Ryan Day received high praise from his national title-winning predecessor Urban Meyer after leading No. 4 Ohio State to a 20-13 victory over No. 3 Penn State in Happy Valley.
The Buckeyes entered Saturday’s top-five matchup with plenty of questions surrounding the mentality and toughness of the program following a loss to Oregon and a nail-biting victory over Nebraska across the last three weeks. But, Day and Co. overcame an adverse start — which saw Ohio State fall into a 10-0 hole in the first ten minutes of the game — to claim the program’s first top-five win since 2022.
Meyer, who was on-hand at Beaver Stadium as part of FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff crew, was left impressed by what he saw from his former team in its big win against the Nittany Lions.
“This is one of the most impressive wins in the Ryan Day era,” Meyer said during the post-game show.
Urban Meyer on Ohio State's win over Penn State: "This is one of the most impressive wins in the Ryan Day era."pic.twitter.com/ahJ6wtAJpw
— Chase Brown (@chaseabrown__) November 2, 2024
Not only did doubts swirl around the team’s mindset, but Ohio State also dealt with shifting pieces on the offensive line — pushing Donovan Jackson out to left tackle and inserting Carson Hinzman at left guard — after injuries held out Josh Simmons and Zen Michalski.
The missing pieces didn’t impact the Buckeyes much on Saturday, as the Ohio State offensive line took care of business. The Buckeyes racked up 176 yards on the ground and put the game on ice with an 11-play, 58-yard drive — consisting only of runs — to span the game’s final 5:13.
“You get questioned about your toughness. You get questioned about your offensive line. All you have to do is show a 58-yard drive, 11-straight runs against a Penn State team in this stadium to close out a game,” Meyer said. “Their toughness was there, the offensive line — to me — won this football game.”
With the win, Day moved to 3-6 against top-five opponents all-time and added another marquee victory to his resume.
