BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The #6 Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0, 1-0) traveled for the first time this season, going on the road to Bloomington, Indiana and coming away with a 51-10 win over the Indiana Hoosiers. Following the game, Buckeye head coach Ryan Day spoke with reporters about the game and his players. Before that, however, quarterback Justin Fields fielded some question. Here are the highlights.
Ryan Day
+ This was a good test. Third noon game in a row. They came out with a quick start and controlled the line of scrimmage. The punt block was huge. And then they finished the game the right way.
+ Chris Olave’s production has been really good. He’s got good body language. Strong hands as well. His hard work is starting to pay off.
+ “I thought we missed some deep balls.” When you get into the thick of the Big Ten, those issues are going to come up. Gotta keep building from there.
+ The offensive line the last two weeks has done really well and JK Dobbins has been running hard, as has Master Teague. The defensive line is controlling the line of scrimmage.
+ He is proud of this running game and shows that they can do both. Running the ball is always the goal and they have more ways of getting it done than a year ago. Then you build toward the play-action pass.
+ “We think we should win the line of scrimmage because that’s where the battles are won.”
+ Things are going well, but you can’t cut corners moving forward.
+ JK Dobbins and Master Teague ran really well and very hard. “And again, there was holes there.” That’s a tribute to the offensive line.
+ Chris Olave is one of a long line of Buckeyes who were starters that contributed on special teams. He’s tremendous at punt block. He just has a knack for it. “And that takes a complete buy-in.”
+ Day didn’t put too much into the first game for JK Dobbins in terms of drawing conclusions because the game was so funky. Teams are now going to start adjusting to the Ohio State running game.
+ When you can put a couple of scores together that sandwich a three-and-out, that’s when you can be really dangerous. You have to stay aggressive.
+ JK Dobbins is the guy who gets up before the game and speaks to the team.
+ “I’m really proud of that kid.” Damon Arnette has pressed reset and has given himself over completely to Jeff Hafley. He was banged around a couple of plays before and could have just stayed out, but chose to come back in.
Justin Fields
+ He wasn’t as sharp as he has been in previous games. There’s a lot of room to grow for himself and the team.
+ “I have a pretty good connection with Chris [Olave].”
+ He wasn’t getting his feet set when he was throwing on some of those incompletions.
+ After the JK Dobbins’ drop in the end zone he told Dobbins to brush it off.
+ The O-line did a great job today and that’s going to make the offense dangerous.
+ Asked to grade his performance after three games, he said he didn’t know, but this game would not be a good grade at all.
+ He doesn’t worry about other college quarterbacks. He worries about himself and focuses on that.
+ It is kind of by design as to why he’s not running much this season. The offensive line did a great job so he didn’t need to run.
+ When you run the ball like this it makes the whole offense flow and makes his job a lot easier.
+ They talked all week about how Indiana has played them into the fourth quarter in the past, so this was a business trip and they wanted to come in and put them away early.
+ Fields believes he set his feet well in the first two games, but he’s glad he had some struggles today so he can work on it.
+ What’s not to like about Chris Olave. He’s smart, athletic, good hands.
