4-0
Ohio State bullies Michigan State and secures a 38-7 win in its Big Ten opener.
Many Buckeye fans were in disbelief after Jeremiah Smith made his second spectacular one-handed grab for Ohio State on Saturday, this time for a touchdown.
Ryan Day, too, was floored by Smith after Ohio State's 38-7 win over Michigan State, stating that he "couldn't believe" the sideline pass was caught.
There were other takeaways Day had from his team's victory, of course, feeling the Buckeyes responded with "poise through the noise" in a hostile environment. Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams could have played in an emergency and should be ready to go next week, per Day.
- On Ohio State's final two-minute drive before halftime: "We felt like if we could get a stop on that second down, we would call a timeout. ... Just tremendous plays. ... Devin stepped up in a big way ... but what an unbelievable catch. I couldn't believe he caught it."
- On the defense: "I thought we did a really good job of shutting them down, especially in the second half. ... There's some things that we've got to look at the film and figure out. ... We were close to the quarterback on a couple of plays."
- Tyleik Williams was available in an emergency, Ryan Day said, but Ohio State wanted to get him one more week of rest to get him to full health.
- On his general thoughts of Ohio State's performance: "The turnover battle was huge in this game. ... I thought the atmosphere was excellent early on. ... (Michigan State) came out and played really hard. ... But I thought our guys responded well. ... That's something we talked about, having poise through the noise."
- On Will Howard's performance and his interception: "There's going to be some of these growing opportunities .. but overall I thought he was solid. He was poised, he made some big throws."
- On Jeremiah Smith: "I am just impressed with the discipline and the hard work and being able to step in at such a young age. ... This is a special young man."
- On Caleb Downs: "I thought Caleb played great tonight. ... He was all over the place tonight, made a huge difference."
- Day still isn't satisfied with where his team is at. "We've got a long way to go. It was a good road win ... but we're gonna get back to work tomorrow, and we know that we have a very good Iowa team in here next week."
Ohio State players Will Howard, Jeremiah Smith, Jordan Hancock, Cody Simon and Emeka Egbuka also met with reporters after the game and you can see what they had to say in the video below.
