Buckeyes have more than they've shown

Ohio State waiting for right time to rely on recent offensive staple

The impact Ryan Day will make and the legacy he'll leave behind as head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes has many years to take shape.

That's not how it worked, though, in his first game on staff.

Back in 2017, when the Buckeyes opened on a Thursday night at Indiana, Day's influence on the offense became apparent just about the time fans were starting to think Indiana might ruin OSU's national championship hopes before the first full Saturday of the college football season.

Leading by only a 21-20 margin after IU scored with six minutes left in the third quarter, Ohio State quickly distanced itself with a pair of J.T. Barrett touchdown passes off shallow crossing routes that hadn't been a part of OSU's attack until Day brought them to Columbus from the San Francisco 49ers.

Paris Campbell took the first short throw over the middle 74 yards down the left sideline, and Johnny Dixon took a slightly longer throw 59 yards for a score.

The shallow cross is a great weapon against man-to-man defenses, particularly the past two years when OSU had the perfect assets to maximize such plays in Campbell and Dixon.

Both were fast and elusive, but a 4.3 40 isn't required to make the route effective.

Binjamin Victor, who was closer to gangly than a gazelle a year ago, took a 12-yard crossing route and turned it into a 47-yard touchdown to ignite OSU's comeback victory at Penn State.

And what OSU did to Michigan with the shallow cross in Ohio Stadium to end the regular season, well, that was cruel and unusual punishment.

So where have those same routes been this year?

Fret not, Day says, they are in the playbook and waiting for the right opponent.

That's music to the ears of senior receiver, K.J. Hill, whose 11 catches lead the team through two games, although his 78 receiving yards rank third behind Victor (7-134) and Chris Olave (7-128).