Ohio State Buckeyes: Better communication key for defense to improve

“I’m going to still see how practice goes today,” Day said Thursday afternoon in his final meeting with reporters before the ninth-ranked Buckeyes play host to Tulsa. “Then we’ll probably come up with a decision later here tonight.”

Change has felt inevitable since Oregon ran roughshod over the Buckeyes on Saturday in a 35-28 upset.

The Ducks not only moved the ball almost at will through the air or on the ground for about 31/2 quarters, they did so in some cases by taking advantage of knowing how Ohio State would be aligned on nearly every play — with four down linemen, six defenders in man coverage at the second level and a deep safety.

The Oregon coaching staff was often able to out-leverage the Buckeyes with formations and play calls, an outcome Day confirmed was all the more frustrating because of how much it resembled the defense’s struggles of last season.

While the defensive play-caller remains a mystery, Day indicated some change will occur regarding who is on the sideline.

Last week, secondary coach Matt Barnes was in the booth upstairs while defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs, defensive line coach Larry Johnson and linebackers coach Al Washington were on the sideline.

If Barnes remains in the box, it sounds like he will have company.

“I think the key is going to be how do we put the team in the best position to call the right defense for what we’re seeing, but also identifying what’s happening in game,” Day said. “So usually you have somebody who’s looking at the back end, somebody who’s looking at the front, and saying, okay what kind of schemes are we getting in the run game? And then what’s going on in the backend in terms of coverage, and how they’re trying to attack us in the pass game?

“And so that information has to get filtered down to the field, and then we have to get those things to the sideline to our players, and then make adjustments, and that’s the bottom line. I mean it’s not brain surgery, but that’s just what it is. So figuring that out as we head into Saturday is what we’ve been focused on all week.”

Because he made the defensive calls while a member of the staff at Maryland in 2018, Barnes has been seen as a potential play-caller for the Buckeyes, something Day did not rule out.

“Every situation is different,” Day said. “What we have to do is find out what makes the best sense for us in terms of organizing the game plan and then calling the game on Saturday. And that’s all that we are focused on right now. We can’t worry about feelings. We can worry about anything other than giving our guys the best situations to be successful. And that’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Tulsa at Ohio State, 3:30 p.m., FS1, 1410