Ohio State football: First full week to shape Day’s expectations for season

Both are natural assumptions given the fact Ohio State returns Heisman Trophy finalist C.J. Stroud at quarterback, 1,200-yard rusher TreVeyon Henderson and 1,600-yard receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba along with three starters on the offensive line.

The defense, meanwhile, has struggled three of the past four seasons, so setting expectations low seems to be the sensible play.

Unless you’re the head coach of the Buckeyes, apparently.

During Big Ten Media Days last week, Day declared the defense should expect to be one of the best in the nation, and he did not back off from such talk back in Columbus this week.

He revealed some of his rationale, though.

“They ask, ‘Why would you say it has to be a top 10 defense?’ I’m not saying it has to be, but you have to understand that is the expectation,” Day said. “That’s the expectation on offense, and Ohio State should be top 10 in special teams. We want to be the best of the country. We should be held accountable to that. That’s that’s the goal. That’s what we’re working to make sure happens.

“If we do have a top 10 offense, top 10 defense and special teams, that’ll give us a chance to reach our goals.”

Aside from the benefit of low expectations (from the outside, anyway), the defense has several things working in its favor.

While the addition of new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and secondary coaches Perry Eliano and Tim Walton has gotten most of the attention, the unit could end up with a more experienced starter at all 11 positions this fall compared to last.

That depends on how some preseason position battles shake out, but youngsters winning a couple of those might not be a bad thing if it means a more talented player is in the lineup compared to one who did not stand out last season.

As for the offense, Day might have been using coach-speak to dial back expectations, but he made a good case against anointing the scoring unit before it takes the field against another opponent.

“Our offense hasn’t done anything,” Day said. “We’re just a whole new group. So we’ve got to go and prove ourselves. To think we will just go out there and score and be the best offense in the conference, it doesn’t just happen. We have to make sure we’re starting with our foundation.”

Then he suggested the latter might be different from last season when the Buckeyes threw the ball 66 percent of the time and ran the ball 423 times, least in a normal season since at least the turn of the century.

After adjusting for sacks, the Buckeyes averaged more than nine fewer runs per game than the previous year and more than 13 fewer runs per game than Day’s first season as head coach in 2019.

With Stroud and Smith-Njigba back, many have expected the Ohio State passing game to remain the focus of Day’s offense despite the loss of first-round NFL Draft picks Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave. Highly-touted sophomores Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr. (among others) are expected to step into their roles, but like the defenders who struggled with consistency last year, the latter duo is young and unproven.

Meanwhile, third-year sophomore Miyan Williams returns to give Ohio State a formidable one-two punch at running back.

“All you do is you look at your personnel and you say, ‘Okay, how do we best use our personnel?’” Day said. “And each year it changes. I think this year we have a new challenge ahead of us just with the different guys that we have.

“That’s kind of the art of college coaching — you try to figure out who your guys are, and then try to put enough balance together where they can’t take away one thing and then you don’t have an answer, but to really showcase the guys’ skillset and run the plays that fit their skillset the best.”

If Stroud, Smith-Njigba, et al carry Ohio State back to the top of the Big Ten and into the College Football Playoff, Day likely won’t be heard complaining, but he is likely hoping that isn’t necessary.

“If we can play complementary football this year then that gives us a chance to win the first game, and that’s all we’re going to really focus on right now,” Day said. “It’s very easy to start getting ahead of ourselves, but in order to reach our goals, we’ve got to take care of business early on. And really you can’t start accomplishing those goals until November. So we’ve got to focus on just getting better every day. And that’s cliche — I get it — but there’s a reason why it’s a cliche: because you have to do that.”

He expects to have a better idea about that type of team he has after a scrimmage next Saturday even if he knows Ohio State fans and many others expect the Buckeyes to contend for the Big Ten and national titles.

“You hope that every year you’re in that position at Ohio State,” Day said. “I think that’s what makes Ohio State unique. There are probably five or 10 across the country that are that way, where every year, the expectations stay the same.

“That being said, every year is different. The people are different. And you hope you have enough coming back. That gives you a chance to make that run whether it’s a young quarterback, and a veteran defense or veteran offensive line or veteran quarterback and a younger area, whatever. The good news is, a lot of our younger guys have gotten experience. So that’s exciting, but you can’t start getting too far down the road with that stuff. It just doesn’t work. You’ve got to keep grinding every day, stay hungry.”