COLUMBUS — Game one of Ohio State’s new offensive coaching dynamic returned mixed results as Ohio State shook off a slow start to score 45 points on offense in a 52-6 rout of Akron.

For head coach Ryan Day, it marked the first time in his tenure at Ohio State dating back to 2017 that he wasn’t in charge of calling plays after he relinquished that duty in the winter with the hiring of Chip Kelly to lead the offense. Dating back to last season, Day had expressed his interest in handing off the play-calling to invest more time in all aspects of the team, but those plans never materialized with the absence of an experienced play-caller on the staff.

In Kelly’s case, Saturday represented the first time since 2008 that he coached from the press box after spending the past 15 seasons patrolling the sideline as a head coach in stops at Oregon, for multiple NFL teams, and most recently at UCLA.

While the halftime statistics appeared sufficient, the lack of rhythm in the early going against an overmatched opponent was apparent but also not entirely unexpected for an offense dripping with talent but also playing its first game with no shortage of new pieces making both their playing and coaching debuts at Ohio State.

“I thought we were just ok,” Kelly said on Tuesday. “I thought we could have executed a little bit better, especially early. Sometimes you get caught up in if we’re being really diverse and giving (the defense) a lot of different looks. I think it has to be more about our ability to execute and what’s a better operation to execute. You gotta be really self-aware when you’re done, and to go four plays on the first drive and be out, well that’s not good … Not overly excited about that first drive.”

While Ohio State started the second half much faster than it did to begin the game, Kelly noted it was more about individual effort than scheming up a scoring drive.

“The beginning of the second half was Will (Howard) and JJ (Smith) making a great play,” he said. “That wasn’t, like, a great play call. That wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, I really dialed one up and there’s a guy running clean down the field.’ Will put one up with enough air and depth on it, and JJ made a great play on it and we score a play later. That was a three-play drive, but it wasn’t like we were dicing them up on the drive. There are always things you can do better, and I’m always going to be critical. It’s about execution … We can be better.

“It’s a growth for all of us. It’s growth for our staff being together for the first time in game-like situations and for the players themselves. There’s that old adage that the biggest jump is from game one to game two so that gets you excited to get back in here and start game-planning for Western Michigan.”

Day said the new play-calling dynamic on Saturday was “good” overall and “a start,” with the calls coming in quickly, but noted there’s still a long way to go for them to reach the level they aspire to hit. Day said Kelly came into Saturday knowing exactly what he wanted to get done, but Kelly noted Day still had plenty of influence on the offensive approach during the game.

“He was great,” Kelly said of Day’s involvement on Saturday. “There were a couple of suggestions that we ran and were good when he said, ‘Hey, let’s get to this.’ And maybe I was in between one or two (plays) but felt really good when he felt really good about it. The communication between what (the opponent) is doing and what we think they’re doing and changing speeds and tempos, I thought he did a really good job.

“But he’s involved with the defense with (defensive coordinator) Jim (Knowles) and he’s involved with all the special teams with the special teams coaches. I understand that role because I’ve been in it, and sometimes you can’t get to special teams or defense because you’re thinking about what your next series is going to be like offensively and spending time with your offensive coaches. But he really contributed a lot offensively on Saturday.”

While there is much work to be done for the offense as a whole, Kelly enjoyed being back in the press box and singularly focused on getting the offense rolling. Still, he acknowledged it was quite a different feel than what he’d been used to for nearly two decades.

“It’s a great view,” he joked. “I think as the games get into October and November, people are going to be a little bit jealous of where I get to be on game day and not on the sideline. But it’s the communication system. You’re not right next to the coaching staff on the field, but we had no issues from a communication standpoint. But it was good.”

Kelly added, ”It’s a different perspective. I think you can see the game better from (the press box), and I think you can feel the game better from the field. And I don’t think that will ever change, but you can’t be in both places.”

Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on X @DillonDavis56.