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Ryan Day makes chess move with the Ohio State Buckeyes that shows he’s a perfectionist chasing another national title

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Brandon Little | Last updated Nov 11, 2025 2:57 PM ET

The Ohio State Buckeyes couldn’t be in a better place with their 9-0 record and sitting at No. 1 in the country. Coming off their National Championship win, the program has started the 2025 season perfectly to this point.

Ohio State beat the Purdue Boilermakers 34-10 their last time out, and it was a game the Buckeyes seemed to try a lot of different things they wouldn’t normally. Ryan Day will never admit it, but it seemed like the Buckeyes used it as a test game of sorts. From the handoff to freshman TE Nate Roberts to the Lincoln Kienholz short touchdown run, the Buckeyes went in directions they really hadn’t before. There’s no doubt that it was an on-field look at things the Buckeyes may want to use when the games become more important.

Ryan Day is different this season after the National Championship

Ohio State’s head coach has never been more focused and it’s easy to see in every press conference that Day has. Day has been keyed on good not being good enough and he’s seemed like a real perfectionist since that College Football Playoff run. Not that Day wasn’t before, but there’s a noticeable difference this season. Ohio State made a slight change that further moves that.

“We upped our ante on being a champion,” Day said on Tuesday. “It used to be over 80 this past week, now we’re at 83 percent because we feel like we need to increase our efficiency and execution.”

Ryan Day said Ohio State has increased the standard for grading out as a champion from 80% to 83%, because “we feel like we need to up the ante and the execution.”
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) November 11, 2025

Every player is graded out each game and before this UCLA game, an 80 would have you as a champion. You now need three more points and that simple move of the cutoff shows that the Buckeyes are striving for perfection. Following the win over Purdue, Ohio State is going to have two more games where they’re heavily favored against UCLA and Rutgers. The expectations are as high against them as they are against anyone for the Buckeyes, even if they’re a step down in competition.

Beating the Michigan Wolverines is a big task that the Buckeyes need to knock down at the end of this month. Day won’t admit the Buckeyes are thinning to shout that yet, but they surely are. Four straight losses to Michigan are the only real blemish on Day’s career. The focus that he has this season may just be what it takes.

This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Nov 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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