It’s not normal to praise the differences when being compared to a national championship team, but while sitting in the team meeting room listening to Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, it resonated with me, this team needs to be different.
I have always lived by the line, you don’t mess with excellence, but as Day was talking I realized sometimes you do. Day has always been chasing the top. All those games reaching the edge of greatness but never quite getting to the promised land. Missed opportunities led to a long road to the top for Day. The 2019 Clemson playoff game was infuriating and heartbreaking for a stacked team with Justin Fields, JK Dobbins, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. That was a stacked 2019 Buckeye team that lost to Clemson in a heartbreaking fashion, 29-23, and just to be clear, it was a fumble leading to a scoop and score by Ohio State safety Jordan Fuller. The pandemic gauntlet led to a pounding by Alabama 52-24 after a grind COVID-19 season. Next up Georgia in the Peach Bowl, 2022. The video speaks better emotion than I could ever put into words
The Attack
Now that Day has reached the pinnacle of college football, he has to fight complacency and what better way than putting his team in attack mode. His team is not resting on the laurels of last year’s successes but is reaching to achieve their own hardware. Jeremiah Smith described it best in detail at Big Ten media days
“I feel like last year, that was like Emeka (Egbuka) and all the guys who came back, that was their national championship,” he said. “I feel like this year, it’s definitely going to be for like me, Sonny (Styles), Caleb (Downs), Carnell (Tate) and all the other guys that were young last year. If we win it this year, I feel like it would definitely be our (championship).”
Day has echoed those sentiments stating this team is not the defending national champions—they are attacking looking to win a championship of their own. Take all the 2024 national tile memories and put them in storage, because it is time to write the new story, the story of the 2025 Ohio State Buckeyes. Time to earn hardware of their own.
Different Buckeyes
This team has to be different with eight new starters on defense, a new QB and new coordinators on both sides of the ball. In no way can this 2025 team try to act and mimic the 2024 national title team.
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They will need their own identity and new leadership to make their legacy. Take notice, this team is going to be different and with competitiveness and an edginess that will make Buckeye Nation hungry for more.
Team Scrimmage
We did not receive much clarification on the depth chart yet, but do you blame Day heading into a No. 1 vs. No. 3 matchup with Texas coming to town? Why show your hand with a different type of team when you have, as Day described it, a monster of a game on the horizon?
We did find out there has been interesting shakeup on the offensive line. Austin Sievreveld is now repping at left tackle with Phillip Daniels is repping at right tackle and Rice transfer Ethan Onianwa, who had long been projected as LT, is getting time at guard along with right tackle. To me it sounds as though, at least for the time being, Onianwa is second on the right tackle depth chart.
When pressed further, however, Day was quick to clarify, “we will see after this week.” Day is confident in the depth on the offensive line. Defensively, Day spoked glowingly about Ohio native, CB Jermaine Mathews, calling him maybe a surprise leader. Mathews, a first-year starter but someone I have mentioned as a possible future day one NFL draft pick, received high praise from Day.
The one position everyone wanted to hear some news was almost radio silence.
When asked if he saw any separation between his quarterbacks, Day stated, “There were positives on both ends, there were negatives on both ends.”
According to what Day was willing to divulge, the QB battle continues. My guess is Day has a starter in mind, but why limit competition when you need it the most? Keep that attacking national champions attitude with QBs battling until maximum growth and separation is achieved. For at least one more week, the wait continues to determine the signal caller for the attacking national champions.
