Ohio State head coach Ryan Day spoke with Paul Keels and Jim Lachey on 97.1 The Fan’s Ryan Day Radio Show on Thursday afternoon.
He talked about Ohio State’s performance against Oregon and how he feels about the matchup with Tulsa. The Buckeyes will host the Golden Hurricanes at Ohio Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
The game can be seen on ESPN.
RYAN DAY’S COMMENTS AND QUOTES
On his anxiousness toward the next game:
“You want to get back out there and get that bad taste out of your mouth.”
On the defense:
“Everyone’s tired of hearing how young they are.”
“The good news is they’re getting more and more experience.”
“There are some things in there we have to clean up and fix.”
On lack of run against Oregon:
“It never quite felt like we were in control of the game.”
On targeting rules in today’s college football:
“When you go from conference to conference, it’s hard to have continuity on what targeting is.”
“They try to be as consistent as possible. That’s not easy.”
“It is inconsistent at times.”
“What they’re trying to do is the right thing.”
On leadership from the team this week:
“You find out about people,” Day said. “You find out who they are.”
“I thought some of that has come through this week.”
On Josh Proctor and his injury:
“He was really poised to have a great year.”
“To see what happened to him, it was tough.”
“Hopefully, we can get him back next year.”
On fourth-down plays:
“Every inch counts, especially in those types of situations.”
On his discussions with the coaching staff:
“You got to take a hard look and hard dive.”
“We are asking each other the tough questions.”
“Hopefully, we can build towards it this week.”
On tempo, false starts:
“We use tempo, and always have, as a weapon for us.”
“That got us off track,” Day said. “We got to have our poise when we go tempo.”
On the defensive line:
“I think that some of those guys have shown and flashed, but there’s got to be more consistency there.”
On cornerback Denzel Burke:
“I thought he competed,” Day said. “If he can keep building and competing, then we’re going to have somebody there for a while.”
On wide receiver Chris Olave:
“I think he’s had a good look in his eye both of these games.”
“We need that veteran-feel from him on the perimeter.”
On wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba:
“He showed up when he needed to.”
On weapons in the passing game:
“When you have strength at all those positions, you can’t double a guy.”
“Guys can hurt you in different positions.”
On quarterback C.J. Stroud:
“I think we put too much on him [against Oregon].”
“He still has a long way to go in his development, but a good start.”
On Tulsa:
“They had the game won [against Oklahoma State] and played well.”
“They have a good program,” Day said. “They are good on both sides of the ball.”
On “tuck and run” quarterback play calls:
“It’s something we had to work on really hard with Justin [Fields] and Dwayne [Haskins], and now with C.J.”
“There’s a lot of learning going on.”
On quarterback runs in the Ohio State offense:
“It certainly has to be part of the game.”
“[Stroud] can do it,” Day said. “He’s athletic.”
On the running back rotation:
“I thought they ran good,” Day said. “I don’t know if it was great.”
“Still trying to find that rhythm with those guys.”
On the running backs and their pass blocking:
“The protection has been as good as its been,” Day said. “The running backs played a big part in that.”
On Tulsa’s run game:
“They have tempo,” Day said. “They switch it up, but they’ll run the football.”
“They can run the football,” Day said. “They have really good backs.”
On punter Jesse Mirco:
“So far, he has stepped in and done a good job,” Day said. “He made a couple of great punts for us.”
“He does a great job,” Day said. “You can tell he’s been doing it his whole life. He’s good at it.”
Day said Mirco and long snapper Brad Robinson are roommates.
“Kind of a thankless job at times,” Day said of Robinson’s long snapping. “Consistency is the key.”
On recruiting overseas:
“Couple of groups over there that will identify talent. We’ll look at certain guys”
“Do it off of film and people’s reputation.”
On being favored against opponents:
“We’re in those situations a lot.”
“This week, it’s all about getting back to fundamentals.”
“Coming off a loss last week, we have their attention.”
