COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and sophomore quarterback Justin Fields spoke with reporters after the Buckeyes big 38-7 win over the #13 Wisconsin Badgers. Fields didn’t put up huge numbers, but he led an offense that overwhelmed Wisconsin’s defense. Day gave his thoughts about the entire afternoon and how his team responded to the adversity placed in front of them. Here are the highlights.
Ryan Day
+ “I thought that it was going to be a tough game.” Being a noon kick in the rain, it plays to Wisconsin a little more. “So we had to be tough.” The kids answered it. Justin Fields was gritty early on. He got knocked around.
+ Offensive line and JK Dobbins ran well in the second half. “I think he’s the best back in the country.”
+ Chase Young’s impact was felt throughout the game. He’s probably the most dominant player in the nation and it showed his versatility because this was just a passing offense they faced.
+ This game was a little different from the earlier games. It was raining, they were the best team OSU had seen. It felt like it was going to be a four-quarter game. He challenged the players.
+ They didn’t throw the ball much early because of the rain. “You can’t be foolish.” He hates handing the ball off and punting, but you can’t put yourself behind the eight ball. Then the rain let up a little and the passing game opened up a bit.
+ He learned today how tough his guys can be. When you play this hard against a team coming into this game off of a loss, that’s toughness. OSU can play with anybody in the country.
+ Day challenged the running game all week to step up and be the best running game in this game. “JK ran with a chip on his shoulder.”
+ It was a cool moment to do a postgame interview with Urban Meyer. Day owes everything to Urban for being here and he wanted to make him proud today. It’s hard to follow up a guy like Meyer, but he tries not to worry about that. Just tries to make Buckeye Nation and Meyer proud.
+ Now he will challenge the team to see how tough they are. If you are truly tough, you don’t get distracted and you stay focused on the next task. If you start looking ahead and rankings and awards, you get yourself in trouble.
+ Chase Young is the best he’s been around. He is so versatile. In a game like this, he could have gotten lost in the running game, but he dominated.
+ “November is the final run. This is where all of the memories are made.”
+ You can yell and scream at JK Dobbins or you can just talk to him because talking is enough. He’s mature.
Justin Fields
+ It took some time to get into a rhythm. They would do well early, but one play would derail the drive. After that, they got things together.
+ The team definitely has more confidence now, but they can’t get complacent.
+ He went into the injury tent a little after his touchdown because he landed on his back, but he should be okay.
+ They had to adjust to the weather and play through it.
+ “I think in all honesty, we could have put up 50…” if the weather wasn’t such an issue. They could have thrown more in better weather.
+ He feels bad for other quarterbacks having to go against Chase Young.
+ Chris Olave is a hard worker who does everything right. He is always doing the right things.
+ OSU reacted well to adversity and they expected to be punched in the face and they responded.
+ They were messing with JK Dobbins all week telling him that the best running back in the Big Ten was coming into the Shoe this week.
I predicted they would lose but now i know this team is for real.
I really missed the mark this week. 52-17? WTF was I thinking?
GREAT GAME BUCKS!!!!!!
VERY impressive 2nd half by the entire team and 2 weeks in a row Blake H makes a great kick…the big ten will come down to the OSU-PSU game…great job Buckeyes !
Really happy for the whole team but particularly J K Dobbins. The press has hyped Taylor over Dobbins, but in the head-to-head today, Dobbins was clearly the star. I think this team is on a mission to run the table and I think they can do it.
Buckeyes are DYNAMITE!