Miami coach speaks the truth in assessing disparity of talent compared to Ohio State

Like every MAC opponent, Redhawks overmatched against No. 6 OSU

Miami of Ohio coach Chuck Martin made everybody laugh when he equated playing sixth-ranked Ohio State to a game of pick-'em on the playground.

It's kind of like going to recess," Martin said, "And they have the first 85 picks."

He's not wrong about that, and he's not the first opponent on the OSU schedule to face that dilemma this year. And he certainly won't be the last.

That's the beauty, if you're an OSU fan, of life with scarlet-and-gray allegiences.

Ohio State doesn't recruit as much as it selects.

Right now, the Buckeyes find themselves with a lone hole in their 2020 recruiting class at running back.

They'll fill it, and you can bet it will be with a prospect who's committed somewhere else until he gets the call from assistant coach Tony Alford that there's room for the young man in Columbus.

After all, no one in Triple A turns down the Major League call-up.

Ryan Day is recruiting at the same elite level as Urban Meyer.

Justin Fields playing quarterback for OSU is proof of that.

Fields could have gone just about anywhere when he entered the transfer portal last season. He chose Day and OSU, putting his faith in the guy who directed Dwayne Haskins to a 50-touchdown pass season as offensive coordinator, even though Day hadn't been a head coach at any level.

Three weeks into this season, it looks like Day and his new staff are pressing all the right buttons.

The defense has been retooled from last season under new coordinators Jeff Hafley, who came to OSU from the San Francisco 49ers -- where Day also coached previously -- and Greg Mattison.

Mattison came from Michigan, as did new linebackers coach Al Washington, whose father played at OSU in the mid-1980s.

Washington's linebackers are playing markedly better than in 2018, but he's loathe to take credit for it.

"I don't instill anything," he said of the change in his linebackers' aggression. "If you have a spark, I pour gas on it and try to turn it into a blaze. I think that's what all coaches do."

On the offensive side, Day hired Mike Yurcich as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

Much of the credit for Fields playing turnover-free so far must go to him, but Yurcich says there's still room to grow.

So far, the OSU staff and the changes -- however great or however subtle -- it's made have translated flawlessly in 2019.

That transition meets with the approval of both former OSU All-American Chris Spielman and Buckeye Maven Bruce Hooley in the latest edition of the Spielman & Hooley podcast.

Follow Sports Illustrated's Buckeye Maven on Facebook and on Twitter @BuckeyeMaven.