COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day discussed the season-opening win over Indiana immediately following the 23-3 victory in Bloomington, Indiana.
Here are the highlights of what was said post-game.
Ryan Day
+ “I would’ve liked to have seen Devin [Brown] play a bit more.” But Day was worried that they wouldn’t be able to get into a rhythm and risk putting themselves in a bad spot after they were already clunky at times on offense. Going in, he wanted to play Brown more, but they had to do what was right for the team. They didn’t want to get into a dog fight and have neither quarterback in a rhythm, that was his fear.
+ “Mixed bag.” They have to play better on third down, in short yardage situations, and in the red zone. At times they were running by committee but had decent balance on offense with pass and run. “We know what we need to do.”
+ “It’s ok for me to be excited about great defense.” Day said he was really excited with the defense all around.
+ On Brian Hartline calling the plays, Day said they had a lot of time to talk on the sidelines and they were having constant communication. “It was a team effort but it was a good start.” Hartline is doing a great job but he would like to have more than 23 points so they have to identify after week one what is going on. The most important thing was getting the win.
+ McCord had a good third quarter and got into rhythm. The throw to Cade Stover over the middle was big and scoring again on the drive when the touchdown to Marvin Harrison Jr. was called back was big. There were plays they want back, it was a mixed bag, but they are going to look at the film.
+ Getting off schedule affected third down conversions but they expect to convert on those 3rd-and-3 over 80 percent of the time and not getting those put them out of whack today. “That can’t happen moving forward.”
+ Tony Alford rotated the running backs today due to the heat, length of the season, and the length of the drives in this game. “All of those guys are deserving.”
+ They needed to get the first win and then identify and learn from it. “You don’t need to be playing your best football in the first game of the week, but you need to grow from it.” They probably could have been a bit more aggressive in this game but the goal was to win.
+ “I love the defense. If we play defense like this, we’re going to have a chance.” Day said he wants to sit in the press conference and smile about the defense.
+ One of his goals was to score 50 points and they didn’t do that, but they got the win and it was a start.