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Ryan Day: Ohio State trying ‘some different things’ to maximize DL production

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Ryan Day knows Ohio State needs to find a way to unlock the defensive line on a more regular basis.

Facing Oregon in Week 7, the Buckeyes failed to get to Dillon Gabriel without a sack and 2 TFLs vs. the Ducks. As a result, Oregon delivered a 32-31 win with a pair of clutch 4th-quarter drives against the Buckeyes.

Now, Ohio State is coming fresh off a bye week in search of a win over Nebraska to get back on track. As for the defensive line, it was a particular area of focus this week.

During his radio show, Day said Ohio State tries to rotate players to keep everyone fresh for the end of games. That will continue, but the head coach also hinted that the Buckeyes did “some different things” during the week to try and unlock the group.

We’ll see how it turns out Saturday:

“The idea is that you’re fresh at the end of the season and the end of a game, that’s the idea there (on rotating d-linemen). Only those guys that deserve to play should get in the game, though. I think Larry (Johnson) has always done that. We’ll continue to do that, but I feel like some guys have made some progress,” Day explained. “I think we’ve done some different things this week that should help, but the proof will be in the pudding on Saturday.”

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Day admitted he does like the idea of letting guys settle into games and set things up, but that doesn’t fully takeaway from the plan to keep players fresh:

“I like the idea of getting a feel for the game and being able to set guys up and do it that way. But it’s also a good idea to keep guys fresh because you want them playing their best football at the end of the game and the end of the season,” said Day.

Overall, Ohio State has been productive up front this season. The Buckeyes rank 4th in the B1G in sacks per game (2.83) and 3rd in TFLs per game (6.67), but the individual performances do not jump off the page.

JT Tuimoloau leads Ohio State with 3 sacks while Jack Sawyer (2.5) and Mitchell Melton (2) are the only other players with at least 2 full sacks to their credit. We’ll see if the tweaks Day mentioned helps unlock some dominant individual performances on Saturday.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.