Ryan Day is returning to his offensive roots.
Ohio State's head coach announced during his Monday press conference that he'll take back play-calling duties from wide receiver coach and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline in the College Football Playoff, as Hartline prepares for his new head coaching job at South Florida.
Ohio State's entire staff will have input, Day noted. Particularly, tight ends coach Keenan Bailey, who continues his recent rise. After Bailey became co-offensive coordinator this year, Jeremiah Smith noted on Monday that Bailey has spent extra time with Ohio State's wide receivers in the run-up to the CFP.
"Keenan will be very much involved," Day said. "Everybody will be involved with the play calling. Ultimately, it'll be my decision what calls go into the game in this game. Kind of wanted to take that off of Brian's plate as we head into the playoffs because he's got so much going on with what he's trying to do."
When Ohio State plays the Hurricanes in the CFP quarterfinals at the Cotton Bowl in nine days, it will be the first time he's called plays since 2023 – at the Cotton Bowl. The Buckeyes lost that night to Missouri, 14-3, after getting down to then-third-string quarterback Lincoln Kienholz and seeing its offensive line implode play after play. Chip Kelly was hired as offensive coordinator and play-caller in 2024, then Hartline assumed the duties in 2025.
Day's reputation as a play-caller and offensive mind is among the best in the country, that Missouri game aside. He took over as play-caller as Ohio State's offensive coordinator in 2018 and led perhaps the best passing attack in school history. Dwayne Haskins threw for 4,831 yards and 50 touchdowns, school records that still stand.
When Day took over as head coach in 2019, the output didn't stop in his five years maintaining play-calling responsibilities. Ohio State had a top-three scoring offense in 2019, 2021 and 2022, with the No. 1 scoring offense in the country in 2019.
The main change about calling plays as a head coach, Day said, will be staring into his call sheet during games and not having as much attention to direct toward other areas of the game. Although he was still involved in play-calling conversations after surrendering the lead on the role.
"When you're not calling it and your eyes aren't down on the call sheet, your eyes are up," Day said. "You're with the defense. You're watching the offense. You're watching the other side. You're watching what's going on more as opposed to being down on your call sheet. And I think that's where we've got to be good upstairs (in the coaches' box). And that's where I really need Kenan and Billy (Fessler) and Tyler (Bowen) and Hart to be on their stuff so that we can move quickly."
Being that it's still Day's offense that Ohio State runs, a more direct hand from Day could assist the Buckeyes in fixing the offensive issues that hurt them during their 13-10 Big Ten Championship Game loss to Indiana. They'll see if it pays dividends when the Cotton Bowl kicks off on Dec. 31.
