COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and quarterback C.J. Stroud met with the media immediately following the 52-13 win at Rutgers on Saturday.
Here are the highlights of what was said.
Ryan Day
+ On defense,”we did a good job mixing up the looks but we won the line of scrimmage.”
+ “I thought we played tougher tonight and that was the focus this week.” A month in, they’re in a different place. The message all week was toughness.
+ This was the first week of the season where he came into the game thinking and feeling like they had made a lot of progress.
+ The rest really helped Stroud. It showed during the week and gave him a different perspective watching. “It was encouraging to see him play the way he did.”
+ This was an important game for them because September 2nd a month ago against Minnesota they were a much different team but they hadn’t shown it yet. “I thought we showed a glimpse of that tonight.”
+ Now the young players have five games under their belt. So now the coaching staff knows what to expect and they know which players can give meaningful minutes and who can create a role for themselves. A game like this allowed a lot of players to get game reps and that is important.
+ It’s good to get two Big Ten wins on the road. The schedule has made them stronger and they continue to build.
+ The defense now expects to make plays as opposed to just trying to line up correctly. “The defensive staff did a great job.”
+ They were prepared to make plays on special teams. He credits Parker Fleming.
+ On Stroud, “this is what he’s capable of.” Moving forward he has to have answers to how players attack him now that he has work on tape.
+ Mitch Rossi deserves everything that he is getting. He is the quarterback of the punt team, plays fullback on the line, he does all of the thankless jobs. “I’m glad we have him.”
+ Marcus Crowley and Master Teague ran hard today.
+ It was his decision to hold TreVeyon Henderson out of the second half. Henderson was ready to go but Day didn’t want to take the chance.
+ “We played better team football today.” This win gives them some juice heading into October and November.
C.J. Stroud
+ “Definitely felt way better coming into this game. That Tulsa game, I wasn’t feeling right at all.”
+ On the vibe of the quarterback room, “We’re a brotherhood.” No matter who is playing he supports them and the team supports him. “We all love each other.” Whoever is out there, they’re all going to do their jobs. He said there are probably not a lot of quarterback rooms across the country like this one.
+ “This is just the beginning.” The rest really helped him.
+ He didn’t understand until he played that it really is “Ohio against the world. Everybody is counting us out right now which I think is good. We have adversity.”
