Ryan Day still undecided who'll make defensive calls in Ohio State's game vs. Tulsa

Two days before Ohio State’s next game, coach Ryan Day said he still had not decided who will make defensive calls against Tulsa.

Day has not hidden his disappointment with the way the defense has played under coordinator Kerry Coombs. The unit had numerous breakdowns in Saturday’s 35-28 loss to Oregon, and Day promised changes.

He is still pondering them, including who will make the calls.

“I’m still going to kind of see how practice goes today and probably make a decision tonight,” Day said.

Unlike predecessor Jeff Hafley, Coombs has coached from the field, not the booth at press box level. Day said there would “most likely” be changes in which coaches are in the booth and which are on the sideline.

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“I think what we have to do is figure out what makes the best sense for us in terms of organizing the game plan and then calling the game on Saturday,” he said. “That's all that we're focused on right now. We can't worry about feelings. We can't worry about anything other than giving our guys the best situation to be successful, and that's what I'm trying to figure out.”

Saturday’s loss was Ohio State’s first since 2018 that didn’t come in the final game of the Buckeyes' season. That means Day and most of his players are regrouping the week after a defeat for the first time in his tenure.

Day and a couple of veteran players are pleased with the response so far.

“We haven’t had a better practice than today all year, offensively,” junior wide receiver Garrett Wilson said Wednesday. “They’re trying to learn new things on the defensive side, so that comes with a learning curve. But the energy and just the attention to detail the last two days, I feel it hasn't been like that since camp started.”

The defense’s problems are well-documented. But while Ohio State’s offense generated 612 yards against Oregon, it scored only once in the first half and came up empty on two late drives that could have tied the game. The Buckeyes ran for only 128 yards.

“We knew we had some problems,” Wilson said. “But whenever you lose, it magnifies them all. So there's no room for messing up at practice anymore. If there was before, there's none at all now.”

Day praised the energy at practice this week.

“I think there's been some toughness,” he said. “There's been a little bit of an edge, and I think guys have been grinding on each other a little bit. A little bit of friction is good, certainly after coming off a loss like that.”

Junior left tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere said the focus has been on details, even seemingly minuscule ones.

“Details (about) things that you wouldn't even think about — how we stretch, the way we walk into a practice, the way we walk into a huddle, the way we do anything,” he said. “All those small little details are things that we've done for so many years. That's why we've won. And when you lose track of some of the small details, things like this can happen so we're getting back to the basics.”

Ohio State did not make defensive players available for interviews this week, but Petit-Frere said they were spirited in practice.

“We had a lot of great energy today throughout almost the entirety of practice,” he said. “The offense was going at the defense. The defense was going at the offense. It was just a great competition day that made each of us better and made us learn. If someone did this type of move, OK, how would I counteract that?”

The Buckeyes' defensive issues are compounded by the season-ending injury to safety Josh Proctor. Bryson Shaw replaced him against Oregon, but Day said Marcus Hooker, cornerback Ryan Watts and Kourt Williams are also options. 

If the Buckeyes rebound from the Oregon loss, it could come to be viewed similarly to the one to Virginia Tech in 2014 that served as a springboard to a national title.

But according to Wilson, it’s too soon to consider the Oregon loss a potential blessing in disguise.

“I hate losing, so it's not a blessing to me ever,” he said. “I just hate talking about it. I hate losing. You've got to use it, though. You can't just have it as a loss and not use it to get better. You realize what the problems are and really address them now.”

brabinowitz@dispatch.com

@brdispatch

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