Coming off another big win at Northwestern and going into one of the biggest games of the season against Wisconsin this week, Ohio State coach Ryan Day made his weekly appearance on the Ohio State IMG Sports Network's Buckeye Roundtable show to discuss his takeaways from the Buckeyes' seventh win of the year and look ahead to Saturday's noon test against the Badgers.
A bullet-point recap of what Day had to say in his first media appearance of the week:
- On the team's performance against Northwestern: "I thought all phases played well. We came out with great energy. I thought we started well. We also played well in the second half. ... Overall, I thought it was a good job coming off of a bye week."
- Day said he thought the third-down conversions were key in the first quarter before the Buckeyes were able to get into a rhythm in the second quarter.
- On Northwestern: "That's a great program. Pat's an unbelievable coach."
- Day said he isn't making any major changes to Ohio State's practice routine this week.
- On Chris Olave: "He's very fluid when he runs his routes, and he's got tremendous hand-eye (coordination) ... He's been very efficient for us. Very, very productive, as well."
- Day said he thought the way the Buckeyes ended the first half, with Liam McCullough downing Drue Chrisman's punt at the 1-yard line and then Blake Haubeil making a 55-yard field goal on Ohio State's next possession, "says a lot about the team."
- Early outlook on Wisconsin: "This is a really tough team. Inside guys are real powerful, on both sides of the ball ... They know how to run the football, and Coan and Cephus are talented in the perimeter as well, so you can't just load the box and not worry about the pass, they're very balanced on offense. And then on defense, best defense in America, statistically. They stop the run. (Zack) Baun's obviously the leader in terms of the guys up front. (Isaiahh) Loudermilk is a big guy inside. And then they're very talented at linebacker and the back end ... so it's going to be a challenge schematically and obviously, physically."
- On Wisconsin's loss to Illinois: "That's college football ... That doesn't change anything in terms of our preparation. We know that these guys that are coming here, they're a great outfit, it's going to be tough."
