Can Day deliver ‘comeback’ win after taking it on the chin?
The original panic button ejected American pilots from their jets during the Korean War. Faced with no option but to bail, the parachute-packing flier would escape the aircraft in a whoosh.
Ryan Day has no “Oh, bleep” button. No escape hatch.
Then again, the Ohio State coach is not panicking. Yet. No reason to. Yet.
Sure, the Buckeyes’ defense has deflated over the past three games like a cheap air mattress — Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated dug up the inglorious factoid that until last Saturday, OSU had not allowed 118 points in three straight games since 1891 — but Day is confident he can land this baby safely Saturday against Tulsa. Or else.
Losing a regular-season game is new turf for Day, who was 18-0 until Oregon rolled the Buckeyes last week. On Tuesday he talked about not overreacting to the 3528 loss to the Ducks, but also “looking at everything” involving the program, including coaching responsibilities and job performance.
Is defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs in jeopardy of reassignment? Day said no, but his answer carried more than a hint of irritation.
Put it this way: Day isn’t the one who should be eyeing the panic button. But he still should have been considering touching base with some of those on his coaching contact list this week, because Urban Meyer knows how to recover from losses.
Meyer won some whoppers — three national championship games and 7-0 against Michigan — but also lost some floppers. See 2016 Clemson, 2017 Iowa and 2018 Purdue. The losses, however, usually were followed by wins.
Meyer was 6-1 (.857) in games that followed losses within the same season, i.e. not carrying over into the next year’s opener.
Jim Tressel, at 16-2 (.889), was even better at rebounding the Buckeyes.
What was Tress' secret sauce? He knew players would take it upon themselves to work harder after losses than even after wins, so he let human nature take its course.
At least that's how Zach Boren remembers it. The former Ohio State fullback/linebacker recalled that Tressel never kicked players when they were down.
“Guys are harder on themselves after losses, so coaches don't need to do as much,” said Boren, who also played for Meyer in 2012 when the Buckeyes finished 12-0.
“I didn't experience defeat my senior year, so I never knew how Urban was after a loss, but I'm sure he went a different way about it,” Boren said. “He probably pushed the message a little harder.”
Given that Day learned under Meyer, it would make sense if he took a similar feet-to-the-fire approach.
“You want to act and not overreact,” Day said. “We have good coaches and good players, so we can figure this out, but we have to ask hard questions and make things uncomfortable, and that's part of my job.”
Not every Ohio State coach in the modern era was as successful as Tressel and Meyer at recovering from losses. Woody Hayes went 29-13-2 (.682), Earle Bruce 12-8 (.600) and John Cooper (.621) in games after defeats. Luke Fickell was 1-4 (.200) in his single season of 2011.
Cooper said the key to avoiding backto-back losses is returning to fundamentals.
“Correct the mistakes you made and don't ask a player to do something he can't do,” Cooper said. “The worst thing you can do is change everything. You don't just go put something in, you have
to work it in. Rely on the things you have been working on all spring and summer, then get better at those things. And if a guy is not performing, you have to play some other players.”
A current longtime FBS coach who spoke on condition of anonymity offered a laundry list of best practices to help avoid consecutive losses, beginning with leaving the past behind.
“You can't let one game beat you twice, so don't obsess over the last loss,” he said. “Be hard on self-evaluation on Sunday for players, coaches and schemes, but cut practice so you can be fresh. Cut the playbook so they can play faster. Show confidence as a coaching staff. Show great body language. Don't
beat them down. Pick them up. Stay off social media. It will not be kind.”
Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery offered his view on how to recover from a loss.
“All of us handle it differently, but more times than not, most coaches are in the mindset of … focusing on the fundamental things to give yourself a chance to win,” he said. “Some things after wins you might let slide, but after losses, all those things are being addressed and taken care of.”
The Buckeyes hope that come Sunday, Montgomery is forced to follow his own advice. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd