Ryan Day wasn't pleased with some of the calls that were and weren't made by the officials in Ohio State's game against Indiana on Saturday.
During his weekly appearance on Monday night's Buckeye Roundtable show, Ryan Day said he had a “long conversation” with the Big Ten on Monday about some of his disputes with the officiating in Saturday's game, including a pair of potential Indiana fumbles that were not ruled fumbles and a hit to Justin Fields' head that was not called as targeting on Ohio State's 4th-and-1 attempt late in the game.
“Had a long conversation today about a few things, and those were all high on the list,” Day said. “It's hard. And listen, they got a tough job, but to see that targeting, that was hard to take. That was a really bad hit to his head. I don't quite understand that. They did let me know that they missed one pretty bad.
“The fumbles, I wish that they had done a better job in reviewing that area. But it's part of the game, and people see it from different sides, and I understand that they have a tough job. But some of those are just really hard to take, really hard to swallow, and we just gotta do a good job of moving on once those things come up and it doesn't go our way.”
Surprised this was missed #targeting pic.twitter.com/UtGzaacF4U
— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) November 21, 2020
When Buckeye Roundtable host Jim Lachey also brought up the unnecessary roughness call that went against Ohio State right guard Wyatt Davis when illegal hands to the face was not called against an Indiana defender in the first quarter, Ryan Day said he was “preaching to the choir,” but opted not to comment further.
A bullet-point roundup of what else Day had to say on Monday night:
- Day said he thought Ohio State's start against Indiana was “excellent.” He thought they brought their own juice early on, but “we just got a really do a better job of closing out games.”
- “Really proud of the way our guys came out, and to be 4-0 at this point with everything going on, that's an accomplishment.”
- Day said the players who make effort plays like Josh Proctor's hit on kickoff coverage and Julian Fleming's forced fumble after Justin Fields' third interception after the players who end up having great careers at Ohio State. “Those are the things that really stand out when you get your careers started.”
- On Pete Werner: “I think he's playing really, really well.” He thinks the linebackers as a whole are playing at a high level.
- Day said he thought Indiana “showed a lot of character to get back into that game ... certainly have to give them credit, they got back into that game,” but he does believe the Hoosiers' second-half surge largely goes back to mistakes the Buckeyes made that they need to fix.
- Day anticipates that other defenses will try to blitz Ohio State and make Justin Fields uncomfortable the way Indiana did, so they have to learn from the film and get better so they're prepared for it in the future.
- On Illinois: “They've done a nice job of playing complementary football ... they've done a good job over the years of having some upsets, they've beat some good teams, and I can see why after studying their film ... we gotta do a good job of staying disciplined and executing at a higher level this week.”
