Ryan Day reveals the one on-field issue he’d fix for college football

Ryan Day is looking to get Ohio State back into the College Football Playoff after a bitter loss a season ago, though he’d undoubtedly like to return the Buckeyes to the top of the B1G along the way.

In a play that was dissected many times over, Ohio State lost receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. in the middle of the Peach Bowl loss to an injury. That injury was sustained on an ugly hit that was initially ruled targeting on the field but overturned by video review.

During a wide-ranging interview with Joel Klatt, Day was asked about the rules in college football and if there was one major change the head coach would make to the sport. Day revealed his choice but steered away from touching the targeting conversation.

The head coach of the Buckeyes explained why the college hash marks are not to his liking and why he would prefer the field be adjusted to mirror the NFL model:

The hash marks. Go to the NFL model (of tighter hash marks near the middle of the field). I think those hash marks were built for football a long time ago. I think like the NBA’s made their adjustments, college (basketball) has made their adjustments, they moved the 3-point line, they made adjustments. We haven’t. I think now today with the type of athletes we have — they’re faster, they’re bigger, they’re more powerful — putting the ball on the hashmark is just putting everyone in a smaller area of the field and we’re not playing outside the numbers to the field. I think putting the ball in the middle of the field more like the NFL opens up the entire game.

Klatt admitted surprise at the response while referencing the targeting call from the Peach Bowl.

“I thought for sure we were going to get into targeting,” said Klatt.

“Yeah, well, a little too soon. Too soon on that one,” Day responded.

While Day avoided discussing targeting in his first answer, Klatt directly asked the head coach about the issue. Day went on to admit he believes targeting calls “have to be common sense” and some of the current calls “are so far into the weeds.” Day also believes there “is so much put into instant replay” that goes beyond the initial intent of the rule.

Here’s the full conversation between Klatt and Day as a part of FOX’s “Big Noon Conversations:”

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.