ARLINGTON, Texas — When Cotton Bowl media availability began Monday, Jeremiah Smith unsurprisingly drew the biggest scrum of reporters. Not far behind was Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline.

Hartline, who has already taken over as the new head coach at South Florida, is still with Ohio State through the College Football Playoff and didn’t want to talk about his new job during media day. In his first time talking to Ohio State reporters since accepting the USF job, Hartline said his focus has been completely on the Buckeyes over the past two weeks.

How different is his role? Hartline said it remains mostly intact, even though head coach Ryan Day said he is taking over play-calling duties.

“It’s not a whole lot different,” Hartline said. “Really coach Day kind of made some comments on making sure I’m good, he’s trying to look after me. … Some guys are trying to step up a little more from a day-to-day standpoint, maybe a little bit, but not much has changed.”

Hartline, who has been in the booth all season, said if he had it his way, he would be on the field for the game. He enjoys being on the field with his players, though he said he would leave that decision up to Day, who confirmed Tuesday that Hartline will be on the sideline, with tight ends coach Keenan Bailey helping from the box.

“Whether it be (Day) calling plays from 2017 until now, nothing has changed,” Hartline said. “I would say this year there’s been less yelling, which is a good sign. We’ve always been collaborative. We’ve always worked together. Coach Day has always had a major impact on all of this. In my mind, nothing has changed.”

No. 2 Ohio State is set to play No. 10 Miami in Wednesday’s Cotton Bowl at 7:30 p.m. ET, hoping to make up for its 13-10 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten title game and advance to the Fiesta Bowl semifinal against the winner of Georgia versus Ole Miss.

Here are a few more thoughts ahead of kickoff:

Ohio State’s multiple personnel

Related to play calling, Ohio State’s personnel groupings have become a talking point after the Buckeyes went heavy in the red zone against Indiana and ended the game with just one touchdown in four trips inside the 20.

Hartline joked that Ohio State should “always go light,” before adding: “It’s not what we want to do. We want to stress out their defense. …  I think that when we get into the red zone and we have opportunities, that some of our tight ends are mismatches. So you want to use those guys in those ways.”