Roy Hall. It’s not a
name that means much unless you’re a Buckeye fan of a certain age (33-45, give
or take). He had a reasonable career at
Ohio State: 52 catches, 580 yards, 3
TDs. He even turned himself into a 5th
round draft pick, though he only managed just 1 career NFL catch. For those who need their memory refreshed,
Hall was a senior on the 2006 Buckeye squad that dismantled everyone they
played until they squeaked by a #2 TTUN team and then got smoked by future
Buckeye coach Urban Meyer in the BCS title game.
That season’s game against the team up north was eye-opening
for many reasons, but the main one is as follows: Roy Hall had 3 catches, including a
touchdown, on the game’s opening drive.
Jim Tressel, who is famous for repeating endlessly that the punt is the
most important play in football, came out in a five-WR set. On the very first play. The vaunted maize and blue looked more
confused than the defense in Remember the Titans when the high school team in
the state title game went shotgun. FIVE
wideouts? Did Tressel consult with Mike
Leach when nobody was looking? Was that
even legal in the Big however-many in 2006?
Turns out it was legal, and it worked. Troy Smith was a runaway Heisman winner that
year, so of course the Buckeyes threw the ball all over the lot, in spite of
Tress’s typical wishes. He played to the
strength of his team. Good coaches
create unique systems that work with the right players. Great coaches adapt their systems to the
strengths of their players. Five nattys
between the Penguins and Buckeyes make Tress a great coach by any measure.
Enter Ryan Day. Much
has been made of his willingness this year (a couple of seasons late according
to many) to scale back his responsibilities.
Do less, delegate more, and hopefully the results will come. In the meantime, however, it can be pretty
easily argued that Day meets the above definition of a good coach, but not a
great one.
All Buckeye fans have seen the picture on the bench of the 5
WRs: Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, JSN,
Marv and Julian Fleming. By my count,
that’s four first round picks and a 5-star who, when not injured, has
been highly productive as well. Emeka
Egubka isn’t even pictured which is absolutely insane. Can anyone guess how many plays all five ran
together in a Buckeye uniform? If you
set the over/under at .5, you’d have to take the under, which is as sad as it
is true. Ryan Day could have trotted out
freshman Marvin Harrison Jr. as the fifth wide receiver. No defensive backfield in the history of
college football is deep enough to cover him one on one. Due to the absurdly tight WR rotation, he had
three catches all season then three touchdowns in the Rose Bowl when
Wilson and Olave opted out. Marv was
great, he was ready, but no 5-WR sets existed in Day’s offense, choosing
instead to split out RBs and TEs. Truly
mind-boggling.
However, this wasn’t always the case. Look no further than the only rivalry game
Day has won so far. In 2019, he
inherited Urban’s team that, while utilizing the spread, used it primarily to
run first, pass second. That sharply
contradicts Day’s philosophy, but that didn’t matter in Ann Arbor when J.K.
Dobbins went berserk to the tune of 211 yards and four touchdowns on 31- yes
you read that right- 31 carries. That’s
great coaching, adapting your system to the strengths of your roster.
Last season, Day had two elite WRs (with one struggling to
stay healthy) and what can only be described as a significant dropoff at
quarterback. However, in only one game
did a running back run for over 150 yards (Treveyon, 162 against Wisconsin),
and in no games did a running back even reach 25 carries. The winner of the rushing battle against TCUN
has won every single game this century.
You know who won the last three contests, sadly.
The expectations are sky high this year, as they should
be. The defense is elite, the offense
has skill, and Day, in theory, is more hands-off. This year’s roster has two J.K.-level running
backs, and you can bet, if they’re healthy, they can be ridden to a phenomenal
season- if Day allows it. Chip Kelly has
been historically willing to run the ball and their relationship is strong. Given good health (fingers and toes crossed),
and the introduction of helmet comms, there’s nothing to get in the way of the
2024 Buckeyes… except Ryan Day.
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