Ryan Day Confident Fixes Are Coming To Buckeye Pass Rush

For just the sixth time in the Ryan Day era, the Ohio State defense failed to record a sack in a game in their road matchup at Oregon nearly two weeks ago now.

Interestingly, two of those six games have come against the Ducks.

The Buckeyes last failed to record a sack in a game in last year’s trip to Notre Dame. In 2022 during the hurricane-force wins at Northwestern, the OSU defense also went sackless. Three times in 2021 — against Oregon, Purdue, and Michigan — the Buckeye defense was denied as well.

Part of those failures in 2021 led to the hiring of current Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles prior to the 2022 season. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson has been at Ohio State since 2014, and the sack numbers have fluctuated from year to year given the players, schemes, and offenses faced.

Right now, the Buckeyes are in the middle of the pack of the Big Ten in sacking the quarterback, and given the resources at Ohio State, “middle of the pack” should never be an acceptable descriptor.

The Buckeyes have No. 3 in scoring defense, the No. 6 rush defense, and only three teams have allowed fewer touchdown passes (4) than Ohio State. Despite the good numbers overall, OSU head coach Ryan Day wants production when it matters most.

“Again, I’m not happy with anything right now, but certainly we want to get more pressure on the quarterback, there’s no question,” Day said on Tuesday. “And it’s the coach’s job to make sure that we put our players in a situation and environment to be successful. So, that’s the first thing we’ve got to look at, and then it’s the player’s job to go do it and execute it. So, all those things were part of the conversation this past week, and we definitely need to do a better job there.”

When evaluating the lack of a more effective pass rush, the first thing the staff looked at was the personnel, but Day doesn’t see the players as the issue.

“Maybe we can tweak a few things, but I think we have the right people in the right spots,” he said. “Then it comes down to scheme. I think there’s some things that we can do better, for sure. Putting guys in better situations to be successful. And then there’s the coaching. And I think we definitely can do a better job there of making sure that the guys understand exactly what they’re doing, getting them lined up, and then going from there. But I think it’s a combination of scheme and coaching.”

In order to reiterate the point of scheme and coaching, Day has found himself more involved with the defensive staff meetings since the loss at Oregon. On Tuesday, he said he’s “definitely been in there more in the last week” than in the past. Every buck stops with the head coach and he’s making sure his voice is heard and vision is seen.

“Ultimately, it’s my job to make sure that all three phases are the way they’re supposed to be,” he said. “So I’ll make sure that gets done.”

Ryan Day is not only listening in the meetings but he’s also letting his coaches know what he wants to see. The conversations aren’t always easy but they are always necessary. Asked if he still had confidence in Jim Knowles — and why — Day answered in the affirmative.

“Yeah, well, as I go in the meeting, and I had hard conversations with everybody, and I know what the plan is moving forward,” he said. “And I’m involved with that plan. Yeah, I got confidence in all those guys on that side of the ball, and I know what we need to get done, and we’re gonna get it done.”

Coming out of the Oregon game, there were reactions locally and nationally. One of the national reactions came from former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who mentioned that part of Ohio State’s four-man pass-rushing attack was “antiquated.”

How did Day take that commentary?

“Well, when it doesn’t work, I mean, it’s accurate. It’s not working,” he said. “So there’s a lot of different ways to do it. There’s different strategies on how to go do that. But when you have the results that you do right now, then certainly it’s not working, and that has to change.”

There won’t be a full-scale overhaul on what the Buckeyes do. As Day said on Tuesday, “the decision was made a long time ago that we have the D-linemen here at Ohio State that can play with four down linemen.”

But might they consider some different fronts and changeups throughout a game moving forward?

“I think it’s all very good conversation, and we have to make sure that we’re going down all those roads to make sure that, again, we’re putting these guys in a chance to be successful. We’re making it not easy for the offense to just line up and know where we’re coming from.”

Ultimately for every defense it comes down to putting the personnel in a situation to be successful. There are less-talented defenses around the nation creating more chaos than the Buckeyes. That needs to change immediately, which is the more succinct message that Day is sending to his coaching staff.

“I feel like we have plenty of D-linemen here, and we have the right guys on the field,” he said. “But we’ve got to make sure that we are changing it up and making sure that it isn’t just a four-man rush straight all the time, for sure.”

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