COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day will meet with reporters beginning at 12:00 pm on Tuesday. He is expected to look back on last Friday’s win over Northwestern and ahead to the upcoming game this Saturday against Wisconsin. We will provide updates throughout his 30-minute session, so refresh for the latest.
+ Day didn’t have a lot of expectations for Master Teague this season, he just wanted to get him healthy. He has put a lot of work in when it comes to understanding the offensive scheme and which seams to hit.
+ This will be the biggest challenge of the year for the front seven. Wisconsin is going to try to move them off the ball. “We’ll find out after Saturday; find out where we are with this thing.”
+ Jonathan Taylor is strong, fast, can change direction, has agility, runs with attitude.
+ There was an adjustment coming to Ohio State in that you aren’t expected to lose, but as long as that matches your own expectations, you’ll put in the work to lose as little as possible.
+ A loss will eventually come and he’ll feel it harder as a head coach than he did as an assistant coach, but all you can do is prepare all week so that you can stay as aggressive as possible on Saturday.
+ “By the time you get to Saturday, the hay’s in the barn.” “Once you get to the game, you sink to the level of your training.”
+ The bigger the game, the more the emphasis on the plan to win. That means trying to get two first downs to get to mid-field in order to have a good spot to punt from and begin the field position battle. “When we’ve done a good job of that, we’ve done well.”
+ JK Dobbins is very competitive. He wants to compete against everybody and wants to be the best running back in the country.
+ Wisconsin’s defense is very good on third down. “They don’t miss.”
+ Why is the offense so good on third downs? Because they don’t run into a lot of third and longs. But when they do have third and longs, Justin Fields’ ability to create helps. The offensive line has done a great job of giving Fields time on third and long.
+ This Wisconsin defense is good in all areas, so it’s hard to find spots to attack them. Illinois found a couple of things. The defense is so stout up front. They’re strong and powerful.
+ He watched the Wisconsin game but wasn’t trying to root for anybody. Illinois played well, and Wisconsin played well, they just turned it over a couple of times at the end. This was an example he shows to the team about anything can happen any week. You have to bring it every week. It’s hard to win in the Big Ten “and it’s going to be that way again this week.”
+ Why “struggles” in the first quarter? His wife asked him why they struggled in the first quarter and he said they scored in the first five minutes, so that tells you about the expectations around here.
+ There hasn’t really been any major adversity that this team has had to overcome yet, but there is no shame in getting up big on teams. There have been not-so-great practices that they had to clean up and they did.
+ Mike Yurcich is always providing great insight, especially as a new set of eyes who hasn’t seen these Big Ten defenses before and isn’t familiar with them.
+ The TCU game last year seems like a long time ago. The more you do something, the more you find your voice and the more comfortable you become. But the job is constantly changing.
+ Day isn’t sure if Fields is the most complete QB prospect he’s ever recruited. What’s important is getting the most out of those tools, and he’s on his way to doing that.
+ When Justin Fields was a recruit, they did a bunch of research on him, mostly when he decommitted from Penn State. Day knew his high school coach from recruiting, and they knew the family as well, so once he hit the transfer portal it was a pretty quick process.
+ Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan has been very accurate on third down. He’s managing the offense really well and is a good player.
+ Thayer Munford gave the team a lift on Friday. He’s unselfish and he played for his teammates. He’s feeling good and should be good to go this weekend.
+ Dawand Jones will probably play more than four games this year because he is very talented and they want his development to continue.
+ The Badgers have really good rushers on the edge. The linebackers do a great job of blitzing. The secondary is very talented as well, so you have to hang on to the ball a little longer than you want to. It goes back to personnel and scheme and Wisconsin’s matches well.
+ Wisconsin’s loss does nothing to change OSU’s preparation. They have great players on both sides of the ball. “It is what it is.” This is going to be OSU’s biggest challenge on both sides of the ball. It starts with the running game and then it goes to DC Jim Leonhard on defense.
+ Baron Browning is working through an injury but he looks good right now.
+ Nothing could be considered “the biggest surprise” for him. The culture is great and the players enjoy being here and practicing. “You try not to reflect too much on that…”
+ OSU’s ability to refocus is a result of the staff doing a good job of talking to the players about coming out each week knowing you’re only as good as your last game. The buy in has been high.
Thanks for the update!