Ryan Day may now have a big decision to make on Brian Hartline following Big Ten Championship loss to Indiana

Ohio State failed to win the Big Ten Championship and now they must regroup for the College Football Playoff.

Brandon Little — Ohio State Buckeyes & Cleveland Browns News Writer
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The Ohio State Buckeyes had quite the week, and it ended in an unfortunate way with a loss in the Big Ten Championship to the Indiana Hoosiers. Just like last year against Michigan, the Buckeyes now have to hope they can rebound from a 13-10 defeat.

This past week was National Signing Day, and the Buckeyes also lost offensive coordinator Brian Hartline to his first head coaching job at USF. Due to the structure of the college football calendar, Ohio State had to juggle all of this during the same week it was preparing for a conference championship. Against Indiana, the Buckeyes struggled badly in the red zone, and that ultimately was a big difference.

Will Ryan Day be calling offensive plays in the College Football Playoff?

Hartline will remain on Ohio State’s staff through the end of their College Football Playoff run before heading to Florida. With Hartline on his way out, there have been questions about whether Ryan Day should take back play-calling duties, as he did prior to the 2024 season. Day was asked about the play calling after the loss to Indiana and gave an interesting answer.

“I’m not going to get into too many details on it all,” Day said. “I think Brian is doing everything he possibly can to finish his time here the right way, and I appreciate that. We’re all involved with it, and we’re all doing everything we can to make sure that we put the guys in the right situation to be successful. We’ve got a bunch of guys in that room.

“And we’ll make sure, as we head into the next few weeks, that we’re on point, we’re doing our part.”

Ohio State led 10-6 at halftime but didn’t score again. The Buckeyes were just four-of-12 on third down, and a failed fourth-down conversion by QB Julian Sayin proved costly. With 2:51 remaining, kicker Jayden Fielding missed a 27-yard field goal that would have tied the game — a chip shot that proved to be as costly as it gets.

Ohio State’s red-zone play calling was questionable, and the decision to take top weapons Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate off the field in favor of extra tight ends deep in the red zone late in the game may not have been the right move. Indiana held Ohio State to just 58 rushing yards, and the Buckeyes’ inability to run the ball was a major factor. Still, the extra tight ends kept trotting on the field, even late in the game when it clearly wasn’t working.

Hartline has at least one game left with the Buckeyes, and Ohio State hopes it’s three more. While he has been the play-caller this season, it may make sense for Day to take over with the most important games of the year now here. Being between jobs is an awkward position that must be challenging to navigate, and that reality may push Day toward making this decision.

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