Ryan Day addresses Ohio State offensive line plan for College Football Playoff

The Ohio State Buckeyes are preparing for one of the best defensive lines in the country with the Tennessee Volunteers coming into Columbus for the College Football Playoff. With that, head coach Ryan Day is planning for a shuffle along the offensive line.

Amid some injuries and some struggles in the Michigan loss, Ohio State has decided to adjust the rotation along the interior of the offensive line.

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“Luke Montgomery‘s got some reps at guard,” Ryan Day said. “So, probably gonna see him at guard some this game. We’ll see how this week goes, but Austin [Siereveld] will be rotating in there as well with Tegra [Tshabola].”

In the last time Ohio State took the field, the Buckeyes were able to rush for 77 yards on 26 carries. That’s just 2.9 yards per carry. That came without giving up a sack, meaning there weren’t subtractions from Ohio State’s rushing total in the game. That difficulty running the ball against Michigan ended up being a big reason why the Buckeyes only scored 10 points.

“So, that’ll be the plan now,” Day said. “We still have a whole week of preparation and things can change as of tomorrow when we get on the field. But the plan right now would be to rotate those guys.”

Ryan Day has found himself needing to navigate injuries along the offensive line. That includes at left tackle where Josh Simmons went down for the season and his replacement, Zen Michalski, went down a couple of weeks later. At the time, that forced left guard Donovan Jackson to move to tackle and Luke Montgomery and Carson Hinzman filled that spot.

On top of that, center Seth McLaughlin, who was named an All-American, is also out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. He’d be replaced by Hinzman.

Those injuries have created a major problem for Day, as the Buckeyes’ depth is tested as well as their ability to work together as a unit dealing with injuries. Still, Day knows that nobody is going to feel badly for him or Ohio State.

“Certainly, nobody cares,” Day said. “So we’ll make adjustments. You wake up the next day, and you move on. But, yeah, it’s tough. But that’s why you recruit depth, and that’s why you work to get those guys in the game. That’s why you work in the offseason to build depth.”

Now, Ohio State will play a very talented Tennessee defensive line in the College Football Playoff, led by edge rusher James Pearce. This season, the Volunteers have 2.42 sacks per game, which is 41st in the country. Tennessee is also eighth in the country in rushing defense, giving up just 99.58 yards per game on the ground.

Kickoff between Ohio State and Tennessee is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EST on December 21st at Ohio Stadium.