Ryan Day was as disappointed as anyone following Ohio State's loss to Indiana.
“Very disappointed just overall with how we played. Didn't play very well in the situations. Third downs were not very good. Not very good in the red zone obviously in the end. So very disappointed,” Day said. “I thought Indiana played really well, did a great job. But just obviously we're all disappointed in the locker room that we didn't finish out this regular season the way we wanted to."
The seventh-year head coach said Ohio State's three-point defeat will be “a major lesson for this team” and “a tough lesson to learn.” He wants the Buckeyes to have a forward-facing mindset, understanding that the team can still accomplish its goal of winning back-to-back national championships.
“The season’s not over,” Day said. “Got a lot of football ahead of us.”
Here's a recap of Day's press conference, which also featured a few comments from quarterback Julian Sayin.
Ryan Day
- In his opening statement, Day said, “Very disappointed just overall with how we played. Didn't play very well in the situations. Third downs were not very good. Not very good in the red zone obviously in the end. So very disappointed. I thought Indiana played really well, did a great job. But just obviously we're all disappointed in the locker room that we didn't finish out this regular season the way we wanted to."
- Day said Ohio State was “disappointed” the Buckeyes didn’t finish “the regular season the way we wanted to.”
- Day said Indiana's defensive front brought “different pressures and twists” that Ohio State's offensive line “didn’t handle very well.”
- Day called the Indiana loss “a major lesson for this team.” He said, “This is a tough lesson to learn.”
- Day said Ohio State has to be “more efficient across the board” in offense, defense and special teams.
- On Jayden Fielding’s missed field goal: “We didn’t execute that. At the end of the day, we went down there two times and got zero points. That’s how you lose a game.”
- When asked about Ohio State calling a quarterback sneak in the game, Day said Ohio State will have to figure out “if that’s the right thing to do moving forward.”
- Day said Ohio State wanted to win the Big Ten Championship Game. It was motivated to do so. “We wanted to win this game. At the end of the day, we know we came up short.”
- Day wants Ohio State to look forward, not backward following this loss. “The season’s not over. Got a lot of football ahead of us.”
- Day said Brian Hartline is doing everything he can to make sure Ohio State finishes the season the way it wants to. "I'm not going to get into too many details on it all. I think Brian is doing everything he possibly can to finish his time here the right way, and I appreciate that. We're all involved with it, and we're all doing everything we can to make sure that we put the guys in the right situation to be successful. We've got a bunch of guys in that room. And we'll make sure, as we head into the next few weeks, that we're on point, we're doing our part."
- On whether he regrets going for it on 4th-and-2, the play Julian Sayin was called short after official review. “When it doesn’t work, I always regret it… That’s how life works.” Day said he made the decision in real time and now has to deal with what comes with the shortcomings.
- On the performance of Ohio State’s offensive line: “There was some good play, but not good enough.” Day said the Buckeyes allowed too much pressure on the quarterback and had some lapses in the run game as well.
- On Caden Curry’s performance: “I thought the guys played really, really hard, and certainly Caden led the way.” Day said Ohio State’s defense gave the offense a chance to win the game, but the offense couldn’t capitalize.
- On whether Ohio State can use its loss to Michigan last year as a reference point for how the Buckeyes can respond to their loss to Indiana: “I think every year is different, every group is different, but yeah, there’s gonna be a lot of hard conversations here.”
- Day said Ohio State has to learn from the mistakes it made against Indiana. “We can’t let this game beat us twice.”
- Day said Ohio State will bounce back from this loss: “I think this is gonna make us more hungry.”
- Day said Sayin performed well against the Hoosiers. “I thought Julian played well tonight. I thought he played hard.” Day said Sayin had a couple of “bad situations” that Sayin could have made worse, but he took care of the football.
- On whether he second-guesses his decision to have Fielding kick a field goal: “Obviously, when you miss the field goal, you’re sick… Get the thing tied up and let’s go… When it doesn’t work, you look at it and second-guess it, for sure.”
- On Tegra Tshabola and Gabe VanSickle splitting time at right guard: “We wanted to split the work up a little bit in this game and take some pressure off of both of those guys. We felt like that was the right thing to do in this game. We’ll decide if that’s the right thing to do going forward.”
Julian Sayin
- On Ohio State’s red zone struggles: “We got to do better, execution-wise. It starts with me.”
- Sayin said he saw the Buckeyes “stick together” last year. He wants the current Ohio State team to do the same. He wants the Buckeyes to “have each other's backs” and use this loss as motivation to go on a run in the College Football Playoff.
- On his early interception against Indiana: “First off, can’t turn the ball over early in the game like that… Those points are on me.”
- On his pass to Bennett Christian in the red zone on Ohio State's second-to-last drive: "I had a rollout with the running back in the flat. And I thought the defender was too close; he was covered. So, I moved on to my next read and tried to fit it in there and they ended up batting it away. So we've got to convert on that in 3rd-and-1 and keep the offense on the field."
