Head coach Ryan Day awaits his postgame interview after then-No. 5 Ohio State’s 35-7 win over Youngstown State Saturday. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
The 2023 football season has been full of unfamiliar territory so far.
Ohio State returned seven starters on offense, including skill players such as junior wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, as well as senior tight end Cade Stover.
However, the team has not dominated opponents in its first two games as it has in years past.
Head coach Ryan Day said Saturday it could simply be that they’re lacking consistency, or it could be the NCAA’s new first-down clock rule.
“We’re used to scoring 60 and 70 in some of these games. It’s for a couple different reasons. One, you know, maybe not as efficient as we’ve been,” Day said. “But then, two, just the way it’s going with this clock and teams.”
At Indiana, Ohio State scored 23 points and Buckeye Nation subsequently threw a fit.
Saturday, versus Youngstown State, they put up 35. And Buckeye Nation is still throwing a fit.
Ohio State is breaking in a new quarterback and has a redshirt freshman starting center, but the running clock on first-down regulation announced April 21 by the NCAA Football Rules Committee, is changing the game, Day said.
“It is what it is, so we have to do a good job of executing early because that’s going to determine the outcome of the game probably more than in the past,” Day said. “It doesn’t matter when you’re executing, so that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
The rule states when a first down is gained, the clock will run instead of stopping and begin again once play resumes. However, in the final two minutes of each half, the clock will stop after first downs.
Just a couple weeks into college football season, some teams have been seeing the effect.
This season, the Buckeyes average 10 possessions and 63.5 plays per game. In 2022, they teetered on 13 possessions and 67.4 plays in a contest — at least three more opportunities to score points.
“It means we have to be more and more efficient. You might get less possessions in that first half, and so they’ve got to count,” Day said. “When we get into halftime, we can’t panic. We have to know, ‘Okay maybe we have one less possession,’ especially if we defer.”
However, teams like No. 14 Louisiana State University, No. 7 Penn State and No. 13 Oregon have had no problems scoring by high margins.
In previous years, if a team won the coin toss, it typically deferred to the second half, meaning it would take possession coming out of halftime in case the game wasn’t going its way.
Now, at the risk of losing possessions because of the clock, the game plan is evolving.
At Indiana, Ohio State won the toss and deferred to the second half. After seeing the outcome of this decision, it won the toss Saturday, and Day elected to start with possession.
“We were getting 12 or 13 possessions. You missed one here or there, well, okay you’re going to get the ball back and have an opportunity,” Day said. “Not the case right now.”
Youngstown State took advantage of the new rule.
The Penguins dominated time of possession by eight minutes and had two delay-of-game penalties in the second half as they let the clock wind down in hopes of limiting Buckeye drives.
Day said this creates a level of anxiety.
“I felt like maybe that would be their game plan,” Day said. “I didn’t know that they would huddle and milk it all the way down inside of 10 seconds and then try to run on third down just to keep the clock going. But it did and that’s smart on their end.”
Fewer plays and drives come with less opportunity for more players to get on the field, another concern of Day’s, especially considering the five-personnel-deep running back room and the plethora of freshmen wide receivers anxious for an opportunity.
“There’s a lot of guys that we’re trying to get on the field and get touches to play and boy, when you only have 60 plays, every single rep, I mean you’ve gotta be on point,” Day said.
Junior quarterback Kyle McCord said he thinks the new clock rule is bigger and more potent than anyone realizes. The Buckeyes only had four total possessions in the second half, and the final one came with only 25 seconds remaining in the contest.
“It’s crazy just how fast the clock moves. But it just goes to show you, you have to make the most when you’ve got the ball,” McCord said. “You have to go down and score, put points up on the board.”
For Day and the Buckeyes, the need for execution is at an all-time high.
Day said they’ll look at the film and put together a game plan for when teams intentionally try to limit possessions.
