The Scarlet and Gray

[toysoldier00]

Ryan Day: Ohio State’s Run Game “Has to Become a Weapon Again” After Miami Loss
By Zachary Anderson on December 31, 2025


Ohio State averaged just 128 yards per game on the ground in 2025.



Ryan Day didn’t spend much time after Ohio State’s season-ending loss to Miami pointing fingers at the obvious moments, the late turnovers, the missed chances, the near-comeback that ran out of oxygen. Instead, he kept circling back to the same root issue, one he said the Buckeyes lived with all season but couldn’t survive once the margin finally tightened: Ohio State couldn’t close the game out on the ground.

“We had a 10-point lead in a playoff game and we couldn’t run it well enough to finish,” Day said in his postgame press conference. “That’s on us, on the plan, on the execution, and especially up front. Our run game has to become a weapon again.”

The frustrating part for Ohio State is that the season-long rushing numbers never looked like a red alert. The Buckeyes averaged 27.2 carries and 128 rushing yards per game. But the profile of the rushing attack never matched the brand Ohio State wants to be in January. The production leaned heavily on explosives, the kind that make highlight packages, while the down-to-down efficiency lagged behind. Day acknowledged it plainly.

“We were living on big runs,” Day said. “And when you live on big runs, you’re one or two plays away from it looking fine on paper, but not being good enough when the game turns into four-minute football.”

That disconnect showed up in the two areas Ohio State couldn’t hide from in the postseason: third downs and the red zone. The Buckeyes’ median run was under three yards all season, and in the Big Ten Championship and the Miami game, that number cratered, under a yard per carry by Day’s estimation.

Against a Miami defensive front that won too many snaps, Ohio State never found a dependable answer when the Hurricanes started squeezing the game and forcing the Buckeyes to string drives together without the “easy button” of chunk plays.

Day’s tone made it clear he didn’t view it as a running back problem. Ohio State’s top two backs should both return, and both flashed the exact traits you want to build around. Sophomore James Peoples finished with 859 yards and 11 touchdowns on 145 carries, but eight of those runs went for 20-plus.

Freshman Bo Jackson had 624 yards and seven touchdowns on 122 carries with six more 20-plus runs. The talent is there. Day believes the foundation around them has to change.

“It’s not about those guys,” Day said. “James and Bo did what they could. We have to block it better. We have to be more intentional with how we call it. There were times we got too pass-heavy and got away from what we wanted to be.”

That’s the offseason thesis, and it’s not subtle. Ohio State will spend the next eight months chasing more physical consistency in the trenches, whether that comes from internal development, scheme tweaks, or the kind of roster additions that change a unit’s identity. Day didn’t get specific about personnel moves, but he left no ambiguity about priorities.

“We’re going to fix it,” Day said. “That’s the job now. You don’t want a lesson like this, but you better learn it. If we want to win the whole thing again, we have to be able to line up and run the ball when everyone in the stadium knows it’s coming.”

 

[djp73]

[Soapy]

can't run the dang ball on Rueben Bain beloved

[Petey48]

Man, that must be rough losing to Miami. A reminder of the real life whoopin. Maybe the Day is over in Ohio State?

[toysoldier00]

couldn't run it well this season, and I got too pass happy toward the end of the season. But I need to reshape the roster a bit to get better at it imo.

can't run the dang ball on Rueben Bain beloved

smh

Man, that must be rough losing to Miami. A reminder of the real life whoopin. Maybe the Day is over in Ohio State?

as tempted as I've ever been to say F it and restart a game. It was too painful in real life, and having to relive here it left a pit in my stomach for the rest of the day.

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State DL Coach Larry Johnson Retires After Legendary Run in Columbus
By Zachary Anderson on January 1, 2026


Larry Johnson has been with Ohio State since 2014, and won two National Titles with the Buckeyes.



Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson is retiring, ending one of the most influential runs by any position coach in modern college football and closing the chapter on a decade-plus stretch in which the Buckeyes’ front became a defining feature of the program under both Urban Meyer and Ryan Day.

Johnson arrived in 2014 and helped anchor two national championship eras in Columbus, coaching through a period when Ohio State routinely won the line of scrimmage, built game plans around pressure, and rotated bodies without losing bite.

The headline is the talent he developed. Johnson’s room produced a conveyor belt of NFL edge rushers and interior disruptors, highlighted by names like Joey and Nick Bosa and Chase Young, along with a steady stream of linemen who turned Saturdays into draft evaluations. Later groups continued that standard with stars like J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer, while the next wave followed behind them, a testament to the culture Johnson created in a room where technique and effort were treated like non-negotiables.

Just as important was the identity. Ohio State defenses changed coordinators, personnel and schemes, but the common thread stayed intact: a defensive line that could end drives early, punish mistakes, and close games in the fourth quarter. Johnson wasn’t simply a recruiter or a developer, he was a stabilizer, the kind of coach whose presence made “reload” feel inevitable rather than hopeful.

Now Ohio State faces a rare transition: replacing not just a coach, but a standard that helped win titles and shaped what Buckeye football looked like up front.

 

[redsox907]

I hope you realize Soapy is now going to be in here talking shit all year

[Soapy]

I hope you realize Soapy is now going to be in here talking shit all year

and they just lost their best coach

on a more positive note, damn near 630 posts covering one season

i'm not sure if you can keep up this work rate but salute on that broski

[ShireNiner]

End the chise and start over brother. Soapy is going to terrorize you all next season for this loss.

Enough though Miami lost to a white nerd at QB that loves to say “gosh darn” in the championship.

[toysoldier00]

I hope you realize Soapy is now going to be in here talking shit all year

End the chise and start over brother. Soapy is going to terrorize you all next season for this loss.

Enough though Miami lost to a white nerd at QB that loves to say “gosh darn” in the championship.

Man doesn't know the hell I've got coming for Miami.

and they just lost their best coach

on a more positive note, damn near 630 posts covering one season

i'm not sure if you can keep up this work rate but salute on that broski

thank you sir