Coming off of the Buckeyes' biggest win of the season yet, a 48-7 victory at Nebraska that earned them National Team of the Week honors, Ryan Day made his weekly Monday night radio appearance on the Ohio State IMG Sports Network's Buckeye Roundtable show to review the performance against the Cornhuskers and look ahead to this week's sixth game of the season against Michigan State at Ohio Stadium on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ABC).
A quick recap of what Day had to say:
- On how Ohio State's defense shut down Adrian Martinez and the Nebraska offense: “Running the quarterback, that was something that we had to take away, and I thought Greg (Mattison) and Jeff (Hafley) did a great job hammering that point all week.” He thought the Buckeyes forced Martinez into throwing the ball, which led to three interceptions in the Cornhuskers' first 20 offensive plays.
- Day said he thought Nebraska had built some momentum on offense before Jeff Okudah's second interception late in the first quarter, which really swung the momentum of the game in Ohio State's favor.
- On J.K. Dobbins: “He's really taken to a leadership role. He's a guy that will speak up before the game in the locker room, get the guys juiced up ... the more guys we get doing that, the better we're going to be.”
- On Chase Young: “He is playing at a high level right now. He's doing a good job in the run game and the pass game. He's playing all three downs. Larry's doing a good job of keeping him fresh, but that goes back to the depth we've created.”
- Day said Jonathon Cooper, who played in his first game of the season at Nebraska, spoke to the team before Saturday's game. “He's a voice that the guys listen to when he speaks up ... He's a man. When he speaks, people listen. When he's on the field, everybody's better off. I know I'm a better coach. He's a beautiful kid, and we're excited to have him back.”
- Day said he thought the Buckeyes' experience of playing in big games helped them handle the environment at Nebraska. “We expected maybe a little more adversity than what hit us, but guys didn't panic. Even when the momentum felt like it was swinging there a little bit early on, and it's easy to kind of feel the crowd in a game like that and have it affect your play, and it didn't.”
- On Michigan State: “One of the best-coached teams in the league. Coach Dantonio is one of the best coaches that's ever coached in college football, in terms of fundamentals, technique. They're really sound in what they do.”
- “On offense, we're going to have to run the ball, and it's not easy to run against these guys. They're one of the top run defenses in the country every year for a reason.”
