A lot has been made of Ohio State needing to replace its two coordinators, while the continuity between the Texas coaching staff has been seen as a large advantage by the media. But I wanted to focus on the concern level (or lack thereof) from you all regarding the Buckeyes’ new coordinators.
Brian Hartline
The main concern I have with Brian is the unknown. We do not know if he is capable of calling plays in rhythm, making adjustments, and creating setup plays because he simply hasn’t ever done it before. Day handled playcalling in 2023, but I have faith the passing game will take an enormous leap this season.
Chip did a great job innovating OSU’s run game last season, running counters, having players go in multiple directions to pry away defenders from their run fits, etc., but I couldn’t bear to watch another basic ass, unsuccessful smash route against Michigan’s cover 2. His passing concepts were rudimentary compared to Day’s, which is why you saw such a large jump in passing production in the playoffs; Day was able to focus fully on game planning and spent more time in the offensive room. I think Hartline, especially, is a product of Day and will be able to prepare well, my biggest question is just a matter of seeing him perform in real time.
Matt Patricia
Frankly, I didn’t like the hire initially, but over time he has won me over with his charisma, ability to relate to and teach players, and his adaptability. Much like Chip, OSU has a lot to thank Knowles for regarding the transformation of the defense. But, like Chip, Knowles had his head scratching moments, particularly when getting baited into being overly aggressive, costing OSU a lot of victories in the 4th quarter over the past few years.
I think Patricia will adapt to schemes and tendencies better than Knowles, but my two biggest questions are how much of the base scheme will remain and what they will do schematically with the defensive line. The defense improved by leaps and bounds as soon as they started pinching the defensive line and letting the linebackers be able to flow better to the ball. There a couple of personnel question marks in the back end, namely Lorenzo Styles and Jaylen McClain, which makes me question how confident Patricia will be in letting Downs roam all over the field versus having to plug him in at the back end to shore up potential vulnerabilities. Overall, unless Patricia has an atrocious gameplan, I really do believe Texas not knowing what he is going to run is a very beneficial first half advantage for OSU.
I don’t think there will be too many key takeaways with either coordinator after this game due to it being such an anomaly to open the season. I think we’ll have a much better idea of what the baseline of both these coordinators are after the road matchup against Washington, but I have confidence both can get the job done to pull out a win against Texas.
What do you all think?
