Make no mistake about it: Brian Hartline is an all-time Ohio State great. What he did as a player — first in Columbus and then in the NFL — already placed him in rarified air, but what he has accomplished during his nine years on Ohio State’s coaching staff has elevated him to legendary status. But that does not mean the Buckeyes are incapable of winning without him; in fact, I think that his decision to accept the head coaching position at South Florida ahead of this year’s postseason might just
end up being the thing that spurs the team on to winning its second-straight College Football Playoff national championship.
For all of Hartline’s success in recruiting and developing wide receiver talent — something he has done better than arguably anyone in the history of the sport — his tenure as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator and playcaller has been a bit spotty. He was first named Ohio State’s offensive coordinator following the 2022 season, at which point, I argued that because Ryan Day had publicly discussed his willingness to give up play-calling duties, he was practically duty-bound to hand them to Hartline. However, after experimenting with the idea in the spring, Day ultimately decided not to give Hartline that opportunity.
It wasn’t until the head coach’s longtime friend and mentor, Chip Kelly, joined the staff for 2024 that he finally felt comfortable enough to pass the sticks. I first began calling for Day to relinquish play-calling duties in 2021, when many in Buckeye Nation considered the idea borderline blasphemous. However, what we’ve seen over the past two seasons — Day evolving from an elite coordinator who happens to be a head coach into the best CEO in the sport — illustrates just how necessary that change was.
So after Kelly left for his everso-brief return trip to the NFL, it was, in fact, time to let Hartline have his chance at calling plays. Obviously, Hartline was not handling game planning and play-calling in isolation. The entire offensive staff is involved in the pregame preparations, and Day has the final say on what gets radioed into the quarterback, but from a logistical standpoint, Hartline was the primary play-caller throughout the season.
While the offense was nowhere near as explosive in 2025 as it had been in previous years, that was clearly by design, as OSU made a concerted effort over the past two seasons to slow things down to limit the wear and tear on its players, given the extra games introduced to the schedule by the 12-team playoff. Despite that fact, the Buckeyes were one of the most efficient offenses in the country, ranking in the top six in Adjusted EPA/Play, EPA/Play, success rate, and other advanced analytics.
And yet, something still felt missing. The red zone offense struggled, finishing 42nd nationally at just 87.88% (this has clearly not been a problem contained to just Hartline’s play-calling tenure). There was an apparent overreliance on 13 and 14-personnel packages, meaning that far too often, third and fourth-string tight ends were on the field in place of the Buckeyes’ elite wide receivers. And there were long stretches of the season where Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Julian Sayin wasn’t pushing the ball downfield, again, squandering the significant talent advantages OSU possesses, given its otherworldly receiving talent.
How much of that falls on Hartline’s shoulders is impossible to say, but one thing I am confident in is that, given time to prepare, there is no better offensive play-caller in the sport than Ryan Day. With Hartline splitting his focus between his Buckeye responsibilities and those of putting together his staff and program at USF, the head coach will once again assume the mantle of being OSU’s primary playcaller for the duration of the playoffs.
Between the 13-10 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship and tonight’s Cotton Bowl against Miami, Ohio State has not played in 25 days. That is four more days than they had off between last season’s 13-10 loss to Michigan and their CFP First Round matchup against Tennessee; a game that resulted in one of the most thorough beatdowns in recent memory, with OSU winning 42-17.
With time to prepare, Day has always been elite. When he can become singularly focused on the play-calling task at hand, and not have to worry about all of the day-to-day duties that pull head coaches away from meeting rooms, individual workouts, and breaking down film, there simply is no one better than Ryan Day. Even when I was pleading for him to give up play-calling, it was impossible to deny that when he can go into a dark film room and focus solely on scheming, Day is at his best, and that’s exactly what I expect tonight and for the entirety of the CFP.
I understand and agree with Ohio State’s philosophy over the past two seasons to slow things down in an effort to preserve their players’ health. The Buckeyes were last in the FBS this season, averaging one play every 31.6 seconds. And there had to be a reason for that, right? When a team is constructed with arguably the best configuration of skill talent in the country, when the games matter the most, you’re not going to handcuff them by slowing down the pace to sloth-level speeds, are you? Now, I don’t expect the Buckeyes to go full-on no-huddle, tempo all game, but I do think that we will see them go a bit more quickly in certain situations, and more importantly, look to hit more explosive plays.
The Buckeyes are 42nd nationally in plays of 10 yards or more and 67th in 20 or more. While they got better when you start talking about plays of 30, 40, or 50 more yards, there’s no reason a team featuring Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, Max Klare, Brandon Inniss, and Bo Jackson should trail UConn, Western Kentucky, East Carolina, or Georgia Southern in those categories.
So now that Hartline will be on the sideline for the playoff games, and Day will be handling the down-to-down play-calling duties, I expect the Ohio State offense to be infused with a pace and prowess that it has honestly lacked this season. While Hartline’s handling of the play-calling this season has been more than sufficient, especially considering the season-long slow-it-down edict, the College Football Playoffs are a different thing entirely, and the elevated challenge requires an elevated approach, which is exactly what I expect Ryan Day to bring during the CFP.
If history is any indication of what the Ohio State offense looks like with Ryan Day calling the game, expect an aggressive, dynamic showing from a talented team that has been strategically held back for the entire season thus far.
