The Ohio State Buckeyes started poorly in Week 1 against Akron, giving fans in the Horseshoe a heart attack about whether their dreams of ending a 10-year title drought were nonsensical. Two drops from star Jeremiah Smith, multiple missed throws, and play calls that were too cute for the opponent stymied the team across the first quarter. 

Everyone knew Ohio State would win, but no one would've guessed that Will Howard would complete only 10 of his first 21 attempts or the run game wouldn't dominate. This was supposed to be a confidence-instilling moment, but it was as sloppy as possible.

New Buckeyes offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was throwing everything at the wall, but that was part of the problem beyond personnel having hiccups in performance. 

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Kelly's desire to rip off explosive plays with misdirection and force-fed decisions cost the Buckeyes several drives. Howard ensured Emeka Egbuka had targets that didn't match pre-snap alignments. It still almost paid off, as Egbuka was robbed of a tremendous touchdown catch, but ruining drives with high-risk, high-reward designs made no sense against Akron.

The good news is that Kelly quickly adjusted as the second quarter progressed. He realized the offense could simply win by being more talented. The unit's efficiency spiked, and the balance was refound.

During this offseason, Day decided to hand over the playcalling responsibilities to Kelly, who had previously been at the helm at UCLA before making the move to the Buckeyes. 

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Day, whose background includes playing quarterback, was once a player under Kelly's guidance at New Hampshire, and they also worked together there. Both hail from Manchester, New Hampshire.

"I thought Chip did a nice job, continually pushing the run. You could see that start to take its effect in the second half," Day said. "I thought Chip called a good game. I really do. He knows what he wants to get done with this team. He wants to establish this run, which means maybe that's not scoring 70, but we need to establish the run late in the season."

In a game that took place on Saturday, Kelly, known for his tenure as the head coach with Oregon, along with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, directed a well-balanced offensive strategy. Under his leadership, the Buckeyes achieved 234 passing yards and 170 rushing yards, maintaining an average of 5.2 yards per rush.

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The game showed that the Buckeyes have the capacity to dominate their opponents through their passing game as well, particularly with Smith serving as a notable addition to Ohio State's offensive arsenal.

Now, Kelly has to continue the trend of self-scouting, improve his attack balance, and unleash a wide array of weapons. In fairness, not being able to rely on a shorter rotation has its own issues, as constantly bringing in new personnel has its own challenges.

But that's what Kelly signed on for, and this riches-of-talent approach might take a few games to iron out.