Ryan Day Debrief: What's up with Ohio State's offensive line ahead of Penn State?

Thoughts on what we heard from Ryan Day on Tuesday

Ryan Day spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of Ohio State’s game against Penn State. (Photo by Bill Landis)

COLUMBUS — Four thoughts on what we heard from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day on Tuesday ahead of the Buckeyes’ game against Penn State on Saturday.

1. Day didn’t announce any changes along the offensive line. The Buckeyes went into their off week intent on letting starter Tegra Tshabola and backup Josh Padilla compete for the right guard job. Even if the result of that was Padilla taking the job from Tshabola outright, it was unlikely that Day would divulge that information ahead of Saturday’s game.

Instead, Day merely solidified Padilla as, at worst, the team’s next man up on the offensive line.

“He has continued to practice well. When he’s gotten into games, he’s played well. He’s not perfect,” Day said. “We feel like he has an opportunity to mix in there as the sixth offensive lineman in the game, like he’s been the last few games. We’ll continue to evaluate it this week and figure out what gives us the best chance to win. But he certainly has played his way into our top six players.”

To be clear, Ohio State’s offense doesn’t change no matter who plays at right guard. But there’s value in keeping Penn State guessing about the potential matchups. Padilla is quicker, but smaller than Tshabola. Tshabola is more powerful, but not as fleet of foot. Coming off a game against Wisconsin during which Tshabola arguably played his worst game of the season and Padilla mostly held his own, a change could still be in the cards.

Pro Football Focus’ grades aren’t gospel and don't necessarily mirror Ohio State’s in-house grades, but across all games against Power 4 competition, Padilla has the highest PFF grade among all Buckeye offensive linemen, and Tshabola has the worst.

Padilla, now in his third year, has been viewed as Ohio State’s center of the future basically since he arrived on campus. But he’s pushing in earnest to crack the starting lineup for the first time as a guard. The likeliest outcome is that both Padilla and Tshabola play against Penn State in some fashion. Day showed us last year that he’s comfortable rotating on the offensive line if more than five guys show they can play.

But this could also be a situation where more rotation leads the staff to the conclusion that the offense is better off with Padilla playing most of the reps.

2. At different points this season, Day has brought up his running backs’ ability, or lack thereof, to create yards after contact. It is not a strength of this group. Ohio State’s rushing attack lacks explosion, and that is a major reason why. So when you see a flash of it, like what freshman Isaiah West provided against Wisconsin — even if it’s just a couple of runs that get to the second level — you want to bottle it up and see if it’s something that can last.

Day wants a back who can be dangerous in the open field.

“I say to the running backs a lot, the first four yards are for the team, and then the rest of it, you gotta go trust your God-given ability,” he said.

That should position West well for more carries. However, similar to the offensive line, Day kept Ohio State’s plans at running back close to the vest. The only thing that seems locked in is that CJ Donaldson is the short-yardage back. Beyond that, it remains a mystery how carries will be doled out against Penn State and beyond.

But if it’s make-you-miss stuff that Day is seeking, West certainly planted a seed with what he did against the Badgers. On nine carries, West averaged 3.78 yards after contact per rush and forced four missed tackles, according to PFF. West now has more missed tackles forced on 13 carries against Power 4 competition, five, than Donaldson has on 46 carries, one. James Peoples has five missed tackles forced on 25 carries against P4 teams. Bo Jackson has 11 on 50 carries.

Including all carries in games against Texas, Washington, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin, West is averaging 3.08 yards after contact per rush, second among the running backs, just behind Jackson’s 3.28. Peoples, 2.56, and Donaldson, 1.85, lag behind — though Donaldson’s lower average at least partly attributable to getting so many carries inside the 5-yard line.

This stat matters a lot to Day as he assesses the running backs.

“That’s sort of how you’re judged,” he said. “It’s not 100 percent of it, but it’s a big part of it. I think we’re getting better in that area. We’re drilling it more, and we want to see it more on the film.”

I asked Day whether the skill set for getting yards after contact can be taught, or merely enhanced, meaning either you got it or you don’t.

“It’s our job as coaches to figure that out,” he said. “We try to create drills. We watch it on film. We look to work it into the body of a practice, of a thud period, of an inside drill. When do you make somebody miss? When do you drop your shoulder and run them over? What are the tools that the coaches are giving you in order to do a good job of getting yards after contact?”

If at least part of it is just innate, then Jackson and West could and should be in line for more carries.

3. Speaking of the run game, Day reminded us on Tuesday how he views things when he says Ohio State’s rushing attack has been “good, not great.” Most wouldn’t even call it good, but Day isn’t only looking at raw rushing yardage when he assesses things.

“Some of the things in the last game, they put an extra guy in the box, and the RPO (run-pass option) led us to throw the ball,” Day said. “Those don’t show up in the running statistics, but when you have a quarterback who can read an end and read off-the-line defenders, we look at the running statistics a little bit differently. If we’re hitting an eight-yard hitch to Jeremiah Smith, that’s really the run game, because it complements (the called run.)”

The official stats say Ohio State averaged 3.5 yards per carry against Wisconsin. If you remove sacks and scrambles, the combined per-play average of designed runs and called runs that turned into RPO passes was 5.2, according to my charting.

That’s probably still lower than Day would like it to be, but more often than not leads to plays that are, by definition, successful.

4. Day pulled out his “matchup game” moniker for this Penn State game.

You’re forgiven if your initial reaction was to roll your eyes. The Nittany Lions are 3-4, riding a four-game losing streak and playing with an interim head coach after James Franklin’s firing two weeks ago. As I write this, the Buckeyes are nearly three-touchdown favorites.

“We know that this was one of the top five or 10 teams in the country,” Day said. “I don’t think there are many teams in the country that have more talent than Penn State has. People recognized that early in the season. Sure, it hasn’t gone the way they wanted, but they still have really good players. When you looked at this game a few months ago, it was an absolute matchup game. That has not changed … They have a lot of NFL players, and we know they have really good coaches.”

Penn State’s talent does make this a unique matchup. The Nittany Lions’ season is functionally over, but they still have a lot of good players. They came into the season 10th in Bud Elliott’s blue-chip ratio, second among OSU’s 2025 opponents, trailing Texas.

I just looked at a consensus big board for the 2026 NFL Draft at mockdraftdatabase.com, and Penn State had six players in the top 100, the same number as all of OSU’s previous seven opponents combined. That list includes quarterback Drew Allar, who was injured against Northwestern and is out for the season. Penn State is also without its best linebacker, Tony Rojas, and has struggled at that position since he went out.

Ohio State is rolling, and Penn State is reeling. This shouldn’t be close. But Day wants to make sure his team knows that, man-for-man, this is the second-most-talented team the Buckeyes will play in the regular season.