Ryan Day isn’t worried about a hot topic around Ohio State games right now that can impact recruiting
Despite being the No. 2 team in the country and perhaps the biggest brand in college football, the Ohio State Buckeyes haven’t been put front and center this year often. By front and center, I mean put in a primetime slot for their games. Ohio State will play Northwestern at noon this weekend, then Indiana […]
Despite being the No. 2 team in the country and perhaps the biggest brand in college football, the Ohio State Buckeyes haven’t been put front and center this year often. By front and center, I mean put in a primetime slot for their games.
Ohio State will play Northwestern at noon this weekend, then Indiana and Michigan at the same time over the next couple of weeks. All in all, Ohio State is playing in six straight noon games to end their regular season.
On Tuesday during his media availability, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day was asked about his thoughts on so many noon games for Ohio State.
"Well, listen. I gotta deal with a lot of fan backlash for things other than the times of games, so I'm gonna leave that for other people to deal with,” Day said. I’ve got other things I got to deal with. Whenever they tell us to play, we're gonna play. It doesn't matter where it is, it could be on a baseball field, it could be 11 a.m., it could be at night. We're gonna put the football down and go play. I'll worry about the team."
The typical coach answer you would expect from Day, whose biggest focus is winning football games. However, these noon games do have an impact on the Buckeyes. Ohio State hosts recruits every home game. The night games and even 3:30 kickoffs in Columbus have always drawn more recruits and it is not hard to see why.
The majority of recruits are playing on Friday nights with their high school teams and games don’t wrap up until 9 or 10 p.m. ET many times. For out-of-state kids, that is a late night if you want to get to Columbus for an Ohio State game at noon the next day. If you are a recruit from Texas, Florida, or California where the Buckeyes often recruit — then it is sometimes even impossible.
Day doesn’t have a day on when Ohio State plays these games at the end of the day. There are big television deals in place with the Big Ten that dictate the schedule. Ohio State is compensated very well for being on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff.
Playing Michigan at noon is typical and Ohio State shouldn’t be playing teams like Purdue and Northwestern at any time other than noon. But Ohio State hosting a top-five ranked Indiana team in less than two weeks at noon is a rough reality. That game was the perfect chance for Ohio State to get recruits in town for a night game atmosphere.
Ohio State won’t play a night game in October or November and that is a tough look for the biggest brand in the sport.
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