After a disappointing showing in the Big Ten championship, in which Ohio State scored a season low 10 points, head coach Ryan Day made it clear that it was still offensive coordinator Brian Hartline who called plays for the Buckeyes in the game.
“Brian’s calling it, but we’re all involved,” Day said on Dec. 7, the day after the conference title loss. “Brian calls the plays and will continue to call the plays, but we’re going to have everybody involved with it, and it’s a group effort.
The fact that he said that it will be a group effort going forward into the College Football Playoff is certainly encouraging, but the fact that it will be Hartline making the calls again was a little less so.
In no way am I saying that Hartline is incapable of running an offense. He showed throughout this season that it’s something he is able to handle. But there have to be questions about whether he is the best guy for the job during this playoff run.
Hartline was hired by South Florida on Dec. 3 to be the Bulls’ next head coach, and much of his week was likely spent working things out in Tampa Bay (which is not South Florida, but that’s a point for another day). It’s completely understandable that Hartline’s full attention wasn’t on the Buckeyes during Big Ten championship week.
The early signing period was going from Dec. 3-5, and he was likely trying to handle that important time for his new program. I’m not criticizing how Hartline is spending his time, to be clear. He absolutely should be focused on making his next stop as good as he possibly can. But he was doing that, likely contacting Bulls recruits, while also trying to finish off the long recruitment of five-star wide receiver Chris Henry Jr., who did ultimately sign with Ohio State on Dec. 5.
But I’ll pull the most important piece of the last sentence from just two paragraphs ago in this very column: “Hartline’s full attention wasn’t on the Buckeyes.”
Soon after the Big Ten championship loss, Hartline was on a flight to get down to South Florida to meet with his new team. Again, he should be doing those things. But the Buckeyes are looking to go back-to-back for the first time in program history, and the loss didn’t do them many favors in terms of positioning in the bracket.
Not knowing whether they are playing Texas A&M or Miami yet, there likely isn’t a ton of actual game planning going on since it would be pointless to do a deep dive into both the Aggies and Hurricanes. But Ohio State is absolutely using this extra time to its advantage and likely taking a deep dive into its own film to try to fix any issues that showed up on tape.
It’s not as if there isn’t an obvious replacement waiting in the wings. Day led the Ohio State offense by calling plays for six seasons, and some of those were among the most potent units in Buckeye history.
I’m not even saying that they need to kick Hartline out of the coaches’ box or off the sidelines. I don’t think he’s going to be a distraction to the team by simply being there. I’m sure his presence is extremely helpful, and he can be another ear in the headset to run plays through. He would be helpful since he knows the offense so well as the offensive coordinator.
But it’s time for Day to take the reins back – not permanently, but at least for the next three games. It does seem like the team has already made its decision on that, however.
“We met on it (Dec. 7), and he’s going to continue with the same plan,” Day added. “I do think that having three or four weeks to prepare for the game will be beneficial. We’ll still have everybody involved with it, and we’re going to work hard to put a game plan together and make sure that we’re putting our guys in the best position to be successful.”
There’s no doubt that Day is right that having much more time to prepare for the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31 will prove beneficial, at least compared to how they were able to prepare for Indiana, which was a hectic week for many different reasons. But will some of that advantage be lost with Hartline spread thin?
I don’t doubt his ability to work extremely hard while he is trying to juggle two jobs, but to some extent, it has to be unavoidable that it will impact the job he’s doing in Columbus.
I completely understand the idea of routine and how Ohio State has made such a big deal out of keeping its routine as consistent as usual. But that felt like a plan to lead into the win over Michigan to end the four-game losing streak, not one that you take into the CFP, which is anything but routine.
The team flies down to wherever the game is a few days early, and that week leading up to the game looks almost nothing like any other week this season has. I don’t think it could hurt the players to have the plays in Julian Sayin’s ear coming from a different voice, as long as that plan is made as soon as possible.
I’m very open to the fact that Hartline could prove me wrong. If Ohio State keeps Hartline as the play caller and goes on to win the national championship, would I be even slightly surprised? No.
But the Buckeyes don’t want to be in a situation where they are looking back and thinking that they made the wrong decision by keeping Hartline in his role. If there is any impact on how well he is able to do his job with OSU, which very well might not be something we can see from the outside looking in, there will be something to point to.
