When a team is playing as well as Ohio State has played in the first half of the regular season, a bye week isn’t necessarily always a good thing.
The Buckeyes certainly have momentum on their side right now, having won all six of their games so far including five straight games by at least 29 points, so there’s the question of whether having the weekend off will slow that momentum.
Given that many of Ohio State’s key players have dealt with injuries during the first six weeks of the season, however, Day believes the benefits of not having a game this week outweigh any drawbacks.
“I think it does come at a good time,” Day said Tuesday. “There's times where you start to get into a rhythm and then you don't want that bye week. I don't know if that's the case here. We're gonna practice today, tomorrow, Thursday, really put some good three days of practice in and keep grinding on this thing, but it does allow us to get a few guys healthy heading into the Iowa game.”
The list of Ohio State players who have dealt with injuries this season has been full of notable names. Right at the top of that list is Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who entered the season with Biletnikoff Award aspirations but has played only 38 snaps this season – missing four of the last five games – after injuring his hamstring in the first quarter against Notre Dame.
Miyan Williams did not make the trip to Michigan State due to injury while fellow running back TreVeyon Henderson left the Michigan State game on the first play of the third quarter after missing the previous game against Rutgers with a foot injury. The majority of Ohio State’s top defensive backs have been banged up; Denzel Burke, Cameron Brown, Josh Proctor, Tanner McCalister, Lathan Ransom and Cameron Martinez have all missed at least one game due to injuries, though all of them were able to play against Michigan State, while Jordan Hancock has yet to play this year. Top defensive tackle Mike Hall played only seven snaps against Michigan State due to a shoulder injury he’s been battling.
That’s not to mention any injuries that other players might have played through during the first half of the season even if they didn’t have to miss any time.
“There's a lot that goes on during the week that you guys don't see,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said Tuesday. “Guys a lot of times play in the games, but maybe they didn't practice quite as much at the high speed or the intensity because they were banged up during the week.”
With all the players who have missed time for Ohio State already this season, Day said he is proud of the way the Buckeyes’ backups have stepped up to fill those voids. And he thinks that can pay dividends for the Buckeyes as they get healthier after a week off.
“We've had some stress at a couple of positions that we've had to go play some depth. And so that's been I think another thing if you're just identifying what are the things that have been positive in the first six games, I think we've seen some of that go on,” Day said. “Our depth has been challenged at different positions, and we’ve responded pretty well. And hopefully that can pay off here in these last six games of the regular season.”
The actual total of injuries Ohio State is dealing with at the midpoint of the regular season isn’t drastically higher than it has been in past years. Going into Ohio State’s sixth game of last season, the Buckeyes had 10 players listed as unavailable – only one fewer than they had for Saturday’s game against Michigan State – as well as three game-time decisions on their status report. Ohio State had nine injured players on its status report – six unavailable and three game-time decisions – before its sixth game of the season against Michigan State in 2019.
While the Buckeyes certainly don’t want to have as many starters in and out of the lineup as they’ve had, the good news is most of the injuries they’ve suffered have been short-term. Aside from running back Evan Pryor and defensive end/linebacker Mitchell Melton, who both suffered torn ACLs during the offseason, Day said Tuesday all of Ohio State’s other injured players could still return this year.
Day expressed optimism that a majority of the players who have been injured will be available to play when Ohio State begins its second half of the season next week against Iowa, who also has a bye this week.
“Going into today's meeting and going through the injury report, really for a bunch of those guys, the expectation is that they're going to play for the Iowa game,” Day said. “Now, they still have to come along, they have to have a good week and all that, but that's the goal right now is to get them healthy this week and have a full week of practice next week and those guys are ready to roll for Iowa.”
Day gave that answer in response to a question about the status of Williams and Smith-Njigba, while he previously said Saturday that Henderson would have been able to return if needed against Michigan State. He also indicated Tuesday that Ohio State is hoping to have Hancock back on the field soon and said he believes Hancock could still make a big impact later in the season.
“We were hoping going into the season he'd be battling for a starting position,” Day said of Hancock. “So I guess that wouldn't really change coming off of an injury, but he's got to get back on the field and prove that – he's just got to start off by getting some games under his belt, and then we can kind of go from there. But we'll be better if he's in the lineup. And start off by providing some depth, and then go from there.”
Jordan Hancock has been sidelined since preseason camp, but Ryan Day hopes to have him back on the field soon.
One player who is likely to remain unavailable against Iowa is wide receiver Kamryn Babb, who has been plagued by knee injuries throughout his Ohio State career and has not yet played this season after suffering another setback in preseason camp, but Day said he remains hopeful Babb will be able to play later in the year.
As the Buckeyes prepare for their second half of the season, they’ll continue to practice hard this week. Day said the Buckeyes will focus on fundamentals and technique this week and will continue to have plenty of “good on good” reps with starters going against starters in practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
That said, it certainly sounds as though Ohio State will take the opportunity to rest any players who have been battling injuries – or at least limit what they do in practice this week – as the most important objective of the bye week is to get as healthy as possible for the second half of the year.
“We obviously want to get healthy, get some guys back out on the field,” Day said. “Want to get some guys who are playing with a few things healed up.”
