Toughness was the theme of the day at Ohio State’s pregame Skull Session before its first Big Ten home game of the year vs. Iowa.
Ryan Day, Chip Kelly and Josh Fryar – the three speakers on Saturday at St. John Arena – all centered their messages to the crowd of Ohio State fans around toughness.
“What an unbelievable day for football. There’s no better place to play than in Columbus, Ohio on a Saturday afternoon against a conference rival,” Kelly said. “This game is about toughness, through and through. Mental and physical. And as the old adage says, if you ever see a Buckeye in a fight with a Hawkeye, pray for the Hawkeye.”
Fryar said Ohio State director of sports performance Mickey Marotti tells the players they have to “pack your toughness” and he implored the crowd to do the same on Saturday.
“If you packed your toughness, give me a ‘Hell yeah,’” Fryar said in a call-and-response to the crowd.
Day encouraged the crowd to make the game tougher for Iowa by being loud every time Iowa’s offense is on the field.
“It’s a challenge about toughness today,” Day said. “So we gotta run fast, we gotta hit hard, we gotta tackle, we gotta block, we gotta run through contact, we gotta finish plays and we gotta finish the game. But what I’m gonna challenge everybody here is make Ohio Stadium the toughest environment to play in in the country. Let ’em know what the Best Damn Fans in the Land sound like when they have the ball. Don’t make it easy for ’em. 60 minutes. 60 minutes. Together, we get this win.”
