I tried to stay off the internet for a few days after Saturday, but as I read and listened more about what happened against Michigan, the more I have been willing to give Ryan Day criticism. I do believe Ohio State can not pick any better person to lead this team as a head coach, and no I do not believe he was born on third base thinking he hit a triple, but there are some weird trends I believe warrant some push back. I am trying to be as rational about this as I can, and want to know what you all believe is warranted vs. unwarranted criticism of Day, as well.

1. Physicality. I will grant the 2019 and 2020 teams were extremely physical (read Najee Harris' postgame comments from January), but I have never seen such a timid team as 2021. The two biggest games of the year, they got their butts handed to them on both sides of the line. To me, that is unacceptable at Ohio State.

2. Play-calling. This excel sheet cited in the Skull Session says it all.

Not passing once from under center the entire Michigan game is astounding. There was no rhyme or reason to the play-calling on Saturday, no bootlegs, no play action passes. Sure, Michigan tried to take away the deep shots with two safeties, but Ryan Day did not even attempt to force Michigan's hand at any point. After the Penn State or Nebraska game (I can't remember which), C.J. pointed out the opposing teams were calling out the offensive plays. Day's response to that was essentially "every team has tendencies, sometimes the defense guesses correctly, sometimes they don't." Well, it seems that when opponents can combine guessing those tendencies with ACTUAL defensive talent and scheme (Oregon, Penn State, Michigan), it makes it fairly easy to disrupt Day's rhythm and play-calling and knock him off-schedule. For the most part, he is a wonderful play-caller, but he must switch up his tendencies next season, particularly in the run game.

3. Coaching Hires. This may be the most controversial one of my critiques, but I have been less than impressed with Day's recent hires. Kerry Coombs, as wonderful of a recruiter and DB coach as he is, was an abject failure of a hire at defensive coordinator. The man is sixty years old and had spent ZERO of his coaching career coordinating a defense. I would love for him to stay in a reduced role as a DB coach, but it is quite clear he was out of his element trying to make adjustments and scheme against offensive coordinators.

Parker Fleming performed admirably as a special teams coach and the unit was one of the best in the country, but that took away another defensive coaching hire. Only having 4 coaches on defense (none of which had extensive history as a coordinator) seems counterproductive. Meanwhile, there are two coaches (albeit young and talented) on the staff in Fleming and Dennis that probably only have a slightly larger role than a quality assistant coach (i.e. Keenan Bailey). Day is already coaching quarterbacks the majority of practice. If he does not make massive coaching changes, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, I envision another performance next year where talent can only cover up so much of the question marks.

I am still extremely high on Coach Day, and there always issues after an Ohio State season, but with the insanity of college football in this off-season, these issues seem more pressing than ever (or at least since 2016).