The bye week has come and gone and the Buckeyes are back in full swing.
In Ohio State's terms, it was more of an “improvement week,” but that's semantics. OSU plays Marshall on Saturday and with his team's last non-conference contest on the horizon Ryan Day took the airwaves for his weekly Monday evening spot on 97.1 The Fan's Buckeye Roundtable.
There he addressed some of the strengths of Marshall's defense, Ohio State's approach to the bye and how he consumed some non-Buckeye football during the off week.
- On the biggest thing the team accomplished during the bye: "Just that we get better and that we continue to improve. ... We stayed in our routine. We came in on Sunday, we practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday."
- Day enjoyed getting out to watch some high school football this weekend. "It's a reminder of why you started coaching way back when. To see Friday Night Lights, it's just great to see the coaches, the players ... how important high school football is for so many people."
- On how you lean on team leaders to keep the focus during a bye week: "It starts with the coaches, and then it goes to the leaders, and then it goes from there, but yeah, we've got to set the tempo on this thing, set the pace, set the intensity. ... The coaches lead the way, the leaders lead the way, and then everyone else will follow."
- Day went through what Ohio State works on during its week of practice. Tuesday is about first and second down, turnovers and explosives, then as the week goes on the team focuses on a lot of situations, third-downs, red zone, etc.
- On whether offensive and defensive coaches break down each others' film: "You like to have each side of the ball break down the other side and break down a report of what they're seeing ... it's mostly information for the coordinators."
- On Marshall's defense under coordinator Jason Semore: "They do a nice job. They're sound in their scheme. They have good players, their front is good and strong and powerful. ... They had a week off as well and they're gonna come in here and play physical."
- On if he can imagine what's going through other coaches’ minds watching games: "Oh yeah. ... You watch them for a lot of situations. You're watching to see situations ... the body types ... how they're competing. ... It's an opportunity to see it from a different perspective."
- On watching football with his son RJ, a quarterback, and teaching: "It was great ... the coverages, what did you see? It was great."
