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Ryan Day assesses Ohio State's redzone offense

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•09/22/22•

BarkleyTruax

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Ohio State football coach Ryan Day wants his team to clean up certain areas, including drawing penalties. (Harry How / Getty Images)

Ohio State has cashed in on 13 of its 13 redzone attempts this season, making them one of the 19 Division I teams to earn a perfect percentage through three games. Even bringing back the traditional I formantion, Day is doing everything in his power to get points on the board inside their opponent’s 20-yard-line.

“We thought with the 100th year anniversary of the Horseshoe, it would be good to line up in the I (formation) and hand the ball to the fullback for a touchdown,” Day said after the Toledo win. “So we wanted to get that done this year.”

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Six of the Buckeyes’ redzone touchdowns have come through the ground, including tight end Mitch Rossi‘s one-yard rush last Saturday vs. Toledo from the aforementioned I formation. Six more have come through the air and one other has resulted in a field goal.

Those redzone drives, of course, are led by star quarterback CJ Stroud. Through three games with the Buckeyes this season, Stroud has completed 73 percent (62-85) of his passes for 941 yards to go along with an 11-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio – the best in the country heading into Week 4 – and is the catalyst behind Ohio State’s longer drives.

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“We’re trying to build those packages,” Day said. “I think you saw what Cade [Stover] can do. You saw his versatility now. Firstly, you know just how tough he is and how physical he is at the line of scrimmage. But now you’re starting to see what he can be as a weapon and in the passing game. We actually missed him a couple of times in the endzone that were close.

“And then Gee Scott is really starting to grow for us as well. He’s become somebody that can do a lot of things. He’s an athletic tight end for us. So that gives us a little something. And then Mitch [Rossi] gives us a little bit of something as well. So that’s exciting. Not having Jaxon [Smith-Njigba] play, really the second half of the first game and really Game 2, not having Julian [Fleming] available, has allowed us to build some depth, but also look at a couple different packages, which hopefully pays off for us moving forward.”