The Ohio State Buckeyes are in unfamiliar territory. Back-to-back losses to USC and Oregon have Ohio State dropping consecutive games for the first time in 15 years, and the Buckeyes now sit at 6-3. It’s also the first time Ryan Day has lost three games in a season during his career as a head coach.

Ohio State’s College Football Playoff hopes are all but dead. The only path left is reaching the Big Ten Championship and winning it, which they need a lot of help to reach that game. After the way the Buckeyes have played the last couple of weeks, that’s a hard scenario to picture.

Ohio State fired special teams coordinator Robby Discher

The Buckeyes made a staff change on Monday following the loss to Oregon. Ohio State opted to fire special teams coordinator Robby Discher after special teams once again had a costly blip against the Ducks.

Oregon ran a fake punt before halftime that shifted the momentum of the game. That kind of breakdown has followed the special teams unit this season, and the Buckeyes decided they had seen enough.

With how Ohio State’s season has gone, it’s fair to wonder whether more firings are on the way. The Buckeyes are underperforming in several areas of the roster, and special teams is far from the only spot where the results haven’t matched the standard in Columbus.

Ryan Day addresses the possibility of more firings

Day was asked on Tuesday if more firings are coming, and he didn’t shut the door on the idea.

“I mean, I’m going to just continue to evaluate it,” Day said on Tuesday. “You know, week to week, we know what the standard is. We know what needs to get done, and I believe right now that this is the best chance [to win]. This is the best group of guys to give us a chance to beat Northwestern, and then we’ll continue to go from there. But no, we’re going to go with what we have right now.”

That comment confirms Ohio State isn’t going to fire any more coaches before the Northwestern game on Saturday. The Wildcats are a much-improved team this season with Chip Kelly serving as their offensive coordinator, so the Buckeyes can’t afford to look past them.

Still, the other part of Day’s answer stands out. Saying the staff will continue to evaluate things week to week, and that Ohio State is going with what it has for right now, points to the likelihood of more firings coming down the pipe this season.

How big could an Ohio State staff shakeup get?

The question now is how far Day is willing to go. It remains to be seen whether a potential move would be as big as offensive coordinator Arthur Smith being let go, or whether Day decides to shake up his staff at the position coach level instead.

Either way, the Ohio State program is in an unacceptable spot. That’s true even with the Buckeyes losing quarterback Julian Sayin for the season. The expectations at Ohio State don’t change because of an injury at the most important position on the field, and a three-loss season isn’t what anyone around the program signed up for.

The Buckeyes have to right the ship. Winning the last three games of the regular season is going to be key, but the bigger issue is what comes beyond that. Day’s job is to get Ohio State back to the level it’s used to, and that might call for a larger staff shakeup once the season wraps up.

For now, the focus shifts to Northwestern. How the Buckeyes respond on Saturday could go a long way in determining what Day’s evaluation looks like in the weeks ahead.