COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State beat Indiana 56-14 on Saturday at The Shoe. Head coach Ryan Day met with the media immediately following the game. Wide receiver Kamryn Babb and quarterback C.J. Stroud also answered questions from reporters.
You can hear the highlights from the press conferences below.
Ryan Day
+ On the running back situation, Day said it was great to see their depth show up. Things don’t look long term with Miyan Williams and they hope to get TreVeyon Henderson back for next week.
+ On Kamryn Babb, Day said “where do we start with that? This is someone who has overcome four ACL surgeries, and that’s nine months recovery times four.” On the last one he put his faith in God and “what happened today in the stadium was magical.” That is one of the reasons why he coaches and he hopes it helps show people what it’s like to overcome. Selfishly, he is proud to be a part of it.
+ They were going to take the starters out but they kept them in after the muffed punt. But after Marvin Harrison Jr. caught his catch, it was time to take him out because it was too risky. Then it was Babb’s time. During the injury time, C.J. Stroud said to coach “what do you think about trying to get Kamryn Babb a touchdown?” and Day was all for it. They called it and it worked out that way.
+ It has been frustrating not having a full strength room at running back but their depth has shown. Dallan Hayden got into a rhythm early on and ran hard. “He’s a really good young player.”
+ On this game being more ‘normal’, Day said it did except for the short yardage situations again and he was ready to bang his head against the wall. But it felt more normal, they had a good rhythm, and made a big play on special teams. Day said he is probably being stubborn there with the calls on third downs and in short yardage situations, but they have to run harder. “It’s not good enough.”
+ Day is expecting Dawand Jones, Chip Trayanum, and Denzel Burke to all be back next week. He emphasized that a lot of players played “banged up” in this game but these few couldn’t play.
+ On Xaiver Johnson’s touchdown, Day said there was a lot of good effort on that play. “You can see how much of a weapon he is.”
+ On C.J. Stroud’s performance, Day said “he’s the leader of our offense and when your leader is into it and pushes balance in the offense, that’s important.” There was an edge with the offense this week. Stroud was on point today.
+ Lathan Ransom was all over the place. He is a mature player and made adjustments and put it on the field. He has worked hard and blocked the punt really well, it was well executed. He’s playing well across the board. That blocked punt flipped the game for them.
+ Dawand Jones was close but didn’t feel like he could do it. It was a tough decision but they knew Josh Fryar was playing well and they had confidence in him to put it in the game. He played well. “When you don’t notice a tackle, that’s pretty good.”
QB C.J. Stroud
+ He wanted that ball to go to Kamryn Babb and it was amazing that it happened. Babb helped him with his faith here and with his bible studies.
+ Stroud was nervous for the pass to Babb, he didn’t want to mess it up. He wouldn’t have cared what his game looked like to the world but that was important to him.
+ He was a little mad at himself for stepping out of bounds on his run. He feels like he is decent at running the ball but he has to get used to tight ropes on the sidelines. He will do anything for this team. Everybody has each others back.
WR Kamryn Babb
+ Words can’t describe it but he’s just thankful for God, for Stroud, his teammates, and his family. He dropped to his knees and said for the past five years that was a dream of his, to get a touchdown and immediately give praise to God. That moment has been in his mind.
+ Football and faith are what kept him going for the past five years. There’s a lot going on in the world and he wants to show what faith can do. That kept him motivated and he didn’t want to give up and call it quits.
+ He will probably be emotional when he goes home. It all happened so fast and it really hasn’t hit him yet.
+ Babb was thinking about his faith before catching the ball. A lot of people can’t come back from four surgeries, five injuries, but he wanted to show that. He doesn’t remember the actual catch. It was routine but it was all a blur.
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I love C J’s interviews