Ryan Day arrived at Ohio State ahead of the 2017 season as the newly minted co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after two previous stints as a college offensive coordinator and two years as an NFL quarterbacks coach.
Day was the offensive coordinator at Temple and Boston College before one-year stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers elevated his coaching stock, putting him firmly on Urban Meyer's short list. Meyer was hellbent on elevating Ohio State's offensive performance in the wake of Tim Beck's welcome departure from Columbus.
Of course Meyer was already familiar with Day, who served as a graduate assistant on Meyer's first Florida staff down in Gainesville back in 2005.
Meyer's mission was to elevate a janky passing game that made a strong rushing attack too easy to defend when facing elite competition.
The decision proved prophetic not just for the fact Day proved to be an elite offensive mind, teaming with Kevin Wilson to revamp an Ohio State offense that is now as balanced and lethal as just about any in the country, year in and year out.
The move was also well-timed as the college game has changed from the days of “defense wins championships.” These days, a top-level offense can still light up the scoreboard when facing stiff defensive tests.
You know it's real when Nick Saban – the best to ever do it at the college level – buys into the notion.
“It used to be that good defense beats good offense. Good defense doesn't beat good offense anymore. I'm telling you, it ain't that way anymore.”– Nick Saban on the state of college football
With Day, Wilson and staff bringing in elite talent, putting that talent in position to succeed, exploiting matchups, playing aggressive and working to maintain a run/pass balance, the Ohio State offense has ranked in the top 11 in points per game each season since Day's arrival.
Each of those four offenses averaged at least 41 points per game, with the 2019 group topping the list at 46.9 per contest. An abbreviated slate this past season, stops and starts and player unavailability due to COVID-19 and an injury to Trey Sermon on the first play of the national championship game all factored into the 2020 squad only scoring 41.0 points per game, the fewest since Day began pulling the strings.
During those four seasons, Ohio State's offense ranked No. 6, No. 8, No. 3 and No. 11 in scoring offense.
That consistency has proved extremely important as Ohio State's defense hasn't consistently been able to keep pace. The 2017 defense ranked No. 15 in the land (19.0 ppg), but 2018 clocked in at No. 50, giving up 25.5 points. The 2019 defense bounced back in a big way, giving up only 13.7 points (No. 4 in the nation) before the 2020 unit ran into issues, particularly in the secondary, allowing 25.8 points per game to rank No. 43 in the country.
Ohio State has won 45 of 50 games since Day joined the staff. That mark includes a perfect 38-0 record when the Buckeyes score at least 30 points. What happened in those 12 games the scarlet and gray scored less than 30? Seven wins, five losses.
The 2020 squad went 1-1 in such instances, beating Northwestern 22-10 in the Big Ten championship before scoring just 24 while Alabama was beating Kerry Coombs' defense like a rented mule, racking up 52 points when it could've honestly made a run at 70 if Saban wasn't such a gentleman.
Heading into 2021, Day needs to determine and develop a new starting quarterback to take the place of Justin Fields but the good news is that quarterback – C.J. Stroud has to be the favorite – will be surrounded by talent.
Ohio State returns its top two receivers from a year ago, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. There's a ton of talent behind them waiting to strut their stuff, headlined by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Julian Fleming and Jameson Williams. Tight end Jeremy Ruckert showed what he can do when asked to be a receiving target. True freshmen TreVeyon Henderson and Evan Pryor join a running backs room returning Master Teague and Miyan Williams, among others.
All that skill-position talent will get to operate behind an offensive line stacked with arguably the best pair of tackles in college football in Thayer Munford and Nicholas Petit-Frere, joined by names like Matthew Jones, Harry Miller, Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones along the interior.
That's a lot of words to say you can carve it in stone Ohio State will average at least 40 points again next year. Doing it consistently will be crucial as the defense tries to bounce back from a disappointing 2020.
Unless Coombs' defense can make a drastic one-season improvement, Day and company best be prepared to prove a great offense is the best defense.
