Despite beating Akron by 46 points, it’s clear that Ryan Day isn’t satisfied with how Ohio State played in its season opener.
Throughout his first press conference of Ohio State’s second game week of the season on Tuesday, Day talked as much if not more about what the Buckeyes need to improve upon than what they did well in Week 1 against the Zips.
“The effort across the board was solid. We've got a long way to go here, and we want to keep pushing,” Day said. “And there certainly were some great clips. I think you guys saw some of that on Saturday. But we're nowhere where we need to be. We've got to keep building.”
Asked specifically where he thinks Ohio State needs to improve in Week 2 as the Buckeyes host Western Michigan at Ohio Stadium on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., Big Ten Network), Day didn’t want to boil it down to one specific area because he thinks the Buckeyes can play better in every phase of the game.
“It's just so many things across the board. It's not just one area,” Day said. “You can watch all four phases of special teams – kickoff, kickoff, return, punt, punt return – and just identify things … On offense and defense, each guy has their things that they need to improve on. … I'm not going to get into all the details of it, but just little things all across the board that we need to improve, and when you have a bunch of those things, it adds up. And we know where we need to be.”
One specific area where Day made it clear he thinks the Buckeyes need to be better is along the offensive line, which has been the team’s most scrutinized position all offseason and remains that after an inconsistent first game. While Ohio State was without its most established offensive lineman, Donovan Jackson, and had two first-time starters at guard in Austin Siereveld and Tegra Tshabola, Day said the Buckeyes couldn’t use that as an excuse for unspectacular blocking up front.
“We expect to go out there and score every time we touch the ball and run the ball well. We're not in the excuse-making business, so those guys got to go out and play really, really well,” Day said. “That's what we expect. We're at Ohio State, so let's go. But I'm predicting that this week they have a really good week of practice and they keep growing from it and they build from it, and they have a point of reference moving forward.”
Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was similarly unsatisfied with the Week 1 performance of his offense as a whole. When asked if he thought he called a good first game as Ohio State’s offensive play-caller, Kelly said he thought he could have done much better.
“Nah, I thought we were just okay,” Kelly said. “To go four plays on the first drive and be out, well, that's not good. I mean, everybody can tell you that, so not overly excited about that first drive. The drive at the beginning of the second half (where Will Howard completed a 45-yard pass to Jeremiah Smith to set up a 2-yard Quinshon Judkins touchdown run) was Will and JJ just made a great play, that wasn't a great play call. … So there's always things you can do better, and I think you're always going to be critical. And it's about execution.”
All of that self-critiquing from Day and Kelly speaks to the high standard at Ohio State and the Buckeyes’ goal of winning the national championship. With far tougher competition to come than Akron, Ohio State knows it must improve upon its weaknesses before facing opponents who will be more capable of exploiting them.
That said, the Buckeyes’ 2024 journey is only just beginning. Playing the first game was a crucial step for the Buckeyes to self-evaluate where they currently are in their development in every phase of the game.
“The foundation hasn't been built yet,” Day said. “We talked about the preseason and how that foundation was being laid, but we're still building that up and trying to figure out how the preseason translated to game one. Again, there's some assumptions that were made like, ‘Hey, this guy's ready. This guy isn't.’ Or maybe this guy's a little bit better than we thought he was. Or this technique is not near where it needs to be. Or maybe there's somebody in there who you thought they were in better shape than they were, and after about 20, 25 plays, their game started to fatigue. Or maybe there's some guys in there who the stage was a little bit too big for them early on. They had to settle down.
“These are all the things, and without getting into the details of all the things that we talk about as a team, those are the areas that we all have. And each player has their own things that they need to improve on.”
“We're nowhere where we need to be. We've got to keep building.”– Ryan Day on his team after Week 1
Now, the Buckeyes have their sights set on taking another step forward when they play Western Michigan – another team that they’re projected to beat comfortably, though one they can’t overlook after the Broncos took a fourth-quarter lead in Week 1 against Wisconsin, another Big Ten foe.
“Ultimately, it comes down to not your opponent, but you,” Day said. “We know that there are certain things that we need to work on and improve on across the board, and that's what we're going to focus on.”
