Ryan Day Radio Show: Ryan Day is Confident Ohio State’s Offensive Line is Ready For The Challenge at Penn State

On The Ryan Day Radio Show, Day said the unit will be challenged against Penn State's front six and its "multiple NFL-caliber players." However, Day said the Buckeyes' experience in the offensive line room, as well as its experience in hostile environments, will help them overcome that challenge.

"They'll be ready," Day said. "These guys have experience. That's good. But they're gonna be challenged in this environment. But they'll be ready. They'll be ready."

The sixth-year head coach addressed several other topics on his weekly radio show, including Ohio State's defensive line, Will Howard, Jeremiah Smith and more.

Here is a bullet-point recap of the broadcast, which also featured some comments from tight end Gee Scott Jr.:

Ryan Day

On the magnitude of the Penn State game

• "This is a big one right here."
• "Certainly a lot on the table."
• "Opportunity to get to Indianapolis is right there. That's a big part of this one right here."
• "We need our veteran players to play veteran. We need our really good players to play really good in this game."
• "We've had a good week of prep. Looking forward to going over there."

On what makes Beaver Stadium unique

• "How loud it gets."
• "The momentum swings."
• "Great environment. A lot of our guys have played in this environment before. They're looking forward to the challenge."

On the offensive line entering the Penn State game

• "Yeah, depth is gonna get challenged this week, for sure."
• Day said Ohio State's offensive line "has experience, which is good."
• Day mentioned Donovan Jackson, Carson Hinzman, Seth McLaughlin, Tegra Tshabola, Josh Fryar and Austin Siereveld as players with notable experience on the offensive line. "They'll be ready."
• "These guys have experience. That's good. But they're gonna be challenged in this environment. But they'll be ready. They'll be ready."

On Ohio State's secondary stepping up with Lathan Ransom out

• "We talked about this during the preseason that once you got into November, it was gonna be, 'Who's healthy?'"
• Good to see us be able to move some pieces around.
• "That went a long way for our depth."

On the Nebraska game, Ohio State's defensive performance

• "Winning the game in the fourth quarter was critical. We're gonna have to do that this week."
• Day mentioned the Ohio State defense's goal-line stand as a moment that helped seal the game for the Buckeyes.
• "The way the defense played in that game is what we're expecting this week."

On Ohio State's failure to convert on third downs against Nebraska

• "We're in control of how we want the game to look."
• "If we want the game to look different, we gotta convert on third down."
• Despite Ohio State's 1-for-10 mark on third-down conversions, Day said, "You got to go win the game." He's proud of the Buckeyes for doing that.

On Carnell Tate

• "Teams have to make a decision of who they want to cover.
• "Carnell is somebody who, in one-on-one situations, has a chance to do what he did on Saturday. That was great to see."
• "He's a real weapon for us."
• "Carnell is a very good player. In one-on-one situations, he's gonna beat most guys. We'll need him to do that. Gonna get a lot of opportunities here on Saturday."

On Ohio State needing to convert more short-yardage situations

• "We got to get more knockback."
• "Zen's first start. There were a couple of things in there that we could have done a little bit better."
• "At the end of the day, we gotta get the push and we gotta get the first down."
• "That's gonna be even more of a challenge this week. We gotta get that done."
• "We didn't execute well enough."

On Ohio State's pressure

• "Much more penetration. Much more disruptive."
• "We gotta build on that. We know what we can do."
• "We'll keep adding to the packages to make sure we get that done."

On the "complaints" about Ohio State lack of rotation on the D-line

• "We're not short on complaints around here. Bottom line is we gotta win."

On Cody Simon

• "Probably played one of his better games as a Buckeye last week."
• "He was all over the place."
• "He was disruptive."
• "We need a guy like Cody Simon to play clutch in clutch moments. He did that in that game. Again, more and more confidence in building in him. He's playing at a high level right now."

On Ohio State's receivers, running backs wanting the ball

• "There's not one game where none of these guys want the damn ball. That's how it goes."
• "That's the receivers we want."
• "We want the running backs to run the ball. We want the receivers to want the ball. We want the offensive line to be able to run the football. That's the type of guys you want. We have receivers that are just like that."

On Will Howard

• "We need completions. We need positive runs. We need converting on third down."
• "He's excited to play in this game."
• "He's fired up."
• Day said Howard has "been great" as a leader. "He doesn't need any extra motivation, but he probably has it going back to Pennsylvania. He's gonna be excited to play in this game. His leadership you can really feel this week. It's not different than other weeks other than there's just a little bit extra grit in his work."

On Penn State's offense, defense

• "They do a good job at the line of scrimmage."
• "(Abdul) Carter is really, really good. They have multiple guys they play up front that are all NFL-caliber players."
• "Linebackers play downhill."
• "Secondary is always competitive and really good in match coverage."
• "Both running backs (Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton) are very talented. The tight end (Tyler Warren) is an NFL player, probably a first or second-rounder. He really can do some great things."
• "You have to prepare for both quarterbacks (Drew Allar and Beau Pribula). Both bring different things to the table, but both are very good."

On Tyler Warren

• "You put a special jersey on him during the week."
• "You make sure you know exactly where he is, who his matchup is, who you want on him."
• "He's a very, very good player. You know that they're trying to target him and hide him based on what's going on."

On freshmen who have impressed him in practice

• "There's a bunch of guys who are working really hard to get on the field."
• "Eddrick Houston is really making strides. ... We'd like to try and get him more and more snaps. I think he's done some really good things."
• "Jaylen McClain has done a really nice job."
• "James Peoples... he's making progress."
• "There are a bunch of guys that are pushing hard right now."
• Day also mentioned Sam Williams-Dixon, Payton Pierce, and Garrett Stover, who have stood out as players who are grinding and working hard to develop.

On Jeremiah Smith

• "This is a big game right here. Now, he's gotta take the next step as a player."
• "He's gotta continue to upgrade each week."
• "He's very sharp, very intelligent, picks things up quickly."
• "He lets his play do the talking."

On Ohio State's mindset entering the Penn State game

• "It will be rocking from the jump."
• "We want to set the tone early."
• Day said the Penn State game will be a four-quarter game. Knowing that, Day said Ohio State "has to win the game in the fourth quarter," calling that "the challenge for our guys."
• "As a mature group, you handle it the right way and we're gonna do that."

On what it will take to beat Penn State

• "It comes down to the Buckeyes and how we play."
• "The physicality we bring. The discipline we're gonna have to bring and making sure we limit the penalties and the mistakes. Those things are able to get us beat.
• "I'm not as concerned about them as I am concerned about us and how we play, our preparation, making sure we are physical, running the football and limiting X plays."

On Halloween

• When Jim Lachey asked if Day and his family would hand out Buckeyes for Halloween, Day responded, "Until you just said it, I had no idea that it's Halloween."
• Day also said he did not know the World Series ended on Wednesday. "I can tell you what we did at practice, and I can tell you what's going on in this game. That's about it."

Gee Scott Jr.

On the environment at Beaver Stadium

• Scott said Ohio State's players have responded well with artificial crowd noise during practice this week. He also thinks the Buckeyes experience at Oregon will help the team this weekend at Beaver Stadium.
• "It's definitely loud.
• "It's one of the louder I've ever been in."

On his move from wide receiver to tight end

• "It was harder than I expected."
• "It was a lot."
• Scott said tight end is "one of the harder positions" to play on the field. "It's a physically demanding position."