After mixed issues surfaced on both sides of the ball Saturday in No. 3 Ohio State’s 49-26 win over Indiana, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Day and defensive coordinator Greg Schiano assess each unit as the Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0) aim to clean things up and carry momentum from the Big Ten victory against the Hoosiers (4-2, 1-2).
Ryan Day
On finding further balance after divvying up 609 total yards between 455 passing and 154 rushing…
“We always want to be balanced, but it comes back to what the defense is giving us. We’re upset that we didn’t convert again on short yardage in that one spot, we did on some other ones. We played fast and got the first downs. But always looking to improve. We kind of came out in this game, you look at the numbers, they were all pretty good, but we also know there’s so much more that we’re leaving on the field, so we’ve got to stay hungry.”
On dissecting whether or not there was a letdown after a 27-26 win Sept. 29 at Penn State…
“When you come home from a game that’s so late, you got home at five in the morning and then with the emotions running so high you just don’t sleep well for a little while and that takes its toll throughout the week with practice and some of the recovery. These are college kids that still have to go to class, these are not NFL guys that get to sleep in after a Monday night football game. It takes a little time, so I think that kind of leads sometimes to some letdowns on the road. But I thought our guys hung in there and you didn’t see that letdown today.”
On deciding for or against getting sophomore quarterback Dwayne Haskins the single-game record…
“Do what you would do no matter what. If you start getting worried about all that stuff, bad things happen in my opinion. I think — football gods out there — I don’t think that works well. We’re just going to do what it takes to win the game at the time.”
Greg Schiano
On responding to the notion that the defense is giving up too many big plays…
“I would agree with it. The reasons are different, but that’s our job to fix the problem. There are different reasons. We need to identify them and we need to look in the mirror and say, ‘First, is it something we’re teaching or coaching? And second, can it be improved or do we have to make a change personnel-wise?’ There’s a lot of steps when you identify issues and we’ll continue. It’s not like we didn’t come out of the Penn State game feeling like we played great. We made some opportune stops just like we did today.”
On making adjustments at halftime after giving up 317 total yards through the first half…
“Really didn’t make adjustments. We went over what we did wrong and we said, ‘Look, if we execute this, we’re going to do fine.’ And that’s really the truth. We’re not doing a good enough job coaching to get consistent execution. And that, to me, is — ‘Well, you can say the players aren’t doing it’ — we do this for a living. When (Ohio State) consistently executed, (Indiana) really couldn’t do anything. And when we didn’t consistently execute, they had their way. So we need to do a better job.”
On starting sophomore Jahsen Wint over redshirt freshman Shaun Wade at strong safety…
“Probably experience was the biggest thing. Shaun came in and did fine, and Shaun’s trajectory is going like this. He’s doing well at the nickel position, and I think he’ll grow in the safety position. It’s only been a couple of weeks now, so he’s accelerating quickly.”
