Ohio State won the middle eight minutes of its game against Michigan State with some gusto, scoring in the final 30 seconds of the first half on offense and getting a stop to open the third quarter.
Fresh off his team’s first Big Ten victory of 2024, Ryan Day took to the airwaves on Monday during 97.1 The Fan's Buckeye Roundtable show and drilled down on the importance of such situations, saying the Buckeyes' close to the second quarter was "the difference in the game."
Day also provided a quick update on Will Howard's status, saying his quarterback is "doing great" after leaving Saturday's game briefly following a hit. Day also had praise for left guard Austin Siereveld and safety Caleb Downs as Ohio State prepares to face Iowa.
- On the team's reaction to Jeremiah Smith's one-handed catch in film: "Everybody was almost shaking their head. That being said, he makes a lot of those plays in practice. ... You play how you practice and he just has a special ability to make plays."
- On the decision-making process on fourth-down: "There's a lot that goes into it. Obviously the situation, timing of the game, where we are on the field. ... We do have some analytics that we'll use as a guideline, certainly not make a final decision, but it does give you good information. ... We felt like we wanted to be aggressive in this game and we converted on those fourth downs."
- Day said Ohio State's stop at the end of the first half and ensuing touchdown in its two-minute drill was "the difference in the game." "It started with that first-down sack there, got a timeout there. If we don't get that sack, we probably let it go (to half). ... When you can win that middle eight, certainly the game can flip and that's been a point of emphasis this offseason."
- On Caleb Downs: "You just see how quickly he gets to the line of scrimmage and how fast he is to react. ... He works really hard ... but you can just see his playmaking ability, and he's physical. ... He's a huge part of our defense and become a huge part of our team."
- On his thought process when Devin Brown came in at the end of the first half for Will Howard: "We felt like we at least had the opportunity for three points. We told Devin, 'Here's what we're going to do, put it in a place where only our guys can make a play.' ... He did that and Jeremiah did the rest."
- Day affirmed that Howard is in good shape after getting the wind knocked out of him. "Will's doing great."
- On Austin Siereveld: "He's getting better with every rep he gets. ... It's only going to get ratcheted up against Iowa this week."
- On the defensive tackle depth getting another test sans Tyleik Williams: "It was important to get those guys going the last couple of games. If we needed Tyleik, he was ready to go. ... Good to get other guys reps in there and good to see Kayden McDonald make a TFL second half. ... There's a certain level of maturity that has to happen."
- On Iowa: "Really well-coached, tough, physical. I feel like they've made a lot of strides on offense and they're running the ball well."
