COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ryan Day isn’t treating Ohio State’s 24-23 loss to Texas like a one-off slip. After watching a 20-point fourth-quarter lead disappear, the Buckeyes coach said Tuesday that the staff is reexamining everything, including who is on the field when the game is on the line.
“We’re going to look at everything,” Day said.
That message came through clearly in his weekly press conference with local media: the current depth chart is not locked in, and younger players could get more chances if they prove they deserve them. Day said the staff is digging into coaching, scheme and personnel after Ohio State let a game in Austin get away.
“If you feel like somebody gives you the best chance to win, you’re going to play them,” Day said.
It was a straightforward coaching line, but it landed with extra force after Saturday night. Ohio State had the lead.
Ohio State had the talent. Ohio State also had enough players on the sideline that Day now wants a hard look at whether the right ones were out there when it mattered most.
“If they’re the best players and they give us the best chance to win, then they’re going to play,” Day said.
That opens the door for a group of younger Buckeyes who are pushing for more. Day said he is not going to hold them back simply because they are early in their careers.
Jay Timmons is already a prime example. The freshman cornerback has earned Day’s trust, and that trust has led to real playing time.
Day pointed to Timmons as the kind of standard he wants across the roster: age and expectations do not matter nearly as much as whether a player can help Ohio State win right now. After what happened against Texas, the staff can’t afford to play on projections alone.
Two more young defenders came up Tuesday as well. Day was asked about freshman defensive end Khary Wilder and sophomore linebacker Riley Pettijohn.
Wilder played five snaps against Texas and still managed to get pressure on Arch Manning. Pettijohn finished with three tackles and a sack while rotating at linebacker.
Day said Pettijohn will keep seeing more action.
For Ohio State, the larger issue is what the Texas game revealed. The Buckeyes were good enough to build a 23-3 lead, but not good enough to finish it.
They couldn’t get off the field. They couldn’t sustain enough offense.
They couldn’t make the handful of plays that would have turned that edge into a road win.
Day’s staff now has to sort through all of it.
“coaching, personnel, scheme, all of it,” Day said.
That’s the uncomfortable part of a loss like this. It’s tempting to pin everything on one flaw, but Ohio State’s collapse was bigger than that.
The Buckeyes didn’t forget how to play football. Texas simply made the plays Ohio State did not.
And that leaves Day with a clear responsibility: make sure the players who can make those plays are the ones on the field.
“We have to make sure that we put the best guys on the field that gives us the best chance to win,” he said.
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