tMelton wasn\u2019t kidding. Day repeatedly emphasized Ohio State\u2019s need to win the rushing battle despite employing the services of school single-season completion percentage record-holder Will Howard and a trio of future first-round NFL draft picks at wide receiver in Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThat’s how you control the game on both sides of the ball,\u201d Day said of the running game during the week of The Game last season. \u201cSo that’s something that has to be done. And you just look historically, that’s how you win The Game. That’s not the only thing. There’s a lot that comes with it. And so, like every game we go into, we’ll work hard to do what we think best helps us win the game. But, yeah, the team who runs the ball and the team who stops the run is going to win the game.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThat insistence led Ohio State to run the ball 26 times for just 77 yards against the Wolverines, 3 yards per carry. It didn\u2019t help that Howard was likely concussed. But more than the general reliance on the running game \u2013 the Buckeyes still passed more, 33 times, though two-minute drills at the end of each half account for plenty of those attempts \u2013 it was an insistence on runs up the middle that weren\u2019t working. It felt like a statement Day (or offensive coordinator Chip Kelly) wanted to make against the classic toughness narratives, whether that fed into the play calling or not.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBut in the College Football Playoff, things changed. The Buckeyes aired the ball out. They threw to run the ball when needed. The offense sputtered a bit against Texas, yes, but Day and Kelly unleashed Howard to the tune of a CFP title game record 13 straight completions to open the game, and Ohio State hoisted a CFP national championship trophy above its head. They did what they felt was best to win the game, despite the bad blood Day had with former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz and his former accusations that Day\u2019s program wasn\u2019t tough.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBut the 2025 season has made it clear that the lessons of the CFP run were internalized and built upon.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDay and new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia were the first men to recognize that this year\u2019s Ohio State defense had generational potential. Riding into the most hyped season-opener in program history against then-No. 1 Texas, there was an expectation that the Buckeyes might rely on their perimeter weapons of Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tInstead, Day adopted a methodical approach centered on running the ball, trusting his defense to win the game in a 14-7 slog. He did what he thought was best to win, regardless of any statement that could have been made, and that was to limit the amount that he put on the plate of first-time starting quarterback Julian Sayin.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe No. 1 goal is to just win,\u201d Day said in his Tuesday press conference following that game. \u201cIf it\u2019s 14-7, we have to be really, really excited about that. I think, in college football before there was the playoff system, but even still now at a place like Ohio State, there\u2019s certain things \u2013 quote-unquote \u201clook test\u201d and style points, which is a pretty dangerous place to go sometimes. Because the No. 1 goal is to win.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State\u2019s first road test at Washington saw Day roll with a similar strategy. The offense proved efficient, scoring on four of its six drives (excluding when the Buckeyes ran out the clock at the end of the game), but the Buckeyes held the ball for more than 20 minutes in the second half against quarterback Demond Williams Jr. and the dangerous Huskies offense.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBut the latest full-circle moment of Day putting statements or ego aside and coming up with his objective best game plan came at Wisconsin last Saturday.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThrough the Texas and Washington games and especially since, Sayin has established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He\u2019s dominating the country in completion percentage at 80%, with 1,872 passing yards and 19 touchdowns against just three interceptions. The training wheels came off. Day and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline put tons of decisions in his lap with a litany of RPO plays.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe No. 1 goal is to just win.\u201d\u2013 Ryan Day\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Buckeyes slung the pill, calling 44 passes against 24 runs. Now that his signal-caller has hit his stride, Day is no longer obsessed with winning rushing battles \u2013 not that he doesn\u2019t want Ohio State to be effective running the ball.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDay\u2019s true test of whether he\u2019s evolved beyond worrying about statements or proving toughness will arrive in Ann Arbor on Nov. 29 when the Buckeyes attempt to break their four-game losing streak in college football\u2019s greatest rivalry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no access to the alternate reality where Ohio State beats Michigan to close its 2024 regular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-248806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}