There’s only one real option here, one move to save a suddenly teetering season.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day must rehire Ryan Day to coach quarterbacks.
Stay with me here, people. This isn’t heavy, psychological lifting.
Julian Sayin, Ohio State’s starting quarterback, is likely out for the remainder of the regular season, and the Buckeyes will turn to freshman Luke Fahey to navigate a difficult road to the College Football Playoff.
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Raw, untested, three-star project recruit, Luke Fahey.
“He’s got confidence, he’s got athletic ability,” Day said of Fahey.
He also has Day.
Day was the architect of all those high-powered Ohio State offenses of the past, the one guy who developed some of the most prolific quarterback play in college football both as an assistant to former coach Urban Meyer, and as head coach.
JT Barrett. Dwayne Haskins. Justin Fields. C.J. Stroud. Plug and play, and get out of the way.
Day gave up direct involvement with both the quarterbacks and play calling after the 2023 season when he hired Chip Kelly to run the offense. No offense to Billy Fessler, who has coached the quarterbacks since 2025, or Arthur Smith, the current offensive coordinator and play caller, but they’re not Day. Not close.
Day gave up play calling and quarterback coaching in the middle of a perplexing time of beating everyone except Michigan. Walked away because of some half-cocked notion that Ohio State wasn’t tough enough (dumb), and that Day needed to step away from the offense to focus on the team (dumber).
You know, those brilliant media-brain ideas when there’s no explanation for one team constantly beating the other, so it has to be that. But Ohio State got better in midseason of 2024 (with Kelly as QB coach/OC) when Day got involved with quarterback Will Howard, and told Kelly to get the ball to electric wideouts Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate.
So they did, and the offense exploded, and the next thing you know, no one outside Michigan could touch the Buckeyes. They won the national title, and Day has stayed at arms-length from the position and offense since.
That all must end now.
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When Day walked away from the job of coaching quarterbacks, running the offense and calling plays, his quarterbacks were averaging nearly 40 touchdown passes a season. The offense was a video game.
The offense has been efficient since 2025, but has struggled to score in big games — including 10 against Indiana in the 2025 Big Ten championship game, 14 against Miami in the CFP and 19 last week against Indiana.
The Hoosiers won’t play their worst game again, and gift a big win. Ohio State isn’t winning a potential rematch in the Big Ten championship game, or any potential game in the CFP, by leaning on its defense and playing it safe on offense.
Every remaining game on the schedule ― at USC, Oregon, Northwestern, at Nebraska, Michigan — could be a problem if Ohio State can’t get Fahey ready to run the offense as closely to what it was under Sayin.
Day’s decision is simple: trust Fessler and Smith to make that happen, get hands-on in the quarterbacks room and find a way to mold the offense around a freshman who isn’t your typical Ohio State quarterback.
Fahey wasn’t a mega recruit, and doesn’t have prototypical size (5-11, 205 pounds). He threw the ball twice against Indiana, and took a sack on another drop back.
That’s not exactly a fair assessment in the heat of a big game, so there’s room for growth. The bye week will help, and quite frankly, so will USC’s struggling defense in Fahey’s first start.
But the legit Big Ten defenses are coming in November, including You Know Who at the end of the regular season. Ohio State can afford another loss, and still make the CFP.
A third loss — with Sayin’s postseason future still unknown — may be too many.
This is an easy decision for Day, with only one real option. Give yourself the best chance to win games.
There’s only one place to turn with the season on the line.
That’s Ryan Day, quarterbacks coach.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ohio State has one move left to save its season: Ryan Day must rehire Ryan Day