Oller: Ohio State has a quarterback problem; do Buckeyes have one who can win titles?
ARLINGTON, Texas – Be honest. As things bogged down offensively for Ohio State in a Cotton Bowl clown show that was played, appropriately enough, under the Jerry World Big Top, you wondered if Buckeyes coach Ryan Day might dip into the transfer portal for a quarterback. At halftime.
He didn’t. Because the NCAA says you can't. But if he could?
“We’ve got to figure out what’s best for the team moving forward in a lot of areas,” Day said after his offense spit the bit in a 14-3 loss to No. 9 Missouri Friday in AT&T Stadium. “We’re going to take a hard look at that, but everything will be looked at.”
"Everything" is an all-encompassing word covering anything you care to dream up. Is the quarterback position up to snuff? Ditto the assistant coaches? The woeful offensive line? While we're at it, might as well toss in the guy looking back at Day in the mirror each morning.
About that last part. As sand trickles through the coaching shelf life hourglass, the uncertainty grows about Day’s ability to close out a season in championship style. Do I believe he is still the man for the job? Yes, but he needs help. A staff with a few more veteran coaches, including some with NFL experience who have spent hours and hours learning how to adjust to in-game difficulties instead of weeks and weeks out recruiting. They must be able to recruit their tails off, of course, but if the lackluster loss to Mizzou proves anything it is that superior talent – determined through a loosely orchestrated and, frankly, too often lazy recruiting “star” system – is not enough to unhinge worthy opponents. Championship teams require a championship attitude that takes care of business even when the business is not the business you signed up for.
If the hootin’ and hollerin’ of celebrating Missouri players running to their locker room after a "program defining win" was any indication, the Tigers were more motivated to stomp the Buckeyes than the other way around. That’s not necessarily an indictment of No. 7 OSU, which lives to win playoff games and national titles and in some ways understandably must manufacture intensity in a non-playoff bowl game. But losing to Missouri did bring to mind a rather unnerving recall to the 1990s, when the Buckeyes would lose to Michigan then again in a "lesser" bowl game.
I’m not saying Day is John Cooper, who was 2-10-1 against Michigan and 3-8 in bowl games – Day is 1-3 vs. UM and 2-4 in bowls – but it would be in the best interest of the 44-year-old millionaire coach to reverse course sooner than later. Ohio State has closed out the 2022 and 2023 seasons with back-to-back losses and Day has lost to Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh three years in a row. You don’t want Buckeye Nation to begin to think Harbaugh’s “born on third base” crack has even an ounce of truth to it.
For things to change, Day needs a quarterback who, as he always reminds us, “makes the routine plays routinely.” I actually think the Buckeyes need more than that. After all, Kyle McCord, who two weeks ago joined Syracuse out of the transfer portal, came in somewhere between steady and so-so, with occasional flashes of “Maybe we have something really good here?” Turns out 11-1 wasn't good enough.
But with McCord’s departure, the question becomes “Do we have anything here?”
Answer: TBD, but the play of quarterbacks Devin Brown and back-up Lincoln Kienholz did not offer OSU fans any sense of relief. Certainly, context is needed when judging the pair's performance; Brown, making his first career start, suffered a high ankle sprain late in the first quarter and was done for the night. And just like that, the offense was placed in the hands of Kienholz, whose hands were mostly shaky.
Granted, Kienholz was put in a challenging position, not only because he is green as the turf he was playing on, but also because OSU’s run game was nearly non-existent (97 yards) and the O-line often employed a matador strategy of getting out of the way of oncoming Tigers.
“It’s hard to get much of an evaluation coming out of a game when you can’t get any (run-pass) balance,” Day said.
Fair enough, but what can be determined with certainty is that neither quarterback did anything special. Truth be told, the Buckeyes probably would have won with McCord running the show.
Let’s take a deep breath and agree that, big picture, Friday was less about outcome and more about gauging the quality of the quarterbacks OSU has returning next season. Good thing, too, because what led to the outcome was ugly as it gets.
To describe the game as clunky is being disrespectful to clunky. Things got so careless and chaotic that an otherwise no-nothing game became entertaining simply for being a comedic circus act. Special team miscues, including a doink'ed field goal attempt. Passes sailing deep into the sidelines. You name it. This mess had it. On both sides. Mizzou’s offense couldn’t punch its way out of a wet paper bag until finally putting up 14 points against an OSU defense that was gunning for a shutout before getting gunned down at crunch time. Per usual. To be fair, it's hard to stay strong when your offense is MIA.
Statistically, the Buckeyes have coughed up worse offensive performances. In a 23-7 loss to Michigan State in 1999 they managed zero yards rushing and 79 passing. In a lopsided 35-3 loss to Southern California in 2008 they rushed for 71 and threw for 136. And in the 31-0 loss to Clemson in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl they rushed for 88 yards and passed for 127. But this sad sack show belongs in the team picture. Against Missouri the numbers were a pitiful 97 yards rushing and 106 passing. The three points were the fewest in Day's five-year tenure.
You will recall that after the 2016 shutout Urban Meyer jettisoned offensive coordinator Ed Warinner and quarterbacks coach Tim Beck, replacing them with Kevin Wilson and Day. Ironic, yes?
Day probably should give up play-calling duties and concentrate on taking a mile-high inventory of the program. It’s not like game plans have been exceptional anyway.
As one media wit described Friday’s offensive fiasco, “It’s like grade school football, where you run it until third down, then some kid throws a floater out of bounds.”
Bingo.
But there is a more pressing issue at play than play-calling. The Buckeyes have a quarterback problem. Actually, that’s incorrect. The problem is plural.
I did not see anything in Brown or Kienholz that wowed me. Again, it was a small sample size, but did either QB blow you away?
The transfer portal remains active with several tested quarterbacks yet to find a new home, including Kansas State transfer Will Howard. Does Day pull that trigger? He declined to address specifics after the loss, but his “Everything will be looked at” suggests a transfer QB is an option. At least it should be.
A final thought, which might scare the scarlet out of Buckeye Nation. As much as Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud benefited from Day’s tutelage, Day was just as fortunate to have those Heisman Trophy finalists in his QB room.
It is not an exact chicken or egg conundrum, but did those quarterbacks succeed because of Day or has Day succeeded because of having elite talent at the position? The smart answer is both, but entering 2024 we will find out how much of a quarterback whisperer Day is. He no longer has an A+ quarterback running his offense, bailing out the Buckeyes when nothing else works. McCord wasn't it, and Stroud and Co. are not walking through that door.
The big question? Who is?
Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football faces a quarterback issue after ugly Cotton loss
