Ryan Day takes bold stance about Ohio State's 'need' for WR depth during bye week

Ohio State coach Ryan Day is is extremely tedious when it comes to his position groups, but more specifically, his receiving corps.

Although Day has been pleased with the way the Buckeyes have flowed offensively, remaining healthy and taking the workload off the likes of Jeremiah Smith, among others, is parammount. It gives other receivers a chance to not only shine, but become household names in the midst of maintaining the Buckeyes' No. 1 ranking as November draws closer.

Speaking during his weekly press availability, Day said he wants the offense to open up a bit more to give quarterback Julian Sayin more wiggle room and get other players organically involved.

"It's a long season," Day said. "They need that depth. It's important. The team needs it," Day said. "(Quincy Porter) and Mylan (Graham) — and hopefully we're gonna get Bryson Rodgers back this week — these guys can help because we need them."

Day says the bye week has been a much-needed tool for rest and recovery, but also for reflection about what lies ahead with much of the season remaining.

"So we know during the bye week is a good opportunity to take a step back," Day said.. "We always try to stay focused on the week at hand. This is a good time to take a step back and realize that we need to get certain things fixed, address some things and then take a picture of the run that we're about to make and what we need to get done during the run. Because once Sunday hits us right out of Penn State."

Day said situational football is going to be key from hear on out, putting less of an emphasis on prioritising the run and pass offensively and recognizing when it makes sense to mix it up a bit.

"I think we look what the opponent is, what the matchup is, what we see for tendencies and then take what they're giving you," Day said. "And based on the play call, there's design runs, there's design passes and there's decisions that are made post-snap based on what the defense has given us. So those are all things that put stress on defenses. And we'll put the game plan together each week based on what the opponent does well, what we do well and then they kind of go from there

In nearly a week's time, the Buckeyes season continues as it'll host Penn State at noon ET on FOX with many goals still ahead to achieve.