ATLANTA – On Monday, Ohio State and Notre Dame will both surpass a record no college program has ever met. Furthermore, their bodies are taking care of the preparation for their sixteenth game of the season, so they don’t need any reminders.
“Anybody that says they’re 100 percent that’s been playing is lying. Offense, defense, Ohio State, anybody — they’re lying,” Notre Dame defensive tackle Howard Cross said. “Especially this long. This is uncharted territory for everybody. But you’ve just got to keep pushing. At this point, it’s just who lasts longer.”
The influence of the duration of the college football season on player health is rarely discussed anymore because college athletes are now compensated through name, image, and likeness arrangements and will soon get revenue sharing checks under the House v. NCAA settlement.
Nevertheless, the 12-team College Football Playoff and the probability that the majority of teams who advance will play 16 or 17 games are now likely the most crucial elements in determining how to assemble a championship roster and maintain it in a reasonably healthy state over a longer grind than any college coach has ever encountered.
The prospect of playing this much football really influenced Ohio State’s strategy so much that head coach Ryan Day purposefully slowed down the Buckeyes’ offense to minimize player fatigue and keep them as healthy as possible for the postseason run.
“You save 10 plays a game, you save 150 plays (a season),” Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “Everything is set up by him from the jump of a long season.”
There isn’t much drama in the stats. Ohio State has run 61.8 offensive plays per game going into Monday’s championship game. Compared to 63.9 a year ago and 67.4 in 2022, it is somewhat lower.
However, the idea still stands: Day might have been tempted to participate in a number of track meets in a prior era, when the Buckeyes had access to as much offensive talent as they do, in order to take full advantage of his running backs and receivers’ exceptional abilities. However, the overall goal is always to be ready for this time and ensure that Day didn’t lead a squad that was psychologically or physically exhausted into the College Football Playoffs.
