Every Saturday night, Ari Wasserman and David Ubben react to the weekend’s slate of games on “Hanggang Sabado.” On Monday, they visit the biggest takeaway from Saturday night’s immediate reaction. This week: Ari wonders why Ryan Day changed his coaching style when Ohio State played Michigan.
Kalen DeBoer fired the punt team, but he wasn’t punting. This is a man who never doubts himself or his team.
Apple Cup tied with 1:15 remaining. Washington faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 29 yard-line. DeBoer called on the punt team to try to draw Washington State offside. When it didn’t work, he called a timeout — not to give up a first down, but to set up a perfect play.
Washington ran a triple-option concept. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has an option. to give the ball a dive, keep it or pick the crease. Star receiver Rome Odunze came up behind in an orbit motion, and Penix — with his back to the line of scrimmage — tossed him the ball.
The cameraman was fooled. With the shot aimed at the running back stuffed without the ball, Odunze sprints down the sideline for a 23-yard gain. It was the perfect call at the perfect moment. Seven plays later, the Huskies won on a field goal.
WHAT A FAKE, WHAT A PLAY 🤯
4th down conversion is good for @UW_Washington!!! pic.twitter.com/J5jeYzgdRh
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 26, 2023
It is incredible what happens when a coach puts the ball in his best players’ hands and trusts them to go make a game.
That should be Ryan Day for Ohio State.
But that’s not who he is when the Buckeyes play Michigan. Day lost sight of that and what he had on his roster during The Game. And as a result, it’s unthinkable that Ohio State has lost three straight to Michigan.
It wasn’t that long ago that Day was a brilliant, up-and-coming offensive mind who would run this program mercilessly. He’ll go for the fourth down when others won’t. He will make decisions based on who is on his sideline — not who is on the other sideline. He will design perfect play concepts to catch his opponents napping.
So why, on a stage where winning is supreme, has he become so inclined to make safe calls that prevent mistakes instead of trusting his superior athletes to win the game? Why doesn’t he try or try to step on the opposition’s throat? Why does he lack the imagination and gumption to use it?
Nothing illustrates that more than a key sequence before halftime of Ohio State’s 30-24 loss to Michigan on Saturday. Ohio State got into a 14-3 hole early in the game but fought back to make it 14-10 in the second quarter. It was stopped and got the ball with 3:23 left in the half at its own 2-yard line. Then, seven plays later, the Buckeyes were at the Michigan 34-yard line.
Instead of trying to go for a gut-punching touchdown — or even a more manageable field goal attempt — Sun inexplicably let the clock run down and attempted a 52-yard field goal. At a crucial moment, Day was more concerned about what danger Michigan might present than trusting his team to make a play.
A kicker with a career long of 47 yards, Day set up for a 52-yard field goal in the freezing cold. Jayden Fielding missed, of course, which shouldn’t be surprising since Ohio State’s special teams have been terrible this year. So the Buckeyes came away with nothing — the same thing they would have gotten away with had they been on fourth down and failed.
Failing, actually, would have been better because at least the Buckeyes tried. Anything.
The worst part? Day would have loved it if he was playing for Maryland or Minnesota. But he got scared and changed who he was in the biggest game of the year. That’s what makes you lose.
Some may argue that this is a prudent decision, but the instruction goes much deeper than using a blackjack helper card. You won’t make decisions that affect your team like deciding whether to hit or stay based on a book recommendation. Decisions, big and small, affect your team and show how a coach feels about his players. It penetrated.
Day has Marvin Harrison Jr. This was probably the last game he would play for Ohio State. Instead of arming him and going for the jugular, Day went conservative and gave up a scoring opportunity he surely would have had against any other Big Ten team.
He took the ball out of Harrison’s hands and put it at the feet of a kicker who hadn’t made a field goal in so long. It was missed, just as Georgia’s game-ending field goal in last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal was missed. The difference here is that all of Ohio State’s weapons are healthy. He has Harrison, TreVeyon Henderson, Cade Stover and Emeka Egbuka — some of the many elite players Ohio State has convinced to come to Columbus to win in the moment. Instead, Day took the ball out of their hands.
