Presser Bullets: Ryan Day Says Donovan Jackson Could Have Played in an Emergency Situation and Good Week of Practice Led to Buckeyes' Rushing Success

It's hard to find things to criticize when the scope of dominance is as vast as Ohio State's was on Saturday.

The Buckeyes outgained Western Michigan 683 to 99 en route to a 56-0 victory, their first shutout in five years. Ohio State rushed for 273 yards at a rate of 7 yards per carry, finding more consistency on the ground in Week 1.

Following his team's dominant performance, Ryan Day addressed the Ohio State media on his squad's success running the football and updated the status of left guard Donovan Jackson, who did not play against the Broncos.

Day opened his press conference by thanking the crowd in Ohio Stadium. "We wanted to start fast in this game and really build on the energy."
Ohio State's week of practice bled into running game success, Day said. "You can see it. Strong running, home run-hitting ability. He and Tre both ran the ball great today. ... I thought Chip called a great game. ... It goes back to our week of practice."
On getting depth involved in the game: "Extremely important. We know that that's going to be huge."
Day said that left guard Donovan Jackson could have played in an emergency situation.
Ohio State's true "bye week" is after Oregon, Day said. He called the team's upcoming bye an "improvement week." "We're gonna go to work. We'll be back at it tomorrow."
On the offensive line: "I think they got into a rhythm as a group. ... They settled down in this game, I felt like. If there was a mistake made, it was full speed. ... There are bigger challenges ahead."
While Day said Ohio State respects Western Michigan, the Buckeyes remained aggressive because it is important to get its depth some action. "We were trying to get more guys more plays. A lot of the guys on this team deserve plays and deserve reps."
On Will Howard's performance: "There's gonna be things that we see ... there's a couple things in there. ... But Will's got good demeanor. You can see the effect he can have in the pass game, you can see the effect he can have with his feet. ... A big part of run-after-catch is timing and location of throws and accuracy."
On the shutout: "It's something these guys have pride in. ... Overall, our guys were proud of that."
Day liked what he saw from Devin Brown, Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz in relief of Howard.

Ohio State players Will Howard, Quinshon Judkins, Seth McLaughlin, Sonny Styles, Jack Sawyer and Cody Simon also met with the media Saturday and you can see what they had to say in the videos below.