Ohio State issues in the red zone -- wait, we've heard that before, so might this be normal?

The Buckeyes made six trips inside the 20 against Ohio on Saturday and scored touchdowns just twice.

COLUMBUS — Ohio State struggled in the red zone, and the head coach didn’t like it.

“It's not just one problem. It's a variety of problems."

Wait, that was Urban Meyer in 2015.

Ohio State struggled in the red zone, and the play caller didn’t like it.

"A couple well-designed plays that we didn't execute for one reason or another. A couple runs that didn't work. So a little bit of both — execution, but also scheme."

Wait, that was offensive coordinator Ryan Day in 2018.

Ohio State struggled in the red zone, and the head coach didn’t like it.

“I think you have to be able to win down in the red zone running the football. You just do. If you want to go win championships, you have to be able to do that. And we didn’t do that well enough down there.”

Wait, that was Day in 2021.

OK, this one is real and right now. Promise.

Ohio State struggled in the red zone, and the head coach didn’t like it.

“When we got down into the red zone, we weren’t able to execute and those runs weren’t efficient. … We’ve got to do a better job when we get down in the red zone.”

That really was Day on Saturday night, after Ohio State’s 37-9 win over Ohio. That win included six trips to the red zone. Those finished with two touchdowns, three field goals and a stoppage on downs on the first drive of the game when Julian Sayin was tripped up on a fourth-down scramble from the 4-yard line.

This was eminently frustrating to Day. It was the focus of his halftime interview on TV, his postgame interview on TV, and the first answer (it lasted two minutes and 48 seconds) of his postgame news conference,

“That was a really long answer,” Day said while wrapping up.

It’s a very familiar discussion point.