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The state of Ohio already had a glimpse of what a COVID-19 outbreak could do to a football team when Maryland called off a game between the two teams scheduled to kick off 13 years ago. days.
Now the problems are with the program.
What the sports department defined as “an increased number of positive tests this week for the coronavirus” put Saturday’s game in Illinois at risk of not being played but ultimately failed to meet the thresholds set. up by the Big Ten, which means it will start at noon as scheduled. However, the Buckeyes will have defensive line coach and assistant head coach Larry Johnson acting as head coach this weekend with Ryan Day away from the squad due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Johnson will join Luke Fickell and Day as Ohio State’s third interim head coach in the last decade, and as long as Day is quickly coronavirus free, he will have the shortest tenure of the three. He should lead to a game or two, depending on when Day can return.
Understandably, the latest Ohio State news has prompted many questions about the football team and how they are going as they head into the weekend and look to go undefeated, so we’re here to try to answer. to five of them.
Why did Larry Johnson get the green light?
Most people, if they had had to predict, would have guessed that Kevin Wilson would serve as interim head coach if Day missed a game. Having run the Indiana football program for five years in the early 2010s, he has more experience as a Power Five head coach – who notably came to a Big Ten school – than any of Day’s coaches. . None of the other assistants has ever been a full-time college football head coach.
But Wilson didn’t get the lead. And Greg Mattison, Kerry Coombs, Brian Hartline or whoever either. Johnson did.
Why? We’ll have to wait until Day speaks publicly about the decision to find out for sure. But there are a number of reasons that could help explain why the Buckeyes chose their highly regarded defensive line coach.
Ohio State might not have wanted to name Wilson as interim head coach given the added responsibility he will have on the offensive end of the ball without Day. He and offensive line coach Greg Studrawa are the only two assistants with offensive coordinator experience. In defense, Mattison and Coombs have a lot of work to do after the poor performance on that side of the ball last weekend. Also, neither coordinator has ever been a college head coach anyway.
Johnson, whose defensive linemen revere him, is considered a legend in the coaching profession and respected throughout the squad. He is also technically the assistant head coach. Only running back coach Tony Alford – assistant head coach for attacking – has a similar title.
Although Johnson has never been a full-time football head coach since working at TC Williams High School in 1993, he was interim head coach at Penn State between the terms of Bill O’Brien and James Franklin.
Why are they still playing this game?
This one has a pretty straightforward answer: The state of Ohio did not hit the Big Ten mark, which required a cancellation and, clearly enough, still feels comfortable enough with the allocation at the within the team to send the team to Champaign, Illinois.
Excerpt from press release announcing the news Friday: “The increase in numbers does not meet the threshold for the state of Ohio to cancel the game this week, under Big Ten Conference protocols.”
The sports department appears to be doing everything in their power to play this weekend’s game. The team will fly to town on Saturday morning instead of Friday evening. He also plans that every coach, player and support staff member will undergo PCR testing on Friday afternoon before leaving.
Of course, their desire to reach the Big Ten Championship is also motivating the Buckeyes. If Ohio State hadn’t played this weekend, it would have required a cancellation to become ineligible to participate in the conference title game, which requires a minimum of six games in the regular season.
Who will call plays in case of violation?
It will be a full-fledged Wilson-led offensive on Saturday.
Day, of course, played an important role in planning and preparation for the game, coaching the team in practice until Thursday. But once the game starts, it will be Wilson who has the most control. He has worked alongside Day since Urban Meyer took them both as co-offensive coordinators in January 2017 to replace Tim Beck and Ed Warinner.
Wilson has decades of experience in the conduct of offenses. He broke into college training as an offensive assistant coach with Miami, Ohio in the 1990s before Northwestern retired him as offensive coordinator in 1999. Oklahoma hired him in 2002, and he was either a co-coordinator or a full offensive coordinator. until Indiana hired him as head coach in 2011.
Alford, Studrawa, Hartline, Corey Dennis and several other staff – including Keenan Bailey, Billy Fessler, and Kennedy Cook – will help Wilson.
How does this affect the Ohio State title dreams?
This is not the case. At least it shouldn’t.
As long as the Buckeyes win this weekend’s game – and they’re still favorites for four touchdowns, by Bovada – then that hiccup shouldn’t detract from their course.
All of the ultimate team goals that remain on the table. The Michigan game is still scheduled to take place at Ohio Stadium in 15 days. Eligibility for the Big Ten Championship remains intact as long as the Buckeyes play two of the remaining three games of the regular season. They were among the top four teams in the first standings of Tuesday’s college football qualifiers.
If the state of Ohio plays and wins on Saturday, anything the team wants to accomplish will still be doable.
How will this week affect the product in the field?
No one can claim this week was anything close to normal.
Towards the middle of the week, news of many positive COVID-19 tests started leaking out of the program. The team went through a guided tour that day, as opposed to a full-fledged practice. The players had a Thanksgiving meal at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday. Day was announced to have tested positive for COVID-19, along with several other players, on Friday afternoon. Everyone within the program will undergo additional coronavirus testing on Friday. The team will fly to Illinois on game day and its head coach and an unexpected number of players will not be with them.
So how does all of this affect the Buckeyes’ performance on Saturday? You think it’s as good as anyone.
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