Postgame Presser Bullets: Ryan Day, Justin Fields, Trey Sermon, Justin Hilliard, Josh Myers Reflect On Ohio State Beating Northwestern To Win Big Ten Title

Powered by Trey Sermon's outrageous 331-yard performance, Ohio State topped Northwestern to capture the Big Ten championship for a fourth straight season. Afterward, head coach Ryan Day and a selection of Buckeye athletes – Justin Fields, Josh Myers, Justin Hilliard and Trey Sermon – joined the media to discuss the 22-10 victory. 

A bullet-point rundown of what each of them had to say (with video coming soon):

Ryan Day

• Asked about the Rose Bowl potentially not letting families of players in, he says he hasn't though about it, but he thinks they should be there: "Every ounce of my energy has been focused on this game. It was a really hard week for a lot of reason."
• We were always going to be aggressive. That's just the way we are. Just didn't execute great." He says the "run game started to go" and they began to ride it. Day says practicing for 10 days with guys who ended up not playing led to a game that wasn't "clean."
• "This is one of my favorite teams I've ever been around." Mentions its toughness and its lack of flinching.
• "If I had to play one game against any team in the country, I'd take the Ohio State Buckeyes."
• On Sermon: "He ran hard. The offensive line played unbelievable. The tight ends played really hard." He says it sometimes takes a while for players to get into a rhythm after an injury, but he wasn't playing up to par early in the season. "There was a time probably after Week 2 or Week 3 where we weren't sure." To see this game against a good run defense was "tremendous," he says.
• Day says the Big Ten is looking "very hard" at possibly changing the rule that keeps players who have a positive COVID-19 test out for a minimum of 21 days.
• He says Julian Fleming "played well" and thinks Garrett Wilson took forward as a leader this week.
• Day says Fields' injury is probably a sprain, but they'll get more word after he gets it examined.
• Asked about Master Teague's status: "Master was out of the game.  We'll just have to see what the doctors are saying about him."
• Asked if he regrets not going to the run earlier: "No." He says the only way to get Northwestern loosened up is to be aggressive, even though some of those shots didn't hit. 
• On Justin Hilliard's performance: "How about the interception he had on the one-on-one? He played his tail off."

Justin Fields

• On Trey Sermon's performance: "I just think Trey had a lot of explosive runs out there. He played his ass off. He did a great job today."
• Fields says Northwestern did a "great job on defense" doing their job. On the passing struggles: "It's really on me, to be honest with you. I wish I could say that they had it locked down, but again, I have to be flat-out better and that's that."
• He says the first-half passing issues were "overall execution" and says "that's on me." ... Says he doesn't want people to view his thumb injury as an excuse: "It's just flat-out me."
• Fields says he's known Sermon for many years, worked out with him as a junior in high school and is happy for him.
• Does Ohio State deserve to be in the College Football Playoff: "Yes. Because we're one of the top-four teams in the country."
• Fields says offensively they were "down a lot of guys," but he thinks the "team showed fight." Says the Buckeyes "fought our butts off in the second half."

Trey Sermon

• If this was the type of game he came to Ohio State for: "I definitely think so. I was able to just really get in a groove and get it rolling."
• The coaches told the team they were stopping themselves in the first half, he says, and their mentality was to make the most of their opportunities and execute.
• "My mindset is just to make the most of my opportunities." He says his game is "making guys miss and winning at the second level."
• Sermon says the game slows down when he's in the zone. Did that happen today? "Yessir."
• The coaches throughout the season told Sermon to keep fighting. "They know I'm a great player and can make an impact."

Josh Myers

• "I did want to make this note early on there were a lot of questions about our running game." He says he asked the sports information director to give him some stats about the rushing attack because it was so impressive.
• On Sermon's performance: "We see it from a different angle than you guys do, but we see it see same way you guys do." He remembers thinking in the first half that Sermon would have a breakthrough.
• Myers says the process of coming back from a COVID-19 positive test was "awful" and "terrible." ... "I had to sit there for 10 days and basically do nothing." He couldn't work out because he couldn't get his heart rate up. "It was probably 10 of the hardest days I've ever had in my life."
• He thought it was "awesome" getting back onto the field with his fellow starting offensive linemen.
• On Chris Olave missing the game: "It just breaks your heart for guys like that. I talked to the team about it before the game when we were in the huddle." There's been a lot talked about regarding how things can get taken away from you, he says, so he told the team to keep guys like Olave, Baron Browning and Drue Chrisman in their hearts today, because he knows from experience how hard it is to have to watch from home.

Justin Hilliard

• Hilliard is wrapping up today's postgame interviews. He began by mentioning it's much nicer be talking to the media right now than the last time he did, when the Michigan game was canceled literally while he was in the middle of his interview session.
• Hilliard says he "was extremely ready" to cover the fade that led to the interception.
• Oh my gosh, man. Just this whole journey, man, has been tough." He talked to the younger guys on the team, calling it "so emotional."
• He says the Big Ten title is a big goal: "Now we did that. We won this game. We're looking forward to the next mission."
• Hilliard unsurprisingly says he thinks the Buckeyes deserve a spot in the College Football Playoff.
• Playing without Al Washington: "It's different, but like I said, everyone has to step up." He says the younger coaches and leadership on the team was able to step up.
• He says the moment coming out of the locker room for the second half is something he'll "never forget" because Kerry Coombs told them of exactly what they needed to do. Tackling and the wildcat formation were points of emphasis.