Nebraska Week Mic Check: Ryan Day Relying More Heavily on Passing Game This Year Than His First Two Seasons in Columbus

By Chris Lauderback on November 3, 2021 at 3:05 pm
C.J. Stroud and TreVeyon Henderson
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Ohio State's offense has been the team's strength on the way to a 7-1 start and No. 5 ranking in the initial College Football Playoff rankings released last night. 

The Buckeyes rank No. 1 in the country in both total offense (547.6 ypg) and scoring offense (47.3 ppg) while slotting No. 4 in yards per carry (5.99) and No. 3 in yards per passing attempt (10.5). 

Historically, Ryan Day offenses have typically achieved such success featuring a balanced attack that can punish defenses in the run game and stress them over the top in the passing game. 

In last Saturday night's win over Penn State, Day's play-calling was as balanced as it can get but 65% of the team's total yardage came via the passing game, marking the third-straight contest and fourth in eight total where the aerial attack accounted for at least 65% of the total yards. 

As he met with the assembled media yesterday at the WHAC, Day seemed pleased with the balance in play-calling but the reality is both the play-calling and yardage splits between the run and pass are off-trend with what his offenses showed during his first two seasons at the helm in Columbus. 

I think we were 34 and 34 in terms of plays, pass and run (against penn state), and we're always looking for that balance... You just can't throw it 70% of the time. – Ryan Day

After a first half in which Ohio State could get nothing going on the ground, it made sense that Day would retool at the half and make a concerted effort to run the damn ball because while Ohio State played with a close lead instead of trailing like it did for the entirety of the second half against Oregon, it felt like Day wasn't going to let his team become one-dimensional in a tight game again. 

That strategy paid off as TreVeyon Henderson ran for 146 yards and a touchdown on 19 second half carries after gaining just six yards on nine attempts before halftime and of course Ohio State earned a tough 33-24 win. 

OHIO STATE'S SEASON-TO-DATE RUN/PASS BALANCE
OPPONENT RUSH ATT % TOT PLAYS RUSH YDS % TOT YDS PASS ATT % TOT PLAYS PASS YDS % TOT YDS TOT OFF YDS
@MINNESOTA 26 54% 201 41% 22 46% 294 59% 495
OREGON 31 36% 128 21% 54 64% 484 79% 612
TULSA 41 62% 326 64% 25 38% 185 36% 511
AKRON 35 57% 237 38% 26 43% 385 62% 622
@RUTGERS 37 58% 208 38% 27 42% 333 62% 541
MARYLAND 33 46% 166 28% 38 54% 432 72% 598
@INDIANA 32 46% 187 35% 37 54% 352 65% 539
PENN STATE 34 50% 162 35% 34 50% 305 65% 467
SEASON 269 51% 1,615 37% 263 49% 2,770 63% 4,385

When you look at just this season-to-date, the balanced play-calling jumps off the page. Day has called run plays 51% of the time and pass plays 49% - so almost dead even. Yardage however is pretty slanted, which you expect to some degree, with only 37% of Ohio State's total offense coming on the ground compared to 63% through the air. 

So how do both the run/pass attempt and run/pass yardage splits compare to Day's first two seasons in Columbus? 

OSU RUN/PASS BALANCE BY SEASON SINCE RYAN DAY BECAME HEAD COACH
SEASON RUSH ATT AS % OF TOT PLAYS RUSH YDS AS % OF TOT YDS PASS ATT AS % OF TOT PLAYS PASS YDS AS % OF TOT YDS
2019 62% 50% 38% 50%
2020 61% 50% 39% 50%
2021 YTD 51% 37% 49% 63%

Interestingly, Day's splits for play-calling and yardage in 2019 and 2020 are nearly identical. 

In fact, the rushing yards and passing yards each accounted for exactly half of the team's total offensive output in those two seasons. To achieve that yardage balance, Day ran it 62% of the time in 2019 and 61% of the time last year versus obviously throwing it 38% of the time in 2019 and 39% in 2020. 

So far this season however, as noted, Day is running it just 51% of the time - or roughly 12% less than the previous two seasons - while throwing it 49% of the time. 

As a result, the yardage is more lopsided with 63% of the team's output coming through the air compared to just 37% on the ground. 

Numerous factors go into this obviously - what is the defense giving him, the position group strengths and weaknesses on defense, his own offense's strengths and weaknesses etc. - but it's still interesting to see how his play-calling splits have definitely veered from what we'd seen during his first two seasons as head coach. 

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