One play from Ohio State's shutout win against Purdue proves Ryan Day has improved as a head coach
The Ohio State Buckeyes once dominated on special teams and in the margins of games. Urban Meyer's tenure as the head coach opened the eyes of many fans as to what the program could be as a recruiting powerhouse and national title contender. But the roots of being the best special teams unit in the […]
The Ohio State Buckeyes once dominated on special teams and in the margins of games. Urban Meyer's tenure as the head coach opened the eyes of many fans as to what the program could be as a recruiting powerhouse and national title contender. But the roots of being the best special teams unit in the nation were planted back under Jim Tressel.
However, despite coaching under Meyer, who succeeded Tressel, Ryan Day has struggled to keep the same attention to detail on the special teams unit. Since taking over as head coach, the Buckeyes haven't produced big plays on returns or prevented fakes from working. There's been no zest in the game's third phase.
However, after giving the offensive reigns to Chip Kelly and making several statements about the importance of special teams throughout this season, the Buckeyes finally produced an electric moment. Caden Curry's blocked punt against Purdue was a moment of pride for Day.
Ohio State set up their own first scoring opportunity by blocking a punt within their own 15-yard line. While Day has been working to produce a return score, the block was just as important. He was excited about it after the game, and several players chipped in with their takes.
“We felt like we had something on punt block, we put Caden and Mitch off the edge there, which felt like a good matchup for us in that moment,” Day said after the game. “Put a lot of work into it. But then those guys have to go execute, and they did.
We liked the matchup with those guys on the shield. When you look at the shield, they were a little bit smaller body types. We felt like if we could get them to move their feet, that we had a chance to go after it,” Day said. “We thought both Caden and Mitch do that for a living. They can rush the passer … We've been working on it for a couple of weeks, and it was good to see it hit.”
“Coach Day made a big emphasis that we needed some special teams to make some plays, especially this week,” said Lathan Ransom. “So that definitely got the team going.” Ransom last had Ohio State's previous blocked punt, getting one in back-to-back weeks in 2022.
This was the first time Curry and Melton had the opportunity to rush the punter like this, and this might be the right personnel to repeat the block later in the season.
“It's good for the momentum. Meetings will be sharper, watching film will be sharper, practice will be sharper when you see the impact it can have in a game,” Day said.
Ohio State is looking to shake things up in special teams. They've been trying out different guys for kick and punt returns, with Brandon Inniss and Caleb Downs handling punts against Purdue, while TreVeyon Henderson got his first shot at kickoff returns since his freshman year opener.
Unfortunately, they couldn't make any big plays; Henderson was stopped at the 18-yard line on his only kickoff return, and they didn't return any punts at all. But Day mentioned that they're committed to ending the drought for return touchdowns, which has been running since 2014 for punts and 2010 for kickoffs.
Those efforts will still continue. But this one play is a huge step in the right direction for a staff showing it's aware of its failures, shortcomings, and room for improvement. Continuing to give new guys opportunities is smart business, and this was the first payoff.
