Ohio State's head coach, Offensive MVP and Defensive MVP took the podium after the Buckeyes' Rose Bowl win.
Following Ohio State's 41-21 blowout of Oregon, Ryan Day, Jeremiah Smith and Cody Simon answered questions from reporters. Day praised his players' aggression and execution in the contest, while Smith and Simon addressed how Ohio State's mindset and gameplan changed between the team's regular-season loss to the Ducks and now.
Here is a recap of all the comments Day, Smith and Simon made on Wednesday:
Ryan Day
On Chip Kelly's playcalling against Oregon
"I thought Chip called a great game. I thought the whole offensive staff worked hard to put the plan together, but ultimately, it comes down to the players putting it on the field. I've said that all along. I think sometimes in this game coaches get too much attention. This is about these guys right here. A lot of good plays out there. They got to make it work. I thought they really put it on the field and came out aggressive. I thought Chip called an aggressive game. He certainly had a big smile on his face after."
On his personal mindset entering the College Football Playoff
"Well, in this game, there are ups and downs along the way. When things are going good, you have to hug the guys you love the most. When things aren't, you've got to hug them even harder. You just hang in there and keep swinging. ... That's life. This team is resilient. When you surround yourself with great people with great character, you find yourself working through difficult times.
"At the end of the day, we wanted to win a national championship. The way we got here wasn't what we expected. It wasn't what we planned for. Nonetheless, we got the opportunity to come back and play Oregon after we had already played them earlier in the season. That's the only thing that mattered. The guys had been doing a great job of staying focused. The staff has stuck together, but the players have stuck together. They're fighting to continue to stay together because the winner gets to play another week, and the loser doesn't. Those guys have worked hard to stay together. Now we got the opportunity to play Texas. A lot of football ahead of us."
On his best comparison for Smith
"We always want to draw comparisons because that's what we do naturally. Whether it's players or coaches, it's easy for everyone to say, 'Well, he's this person,' and not quite put them in a box but sort of categorize based on someone that's come before. Jeremiah is his own person. I think the way he's come in from the get go he's had a look in his eye that he wanted to make an impact as a freshman. His teammates would tell you the same thing.
"He's earned the respect of his teammates not because of his ability — you guys see his ability — but to me, it's the work ethic every day. He comes in, and he's serious. He doesn't say a whole lot, but when he does, people listen. His maturity physically, emotionally and mentally has allowed him to play like this. Remember, he's a freshman, and so for him to be playing his best football late in the season speaks to his maturity."
On Ohio State having more games to play after the Rose Bowl
"I think we literally are taking it one week at a time. We are fighting to keep this team together because we have a great group of guys together. I think we believe that when we're executing at a high level that we can play with anybody in the country. We have a lot of respect for Oregon. We have a lot of respect for Coach Lanning and his staff and his players. I think they're a very, very good team and well-coached. We knew we had to be at our best today.
"It will be the same thing next week. When you're playing in the playoffs, you're playing against very, very good teams. We hold ourselves to a high standard. Now we're gonna have to get back — we're not staying the night, we're getting back on that plane, we're heading back to Columbus — so we'll get some rest and then we'll focus on Texas."
“I think we believe that when we're executing at a high level that we can play with anybody in the country.”– Ryan Day
On Jack Sawyer's performance against Oregon
"Can't say enough about Jack as a leader, as a person. He really stands for what it means to be a Buckeye. To see him playing at a high level, he's the heart and soul of the front. Cody will tell you, what he brings every day, he brings a hard hat and a lunch pail and goes to work. It's showing late in the season. He's playing a lot of great football. He's a big reason we won today."
On whether Ohio State's loss to Michigan helped the Buckeyes
"It's hard for me to say something like that, but I know that you're a sum of your experiences. This team has had great wins this season and had some tough losses. We have learned from those. You got to grow, and you got to build, and you got to make sure you're focusing on your strengths and that you understand what your weaknesses are. I think that's a big part of it.
"Ultimately, it comes down to our guys. I just keep coming back to that because these guys are resilient. We are at a place where you can hear a lot of noise, but they didn't do that. I'm very, very proud of our staff. I'm very, very proud of our players. But we're far from done."
“I'm very, very proud of our staff. I'm very, very proud of our players. But we're far from done.”– Ryan Day
On whether Ohio State's win over Oregon is "bigger" than other wins
"Every game is big at Ohio State. We knew that when we decided to come to Ohio State. Certainly, this game is huge for a lot of reasons. But I think the most important thing for our team is that we get a chance to play together for another week. To me, that's the most important thing. Every game here is important. When you lose, you got to figure out how to move forward. But when you recruit great people with high character who care about each other, when you go through difficult times, you stick together, and you don't splinter.
"Whenever we're in these situations, I just fall back on these guys right here. I wish you guys were asking these guys questions because they're the ones on the field. These guys are the ones who are playing. Not me. I'm just there to direct them and make sure that we're all going in the right direction. These are the guys who are the warriors who are doing it on the field. I just can't say enough about these guys."
Jeremiah Smith
On how Ohio State's offense has changed since the first Oregon game
"After that game, we had a bad taste in our mouth. We had to come in the next day and just see what the issues (were) and fix the issues and get on the field and work it. Offensively, we knew we had to get the ball on the perimeter, take shots and win our one-on-one matchups, and that's what we did today."
On his relationship with Will Howard
"Will does a great job in practice just trusting us and just throwing the ball out there. We just tell him, 'Just throw it out there. We're gonna make a play for you.' It doesn't matter if it's a bad ball or not, we just gotta make our quarterback look good. Will playing with that confidence he has, being a leader out there, I feed off his energy. Great guy. I love Will to death. I'd do anything for him."
“Will playing with that confidence he has, being a leader out there, I feed off his energy. Great guy. I love Will to death. I'd do anything for him.”– Jeremiah Smith
Cody Simon
On how Ohio State's defense has changed since the first Oregon game
"That was one of the letdown games for our defense. One of the biggest things that we changed was our attitude and our mentality. There were a lot of plays in the first game where we weren't aligned or ready to go. With an offense like that for Oregon, they thrive on that stuff. For us, it was just that mentality had to change. We went through a lot of tough conversations after that game and there were a lot of changes we had to make. I think we're better for it now. We made those changes, and like Coach Day said, it's all about execution. No matter who is across the ball, you have to do your job. If you do your job, you're gonna like the result."
On Ohio State handling emotion entering its rematch with Oregon
"That's probably the biggest part about football. It's a game about getting your body, mind and spirit right. I think Coach Day does a great job in that he wants us to understand the moment and how the steps of each game goes. We don't play that game a week ago, but we have to get our mind ready in that sense. It was a lot of emotion, and a lot of people talked about redemption, but for us it really is just about doing your job. Our coaches put us in the right position so we just got to go make the play. They've done that so well the whole season. We trust them 100 percent."
