Sometimes one must climb aboard the ship of readily known things and become Captain Obvious.
Ohio State has a big game in Week 1 this season. Regrettably, a Big Noon game, but a big game nonetheless. All of you reading this already know that, but it doesn't change the high-gear pace of preparation for the Buckeyes in preseason camp.
Texas is coming to Columbus in 29 days. Ryan Day is adjusting his team's urgency accordingly.
"It affects things a lot," Day said. "You know that in that first game you can't, quote-unquote, be 'Learning on the job' in that first week. I mean, we've got to be going. You have to flush through as many issues as you possibly can."
Now, this sense of hurriedness is nothing new for Day and Ohio State this offseason. The Buckeyes completed their 2024 campaign later than anyone else save Notre Dame, who fell to the Scarlet and Gray in the College Football Playoff national championship game. In the week immediately after, Day worked to keep his best players around as other schools tampered to try to steal them. He didn't take long to counter any complacency he felt.
"When you spend your career on a vision of what you want and the goal, once you accomplish it, there is certainly a feeling of accomplishment," Day said. "But soon after that, it's on to the next thing. And that's what the case was. It was great to see our players, our coaches, turn the page on that and move forward."
Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate stayed loyal despite multi-million-dollar and million-dollar offers to go elsewhere, though Ohio State is compensating them handsomely through NIL and now revenue-sharing, too. Then Day had to replace both his coordinators after Jim Knowles left for Penn State and Chip Kelly returned to the NFL. And offensive line coach Justin Frye, now of the Arizona Cardinals.
Day promoted Brian Hartline to offensive coordinator and play caller, hired Matt Patricia to coordinate the defense and grabbed Tyler Bowen to coach the offensive line, plus a braintrust of other offensive line assistants. Billy Fessler got a promotion to quarterbacks coach.
Day thought the urgency could finally calm down when the Buckeyes reached spring practice. At first, he intended to rest veterans and take things easy after a long CFP run. Then he changed his attitude after remembering there weren't many veterans left from the senior-laden national champion 2024 squad.
And Day's 2025 outfit wants its own legacy.
"I think this team has their own identity," Day said. "They want to have their own identity. Yet they also want to be the first team ever to go win back-to-back national championships at Ohio State. And that's going to start with the first game against Texas."
As with any coach, Day is focused on ironing out the small details that make or break games.
"We've got a long season ahead of us, but it can come down to one play," Day said. "Turnovers, tackling, being clean, missed assignments, penalties all those things. We've got to talk about substitutions. Because all it takes is one play and it can cost you."
Ohio State can still capture all its goals if it falls by the banks of the Olentangy on Aug. 30. But that doesn't detract from the big-game feel. Or the sense of urgency about the Woody Hayes Athletic Center this preseason camp, as obvious as that all might be.
"The good news is in a format where there's playoffs now with 12 teams, you can recover from it," Day said. "Maybe different than in the past. But at the same time, this game matters in a big way. And a loss can hurt you, and a win can really propel you. We know what's at stake, and so every minute matters."
