Ryan Day is back at the office, and Ohio State's preparation for Michigan is ramping up.
Monday was Day's first day back at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, after he spent 10 days following his positive COVID-19 test, and he also made his return to the Ohio State IMG Sports Network's Buckeye Roundtable show after a week off.
During that conversation on Monday evening, Day talked about his takeaways from watching Saturday's 52-12 win over Michigan State at home and how the Buckeyes have now turned their attention to this week's rivalry game even with the uncertainty surrounding whether The Game will be played.
- What were you most impressed with on Saturday? “Probably just the resilience of everything that's gone on. There's just been so much that's gone on, and to play that well in that moment, says a lot about the leadership of that team.”
- Day said it was “very, very strange” watching the game at home. “I learned what it was like to be a fan for an afternoon,” but he's glad that's behind him now.
- On the offensive line: “To go in and play the way those guys did, you gotta give them credit, give Stud credit. They played hard.” Said it was “pretty remarkable” that Dawand Jones, Matthew Jones and Max Wray graded out as champions in their first career starts. “Obviously, the development and the work that's been put in behind the scenes paid off.”
- Day believes good game planning has been key to Ohio State's fast starts this season: “We have a certain plan, the way we want to attack teams.” Said it's important for the Buckeyes to start games strong, as they have by scoring on all five of their opening drives this year.
- Day said not allowing big plays was a big point of emphasis for the two weeks between the Indiana and Michigan State games, and he's pleased with the way Ohio State's defense stepped up in that regard against the Spartans.
- On Trey Sermon's improvement over the course of the season: “He's been working really hard ... He's been doing a really good job in protection, he's been taking care of the football ... he's an example of when you set your mind and you want to do something, and you have willpower, you can get it done.”
- On preparation for Michigan: “It's rivalry week, so all the focus goes on the Wolverines. We take every part of our day, we think about these guys. So we've been preparing for a long time for this game, and we'll continue to prepare this week. They're obviously well-coached, and have really good players, so we gotta do a really good job.”
- “All the records get thrown out the window in this game. It's the best rivalry in all of sports.”
