Heavy is the head that wears the crown. For Ryan Day, being the custodian of bluebloods, Ohio State is almost perpetually going to be a poisoned chalice. While he has managed to dissipate a lot of heat and disdain enveloping him from both inside and outside Columbus, he is still not in the clear. Far from it, actually. Mauling Tennessee in the CFP round 1 may have afforded him enough grace for a year, perhaps, in tandem with his massive buy-out. But the conventional wisdom is that Ohio State’s loss to Michigan last month largely stemmed from poor offensive scheming and strategy.

Ryan Day and his OC Chip Kelly deployed a conservative plan that didn’t feature their superstar skill-position guys at WR. The defense did show up, as it has all year long. However, there was one outlier game when the opposition drove up and down the Buckeyes’ defense rather comfortably. That was the game against Oregon, which they lost 31-32 in Eugene. As the team prepares to face this foe once again, DC Jim Knowles leveraged insight on what’s changed since. He hinted at shouldering a level of responsibility for his head coach’s predicament.

Speaking to the media ahead of their Rose Bowl date with Oregon, Knowles was asked how hard it was to “re-engineer” and “re-assess” his defense after that loss at Autzen. As shared by WBNS 10TV on YouTube, Knowles stated:

“If you’re going to survive in this profession and grow- you know, not just survive, but grow- and get better, you always have to look at yourself. You have to see things that happen on the field and go back to, ‘how did I coach that? How did I prepare for that?’ You have to take responsibility.”

“Probably when I was younger, that was hard…you take it personally. I think now my job is to not be emotional about it. My job is to fix it… You gotta evaluate it. You can’t blame the players. I think it’s the biggest thing. You have to go back to how you are coaching in your process. So, you know, in terms of the changes, if I could write them all down for you, I would. But I wouldn’t anyway do that but I don’t think I could. It’s just a matter of seeing what’s wrong. What’s happened and fixing it. That’s it.”

59-year-old Knowles has been through plenty of adversity in his veteran career. However, experience isn’t something you can directly permeate between individuals. It’s garnered with time, and Ryan Day became a proponent of it this last weekend.

One thing Coach Day cannot be undermined for is his adaptability and adjustments. After the debacle against Michigan, which Colin Cowherd thought kept him under duress, he went back to the drawing board. The experience garnered from that failed strategy led to changes. These changes weren’t even too convoluted—Ryan Day just did what fans were yearning for him too. OSU opted to throw it more, realizing they have got Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka! Tennessee bore the full force of OSU (42-17) at its best, and Oregon may be next.

Top Comment by Rpbenjr

I’ve seen it this year teams coming out bye weeks not playing well. It’s best to keep the momentum going...more

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Ryan Day and Ohio State’s round 1 vindication may be overestimated

The Oregon Ducks are the no.1 seed in these playoffs, and for good reason. They are well-rested, coming off a bye week as well. As aforementioned, they have already beaten Ohio State 31-32 once this year. Yet, Dan Lanning and Co. find themselves as underdogs in Pasadena. This isn’t an indictment of Oregon. It’s owing to how their opponents are perceived now.

It is pretty impressive how one result changed the outlook around the Buckeyes. Recency bias is a fallacy in any walk of life, but especially in sports. On the other hand, Oregon is perhaps going under the radar a little. Out of sight and out of mind.

The last time we saw them, they, too, just dismantled a great Penn State defense in the B1G Championship. One wonders whether the rust vs rest conundrum will affect Oregon off their bye; Especially when their adversaries just had their best win all season. OSU legend Urban Meyer recently weighed in with his assessment of how things will go down.

“I have Ohio State [by] a walk off [field goal], winning. But I think it’s going to be a classic,” he claimed.

The eyes of the CFB sphere will firmly be peeled on this game. In all likelihood, it’s going to be one of those classic Rose Bowl games. Every down, every series and every drive will be a tryst with supremacy.

Both sides of the ball for either team have cause to step up. Jim Knowles and Ryan Day will have their work cut out, but they will both take confidence from getting some respite over their proverbial demons, each stemming from different losses.