Under Ryan Day's leadership, Ohio State just hasn't been good enough

Ryan Day grabbed the microphone to address a packed crowd at nearby St. John Arena during the Ohio State Skull Session on Saturday morning. A few hours later, Ohio State was set to face Nebraska in what was supposed to be a bounce-back game from the tough loss at Oregon two weeks ago. 

A weekly tradition that was initially the final rehearsal for Ohio State’s marching band has turned into a pep rally where coaches and players address/pump-up fans. Day delivers a final message to the Buckeyes faithful before he and the team make the short walk from the arena into Ohio Stadium.

Day’s message was brief this time.

“Today is about action,” he said. “It’s not about words.”

For two weeks, Ohio State has been trying to make sense of how this $20 million roster lost at Oregon. In reality, it’s a reasonable loss given the Ducks’ roster is similarly constructed, but this Ohio State team was supposed to be a monster. No team in college football had more returning talent or added more dynamic players than these Buckeyes. They were the favorite to win the national title for a reason.

So 14 days after Ohio State’s disappointing trip to Eugene, the program’s supporters anticipated an angry football team hungry to make a point against Nebraska. They expected the domination of an overmatched team that came into the game a 26.5-pound underdog. They expected, to borrow Day’s words, action.

What Ohio State fans got was an uninspired performance that almost resulted in a loss.

The Buckeyes escaped with a 21-17 win over Nebraska.

What Ohio State fans got was a whole new bag of issues to worry about other than whether Day can win the biggest games on the schedule.

Is Ohio State’s offensive line going to be able to block great teams?

What Ohio State fans got is an uneasy seven days ahead of Ohio State’s trip to Happy Valley to take on an undefeated Penn State team (going into Saturday) with a potential trip to the Big Ten Championship Game — and more — on the line.

What if it happens again in Beaver Stadium?

And while they wait, many of the program’s supporters will do so questioning whether the right coach is leading the program. There were some Ohio State fans who were already there. A bunch of new Buckeyes supporters jumped on the bandwagon Saturday.

Why?

Because this team, with how it’s built, just isn’t good enough.

There are reasons for that. Of course, you can’t get through this column without mentioning how Ohio State lost starting left tackle Josh Simmons during the Oregon game. The position with the least amount of depth lost its best piece. You could make the case that Simmons was the last player on Ohio State’s entire roster it could afford to lose. There, obviously, were going to be growing pains.

To make matters worse, Zen Michalski was helped off the field late in the Nebraska game, another major blow to Ohio State’s offensive line depth moving forward. With Penn State looming, that’s a real concern.

Against Nebraska, Ohio State couldn’t move the ball on the ground. It started the second half against the Cornhuskers with four possessions with no first downs. The team was completely anemic for much of the second half, so much so that Nebraska – who didn’t score its first offensive touchdown until 10:47 remained in the fourth quarter — had the ball down by four with a few minutes remaining in the game.

Real nerves set in during that drive. Of course, it started with a controversial targeting review that took about 10 minutes of real time. When the refs came to a decision, they called the penalty on Ohio State to move the sticks to almost midfield. That was striking distance for Dylan Raiola and the Cornhuskers to go win the football game. Ohio State found itself 44 yards away from disaster.

Day, who was on the field, ripped his headset off his head and threw it to the ground out of frustration. Ohio State fans threw water bottles onto the field, mirroring how Texas’ fans reacted to a controversial call against Georgia in Austin last week.

That must have been some of the longest 10 minutes of Day’s tenure at Ohio State. He knew what was at stake here. He knew how things would have gotten had the Buckeyes lost.

They still might get that bad even though Ohio State found a way to win.

Day is 62-9 as Ohio State’s coach, and every single one of those losses has come from a team ranked in the top 12. What Day has never done is lose games he shouldn’t lose. The Buckeyes haven’t suffered embarrassing upsets or head-scratching defeats. He was in real, pure danger of doing that for the first time Saturday, which throws a wrench into the equation whenever his defenders bring up his impeccable record.

The truth is, Day’s job is to win all the easy games. His job is also to win most of the hard ones. So far this year, he’s lost the only hard one the Buckeyes have played. He almost lost one of the easy ones, too, which just continues the questions so many have about Ohio State’s head coach:

• How can this Ohio State team have spent so much money and look this questionable heading into November?
• Will people want to donate to NIL moving forward if this is the result of all that money spent?
• Even if Day wins all the games he’s supposed to, what do uninspiring wins like this one tell us about how this team is supposed to perform in big games?
• Can Ohio State actually accomplish its goals under his leadership?
• What is missing?

Day has an impeccable record at Ohio State and one of the most talented (and expensive) rosters in the country. Opposing fans dig at Ohio State by saying it paid for its roster, but in the NIL era, that’s actually a compliment. The reality is Day is never upset by inferior opponents and he has a keen understanding of how his team needs to be built from a talent standpoint to accomplish its goal. Those are two very important elements Ohio State has to have in any head coach, so Day checks off those essential boxes. There are so many things to like about Day as Ohio State’s head coach. The top thing may be that he’s just a genuinely good guy and someone anyone would want want representing their program.

But, ultimately, he’s paid roughly $10 million a year and even he’d tell you Ohio State hasn’t been good enough. The expectations are high, sure, but the previous two head coaches — one of whom was honored before the game — exceeded them.

In this regime, something seems off. Assistants come and go. Players come and go. The problems persist.

This Nebraska team lost to undefeated Indiana 56-7 a week ago. Oh, and those Hoosiers? They are looming on Ohio State’s schedule after Penn State, too. The College Football Playoff seemed like all but a certainty for these Buckeyes. It doesn’t today. 

This Ohio State team, for whatever reason, never performs to the level of talent it possesses. This isn’t an isolated incident. Think about the players — the future NFL Draft picks — on Ohio State’s roster on both sides of the ball. And it almost lost to Nebraska? It comes up short against Oregon? It’s lost three-straight to Michigan? What’s not working?

This has been going on for long enough for Ohio State’s seniors to have never beaten its rival or won a Big Ten Championship Game. Think about what it means to say that at Ohio State.

Not being good enough has amounted to Ohio State losing three-straight against Michigan. It has amounted to coming up short against Georgia in the College Football Playoff a few years ago. It has amounted to not beating Oregon.

Some of that is understandable and acceptable. All of it is unacceptable. Ohio State is always a play or two away. Eventually, results have to replace what-ifs.

If it seems drastic to read after an Ohio State win, that’s the reality of the program. The truth is, Ohio State’s success under Day would be most other fan bases’ dreams. But, again, he knew when he took the job the being better than mostly everyone else wasn’t enough. It was always more than that.

The good news for Ohio State is that in a week, Day has the opportunity to shut everyone up. If he can go to Penn State, get a win and reassert Ohio State’s position as one of the sport’s dominant teams, people will get excited for the Playoff and turn the page on what happened in Ohio Stadium on Saturday. They may even forget what happened in Eugene. This season, Ohio State can still accomplish all the things it’s failed to win the previous three years. Day has a chance to salvage everything in the next three months.

Here’s the problem, though: are we supposed to expect that to happen? Are we supposed to anticipate Day will get the job done?

For many, not anymore.

The only way out of this is, well, action.