In some of the discussion about next year, people add something like “….and we’ll add someone from the portal”. Like that’s easy or we’ve had recent success. The recent transfers have been pretty mid. McAllister was a unique situation because he was Knowels guy and knew the system, but it’s certainly debatable whether he deserved the snaps he got. And how things work out one year can impact your portal recruiting the next. Tywone Malone and Ja’had Carter not getting a whiff of the field is now a data point that will be considered. The Buckeyes will probably never guarantee playing time, but there are schools with the same NIL resources that will. Point is that it’s not certain and maybe even unlikely that experienced help is on the way.

Left ankle was taped up again for practice tonight, but McCord simply said he was “all good.” No excuses made or anything about the deep throws, but I think it’s at least worth mentioning it’s the plant ankle and it may have played some small part in that or perhaps some of the decisions in the pocket.

Big Ten will have 9 Friday Games in 2024, I understand TV money is crucial for schools but really is the money worth it? All our Big games are at Noon now, which makes it tough for recruits to come to our games when they live out of state. And between 3 networks, probably soon to have games on Paramount Plus and Peacock. I just see TV slowly changing college football. For better or worse the TV networks are controlling the sport.

How does OSU feel about him? He’s a 2026 QB from Olentangy. His highlights look awesome. A true dual threat QB

Major college coaching staffs often have close to 20 people, including quality control advisers, graduate assistants, etc.
The top programs might have a lot of turnover each season as up-and-coming talents move on to promotions, leaving a vacuum if the position isn't filled with an equal or better talent.
Where on the scale do you rate Coach Day's staff? Did he lose a key member, or more, from previous staffs (Kevin Wilson) comes to mind, that has had an affect? Is one grad assistant equal to the next?
Some elite head coaches fill their staffs with former head coaches, or assistants that will soon leave for head coaching jobs. Sometimes those quality control positions are key/critical to a team's on-field success.
It might take just one or two coaches to elevate a staff from an 8 on the scale to a 9 or 10. What do you think? Is Day's staff elite? Who are his elite assistants and which positions need an upgrade? We know a few are elite recruiters, and a few are great coaches, but is it enough? What other top programs have better staffs?

Was hearing rumors that Steele was suffering from rib injury. Guessing Austin and team not believing those rumors based on their predictions.

What happened to the show today @Birm @AEllis @AustinWard There is always a show on Thursday and not today. None of the sites posted their Thursday content on youtube.. just wondering and my brother looks forward to it all week

I wouldn't say there was a ton of insight into what's up with the offensive line, but Austin and I both tried to get some. Wanted to share those questions and answers with you here:

Austin asks him what it's like in the room, and what's the evaluation:

"Ohio State has a very high standard, so you're always pushing for that. Are we there yet? No. Are we working our way there? Yeah. There's been some improvement. There's some guys in the first group that have pulled away from the second group. But at the end of the day, you want the production. So no one is happy. There's a legitimate fight right now from the staff and the kids all together. I tell the kids all the time that we're doing this together. In practice, do I gotta cut it down back to basics and make it remedial? Yeah, I've done that a little bit this week. Everybody, coaches and players, has come out this week and talked ... the bad stuff is not because we're unable physically. There are some things going on that we need to correct, that we're capable and able to do it, but we're just not doing right now. So I have to simplify a scheme? Yeah, probably. Do they have to latch on and re-bite to scheme because they've gone too far, too fast? Yeah, some of them."

Austin followed up with whether it's hard to chart a course out of the struggles:

"No, you can let yourself get confused. It's getting back to the basics, the fundamentals and maybe the scheme — we'd really love to block them all, but maybe we get to these six. We have to put them in the right schemes so they can play faster and looser. Other times they say they got the scheme and they're gonna get better. In our room, the kids are diving back into themselves. There's no kicking back. From a coaching standpoint, I'm looking at how hard I'm coaching it, what I'm coaching, the details I'm giving to them, making sure I'm not spreading them too thin and then making sure they have the right schemes to go execute better."

I asked if it's possible that running the stretch play just doesn't suit this group:

"There are a lot of pieces that go into that. If it's just five-man, open stretch, there's a component of that. Then you add a tight end or fullback to it ... so you can add more pieces to it. Then you have more blocks and more reads. Are we just gonna cut it away? No. We've got banked reps and had times where we've run it really well, too. Then why isn't this one working? Is it personnel, like 12 or 13 versus 11? We gotta keep digging on it. To just say, wholesale, that it's not there, there's too much banked work. So we look at how do we find the right merge of five, then become six or seven, how does the back read it, and then put out guys in the right scheme that way."

I followed up with guys not getting to the second level:

"We gotta get displacement up front. We've gotta get more movement. Those guys (Maryland) played that 3-4 Okie front, so you gotta get moving on that first level. A lot of our play-action stuff hit, too, because there were a lot of guys down. That's the give and take. But, yes, we've gotta be more explosive in those. We only had two zero or negative yardage runs, but we had too many 3s and 2s. Getting the ball to the second level you have to ask whether it's the scheme, the personnel we're asking to do that scheme, or is there a different scheme we can open up? You look for that and you game plan every week. We gotta dive into it. We're all working on it."

Did Pate nail your mood as fan in this segment?

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Was Ohio State the second most physical team on the field the last two years vs Michigan? Maybe in 21, but was physicality the problem last year? Maybe it looks that way on the surface.

Also, I'm not so sure carrying around a sledgehammer in your nice sleek Ferrari that's meant to just run away from people is the best strategy.

I don't know if I'm on board with it, what do you think?

There was some discussion about PFF's rankings a week or two ago and I thought that their mid-season All American Team had some interesting inclusions given the discussion that has dominated OSU message boards this week.


Burke was the only first-teamer from OSU. I think that is not unexpected. Both Stover and Matt Jones made 3rd team and Fryar and Proctor were Honorable Mention at their positions. A couple of those might be quite unexpected. Michigan only has one OL mentioned by contrast. Noticeably absent were both WRs, Tyliek, and Tuimoloau. Also will point out that Dallas Gant was honorable mention LB.

…

For at least two years, Coach Day has insisted on calling the wide-receiver screen. Has the play ever worked? Even against teams like Youngstown State, the two blockers miss the blocks and receivers like Egbuka get blown-up for two-yard losses. Seems like poor execution.

Cleveland area bars that have Peacock?

Day: "I don't understand why I'm not going through this wall. Maybe I'll just try to hit it harder."

Everyone: "You could try going through that open gate a few feet to your left."

Day: "Nah, this'll work eventually."

It's clear to me that the OSU OL is not where it needs to be in the run game. That is not arguable. However, outside of 2019, and the end of '20, the run scheme has woefully underperformed when looking at the talent at RB and OL. To me that's a sign Ryan Day's run scheme needs overhauled. Ross Fulton put it best on Saturday:

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This reliance on 12/13 personnel and running it from under center with boundary stretch runs, just highlights a major lack of imagination in the run game. Day has built this team to spread out the defense with 5* WR's and dice people up. I think the overreliance on 12 personnel is limiting the run game and limiting Kyle McCord.

Don’t see a thread?

Does not look like a great time in West Lafayette, Indiana Saturday…wet weather practice this week I would hope.
Saturday
Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 60%.