A coaching decision will not win or lose a game. Attitude doing. And that’s a window into how Day feels in a big moment in the game that will ultimately judge him.
Day said he spends 364 days a year preparing for Michigan. Isn’t that fourth a good time to try something new? What specifically did he have in store for the Michigan game that might have helped in that moment? Where’s the play like Ted Ginn Jr.’s memorable 2006 touchdown reception, where he lined up as a tight end and beat the Wolverines over the top? Wasn’t the Michigan game the stage where you empty the bag and show new things the opponent didn’t see on tape? Isn’t that what year-round preparation is all about?
Day did some things in the build-up that a smart football mind could easily identify. But the most ironic part about it is that Michigan — the smashmouth program that’s supposed to be all grit and no tricks — had the longest pass of the day thrown by a running back. Its second-longest run was not in a package designed for backup quarterback Alex Orji.
Sherrone Moore, a 37-year-old filling in for the suspended Jim Harbaugh, took more shots in this game than the offensive guru even had in his bag. Day didn’t even try. He wants to make fewer mistakes.
DEEP
Mandel: Sherrone Moore outcoaches Ryan Day as Michigan flexes again
Ohio State has elite-level players, but where is the gamesmanship? The creativity? The courage to do something you don’t normally do? Even the bravest coaching soul might be intimidated by what DeBoer did, but Day didn’t even attempt a fourth-down conversion in the game. In the first quarter, he chose to punt on fourth-and-1 from the OSU 46-yard line.
Day assumed Ohio State had better players, and the Buckeyes just did what they always do. Ohio State game-planned Michigan and hit the Buckeyes where it hurt. Day was outcoached by a 37-year-old fill-in.
This doesn’t mean the Buckeyes should fire Day or that he should seek another opportunity. Ohio State has a lot going for it. And yes, despite the trouble at Michigan, Day was 56-7 and had Ohio State on the brink of winning the national title a year ago.
You don’t just fire people on a whim. That’s what dysfunctional programs do. The problem, however, is that those seven losses have come in the games that Ohio State fans care about the most. Nobody cares about losing to Rutgers or Minnesota. And nobody cares when you’re aggressive against teams that can’t beat you.
Day spent the year trying to build a tough team with a good defense that could compete better in a Michigan-style game. Ohio State was tougher, sure, but it still lost.
Not nearly good enough in this rivalry.
It wasn’t enough for Ohio State.
Day coached scared. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t looking across the field at Harbaugh. It doesn’t matter that Michigan has the weight of the world on its shoulders during this illegal spying scandal. Day looked at Michigan’s helmets and considered what could go wrong before thinking about what his team could do right. Playing not to lose results in losing.
DEEP
No matter how many wins Ryan Day has at Ohio State, losses at Michigan will control his legacy
When the cameras zoom in on his face after the game, you can see the inner turmoil. It’s hard to encapsulate what he must be feeling. It must be suffering. The fear, the regret, the nervousness, the pressure, everything. It’s not just losing a game. This is the loss of The Game. again.
How does Day fix it? It’s not flipping a coordinator or recruiting better. This is a complex and deep-rooted issue.
He needs to figure it out fast because winning a bunch of Big Ten games won’t be good enough at Ohio State. Ohio State has failed to reach any of its goals in each of the last three years because it couldn’t win The Game. Ohio State coaches — fair or not — will always be judged through the lens of how they performed against Michigan.
Jim Tressel is a legend. Urban Meyer is a legend. The duo won national titles, but the biggest source of pride was a combined 16-1 against the Wolverines. Day, in fairness, played at Michigan at his best, and it’s not unreasonable to assume he’ll never lose. Sometimes teams just lose to really good teams.
But whatever it is? This is unacceptable. That’s the kind of pressure you’re signing up for when you cash that eight-figure check.
The pressure can not keep the food Day alive or it will get him fired.
Just ask John Cooper.
(Photo: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
