Here are five more notes from Day’s Tuesday press conference:
1. Day and McCord saw McCord’s performance similarly.
The junior completed 20 of 33 passes for 239 yards. He had an interception and no touchdown passes, and both the quarterback and coach agreed he had his ups and downs.
The outing was good enough to beat the Hoosiers, but not good enough for the Buckeyes to win future games against better opponents.
2. The offensive line had one player grade a “winning performance.”
That was right tackle Josh Fryar, one of three new starters for a group that was good last season but is one of the team’s biggest question marks this season.
Day said some of the issues stemmed from things Indiana did that were unexpected, but that was not all.
“We’ve gotta execute better,” Day said. “That’s the bottom line.”
3. The game showed the coaching staff some of its preseason assumptions were correct while others were not.
He declined to name any of those items, but Day confirmed that is probably the source of the saying teams never improve more than between their first and second games.
Now they have a better idea about what to focus on and what to forget about trying to do.
4. The Buckeyes could stand to be more aggressive.
Day played it somewhat close to the vest to avoid an upset at Indiana, but he said the “art of coaching” is knowing when to push those buttons.
His level of trust in the offensive line and quarterback impacts how many shots he might dial up in a game, too.
5. He still wants his team to establish the run.
In shades of last season, the Buckeyes were stuffed on multiple short-yardage third down situations. They went to the air on fourth down twice, getting one conversion and an interception.
Day doesn’t want to be predictable on offense, but he said they have to draw a line in the sand somewhere and be able to run the ball by moving people.
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