Tuesday was such a day for Ryan Day, whose team began looking ahead to a matchup with Western Michigan after topping Akron 52-6 in their season-opener.
Nonetheless, his second press conference of the regular season had plenty of interesting nuggets for football fans to munch on in the middle of the first week of September.
Here are five:
1. Two senior starters who missed the opener are considered day-to-day this week.
This is consistent with what Day said Saturday after the game against the Zips.
Cody Simon could return at linebacker, and Donovan Jackson could be back at his customary left guard spot, but there is not much reason to think the Buckeyes will push it with either one given tougher matchups await later in the season.
2. Their fill-ins were solid.
Lakota East grad Austin Siereveld and Lakota West alumnus Tegra Tshabola both received passing grades for their first starts in Scarlet and Gray on the offensive line, but Day hopes to see more.
“We expect to go out there and score every time we touch the ball and run the ball well,” Day said. “We’re not in the excuse-making business, so those guys have got to go out and play really, really well. 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.”
While Tshabola won the battle to be the team’s new No. 1 right guard, Siereveld is a second-teamer who started in place of Jackson at left guard.
Day said Siereveld played well enough to merit some snaps even when Jackson returns, and the coach shared similar sentiments on Arvell Reese, a sophomore linebacker who split time with junior Alter grad C.J. Hicks with Simon sidelined.
3. Chip Kelly suggested much newness contributed to the slow start by the offense.
While Tshabola and Siereveld were making their first career starts at the college level, quarterback Will Howard, running back Quinshon Judkins, center Seth McLaughlin, backup tight end Will Kaczmarek and true freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith were all making their Ohio State debuts, something that could have been a factor in the offense having a hard time getting in rhythm early.
“You can go in there as much as you want from a practice standpoint and go against our defense in there, but when you get in there and there’s 102,000 (people), you kind of catch yourself looking around,” said Kelly, a veteran coach in his first season as Ohio State offensive coordinator. “Not looking at the field, but looking around the field just because of how amazing that experience is. I think once those guys got settled, we started to get into a pretty good rhythm, but there was a lot of guys that it was their first game. And that’s to be expected.”
4. Not calling plays went OK for Day.
He turned that task over to Kelly, who was in the press box calling plays for the first time since 2008 when he was offensive coordinator at Oregon, in a much-ballyhooed offseason decision.
“The best way to describe it is you could probably just imagine (defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is) calling it and Chip’s calling it, and I’m kind of there having a conversation, not getting in the way of what’s being called, but just making sure they understand the situation down the distance, time,” Day said.
That can also include things Day is seeing at field level that could impact what either coordinator might want to do next.
“Maybe someone’s got big eyes, or maybe someone looks good, like we’re rocking off the ball, or we’ve got to get these guys going, maybe there’s a little lull, or whatever those things are, you’re just trying to communicate that to both sides.
“It’s just game management.”
5. He liked being able to use helmet communication for the first time in a real game, but having access to tablets on the sideline might have been a bigger factor.
“You can kind of see what’s going on during the game and get a feel for exactly what you’re seeing. That is new,” Day said.
“You didn’t really have that before. You’re really relying on the guys up in the box to give you information. Your eyes can sometimes deceive you down in the field.
“Now you’re able to confirm what you think you saw, make adjustments, and have the communication to the players in that moment, so that was good.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Western Michigan at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m., Big Ten Network, 1410
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